Crap! It's gone!

Went to the Manayunk Arts Festival with Gloria, my wife, knowing that parking would be a hassle, but also knowing that I could park across from my rock sculpture at Belmont Ave.  A big surprise awaited me.  The sculpture was GONE!  Totally!  First, I picked my jaw up off the ground, and stopped crying.  A normal reaction whenever I see world-wide devastation in my own back yard.  I guess the construction crew finally decided they had a better use for the property.  Like, what the hell could they be thinking?
On the "sorta good news" side was the write-up in the Bala Cynwyd - Narberth Patch about my rock sculptures.  It wasn't the most complementary, but he did spell my name right, "Ed".  I mean, really, a picture of a can of Campbell's soup is art, but my sculptures aren't?  How about I put a can of Campbell's soup on the top.  Genius!!
And since the sculpture at the Hamper Shop was shown and identified in the article, it naturally was knocked down.  Ah, idle hands....  So I re-built it as a new sculpture, rather than replicate what was there.  I posted a few photos of it from different views to give more of the three dimensional aspect of it.

I also re-built the sculpture on City Ave./Conshohocken State Road.  The plants had over-grown the island, and my feeble body is less and less able to control the growth.  I'll check my souvenirs from 'Nam to see if there's any Agent Orange left.

Oh Canda

Spent last weekend at La Toscana di Carlotta, a bed & breakfast, at Niagara on the Lake, Canada.  (info@latoscanadicarlotta.com or tel. 1-866-577-2155)  It's "aboot" (that's Canadian for "about") 20 minutes from Niagara Falls.  The town is an eclectic, (look it up), strip of stores that are perfect for tourists who like a leisurely walk down a historic lane.  The horse-drawn carriages and the Cow Ice Cream store only add to the pleasures.  I'd recommend staying at the B & B, as the breakfasts were unbeatable, the company delightful (meaning we loved Maia, the labradoodle, but Kash & Carlotta & Sarah - Carlotta's Mom were all amazing, too) and the location was perfect. 

Niagara Falls was an awesome sight.  It was my first time seeing the Falls, and I wasn't disappointed.  We took the Maid of the Mist into the heart of the Canadian Falls.  It was well worth the money and the drenching.  Anyone going over these Falls in a barrel deserves to die.  We didn't go behind the Falls, but I'd opt for doing that, too.  (I was too cheap to pay the $32.00.  A trait for which I am universally renowned.) 

Canada held the 2010 Vancouver Olympics which used an Inuit Inukshuk rock sculpture as a logo.  That's me with a replica of the Inukshuk that was used.  It's actually 1 meter tall (everything in Canada is the metric system - so when I paid $1.29 per liter for gas, it wasn't as fantastic as I had thought).  The speed limit was often 40 kph, so I was going 55 miles per hour.  Who woulda thought kilometers are so short?

It wasn't till I got home that Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins, and showed they can be as poor a loser as those of us in Philadelphia.  We've just had more experience at it.

By the way, customs didn't stamp our passports either out or into the country.  I was really disappointed with that.  Wait an hour to get to the border police, and they don't give a damn about you, only what plants or fruit you're bringing with you.  No more Canadian maple syrup cookies for them!

It Ain't Heavy, Richie's Lifting It

Back to Penn at Radnor and Radnor Park where the sculptures were once again knocked down.  Can't wait for summer vacation, and the disappearance of all the kids that knock these down.  ( Were'nt they taken during the Rapture?)  Well, it gave Richie the opportunity to build some rock sculptures (with a little help from his Jedi Master). 

My back has been as bad as the Twilight Zone.  Doing my stretching excercises morning and night with only a modicum of success.  I was really happy to have Richie lift those heavy rocks.  Ah, yes, I remember those wonderful days of being a teenager.  Well, not really, since those years were decades ago, and I spent most of the time hybernating in my room wondering how to ask girls out on a date.  (No, I don't need your help now.  My wife would want to go along on the date - to criticize every thing I did.) 

Which leads me to next week.  We're going to Nigara Falls on the Lake.  So the rock sculptures will have to survive on their own, or not.  Give my back a rest.  They do let you swim below the Falls, right?