Bright lights, night lights

Now that it is mid-November, and we have entered into the shadowy world of Daylight Savings Time, my walk from the office to 30th Street Station at 5:00 pm has become a thing of beauty. The sights along the Market Street that are normally dull, washed out, or insignificant in daylight have become mysteriously lovely. To wit:

 The climbing wall at the Drexel gym glows against the dark sky.

Neon signs give up their glamour in the dark (love neon):

The Drexel school of law is humming along with legal energy:

The Drexel school of engineering showcases pipes and fittings and assorted structural elements:

And even the lowly subway entrances seem to be pools of welcoming light:

In 20 minutes or so I arrive at 30th Street Station, where the Cira Centre lights twinkle behind those massive pillars.

Union Station

I was in Washington, DC this weekend. I love, love, love Union Station - and while there I walked by a shoe store with a Shakespearian tie-in!.

Nice work if you can get it

About once a year I get to travel for work, but this year our event was in Philadelphia. So, no travel. Then, at the last minute, a room became vacant at the Rittenhouse.

The Rittenhouse! A luxury boutique hotel. I had heard people rave it about for many years. And I would get to stay there for three nights!

What would it be like?

Well, for starters, they gave me a glass of champagne when I checked in.

And yes, the Rittenhouse is listed in The Leading Hotels of the World.

Second, the reception area featured a gorgeous buffet of cheeses, pate, roasted artichokes, etc. I took full advantage.

I was tremendously impressed by the bathroom, which has its own television set in case you don't want to miss the news while you get ready for the day.

That little green frog in front of the TV, by the way, is to place on your bed if you want to be "green" and not have the bed made up with fresh linens (which I used). And I am always impressed when I get the nice thick white bathrobe to use while I visit:

I'm easily impressed.

That evening, we dined at the City Tavern, the site of the original tavern where the founding fathers planned The Revolution, which has been restored by the National Park Service to (they claim) the original specifications:

So, for the first time in my life, I drank from a pewter goblet. My companions and I did not plot any revolutions, however.

Later during the weekend I walked around Rittenhouse Square, where I took these photos of tree sleeves:

I wanted to post these photos for my crochet artist friend (you know who you are).

Well, it doesn't take much - a free drink and the loan of a bathrobe, and I'm duly impressed.

Some days are good days to stand in the yard and look up.

 And to look down:

Twenty minutes from my office

The weather is so beautiful lately - on days like these I love to take walks during my lunch hour. And west Philadelphia has some very interesting places to walk around.

For example, just five minutes away is this street art titled Re:flect, several tall shiny rectangles filled with live plants.

And just past Re:flect, a church that has recently lost its steeple. I don't think they are planning to replace it.

It's an old church, originally built by German worshippers, now home to a Baptist congregation. The little wooden angel still greets everyone who passes by.

It seems as though there is a church on every block, sometimes two or three of them. I pass a few, then come to The Cloisters, one of the most interesting housing projects I've ever seen:

It's a Catholic cathedral that was sold several years ago and turned into an apartment complex for low-income residents. What a spectacular apartment entrance!

The box to the right of the front doors contains buzzers for the apartments.
The neighborhood is not too great, in spite of those elegant cathedral apartments. Mysterious warnings are found:

It's hard to believe that anyone lives in this building, but apparently someone is viewing satellite TV around here:

There are uplifting murals:

But also lots of buildings that have been abandoned for so long that quite large trees have grown through them:

I head back toward the office, stopping once again to Re:flect.

Patience with others is love, patience with self is hope, patience with God is faith.

"I think Tomáš Halík has produced one of the best and most beautiful responses to the new atheism, in his recent book Patience with God (Doubleday 2009). His argument is that the real difference between faith and atheism is patience. Atheists are not wrong, only impatient. They want to resolve doubt instead of enduring it. Their insistence that the natural world doesn't point to God (or to any necessary meaning) is correct. Their experience of God's absence is a truthful experience, shared also by believers. Faith is not a denial of all this: it is a patient endurance of the ambiguity of the world and the experience of God's absence. Faith is patience with God. Or as Adel Bestavros puts it (in the book's epigraph): patience with others is love, patience with self is hope, patience with God is faith."

From Benjamin Myers' excellent blog, Faith and Theology

Street art - three pieces

One of the nice things about walking around Philadelphia is that there is lots of art - in fact, I think there is a law that every new building must include public art. Here are three that I walk past every morning.

This emaciated naked running man is in front of the new Drexel law school building. I like it, but it seems all too easy to conclude that this is an example of someone being pursued by lawyers - unless it is supposed to represent a first-year law student, feeling as though he is running desperately just to stay alive.

Also in front of the Drexel campus, Mario the Magnificent, their mascot. Perhaps it's good luck to see a dragon every morning!

And this abstract sculpture, which looks to me like the skeleton of Snuffleupagus. This morning he is eagerly greeting the morning sun, pointing his yellow nose toward its rays.