Weary, But Not Done.

Today is the day I usually check the sculpture at Conshohocken State Road and City Avenue.  And, as usual, it had fallen down.  (No, I think it actually did fall down.  Well, of course, it did fall down, but I mean it did so due to natural factors.)  I hadn't done a good job of re-building it last visit as my wife was waiting in the car for me, and I could feel the pressure growing, growing ...  Thus, I rushed, and thus, it fell.  This time was no different, and I just couldn't lift the large granite rock onto the second level.  (At least, not without pulling out my back, AGAIN.)  After the third time, I left it where it was, figuring that the rock sculpture muse must like it there, and built around it.  Ended up being very pleased with the result.

Leaving the Conshocken State Road sculpture, I went to the Wawa in Narberth.  Wasn't surprised to see the sculpture in front of The Hamper Shop was down.  I didn't like it when I had built it, but wasn't ready to invest the time to make it nice.  Got my coffee, went home (looked at "Help Wanted" ads), and returned to The Hamper Shop.  Infused with that wonderful Wawa rendition of the elixir of the Gods (coffee), I built una mas grandio rock sculpture.  Took lots of time making sure it was balanced well and cemented many areas of it.  Enjoyed listening to my new I-Pod Nano, which I finally learned how to turn on and off, while creating this beauty.

Even I Grow Weary

Three of my usually sturdy rock sculptures were down today.  Could it be the birds?  Could it be the squirrels?  Could it be unknown forces of nature from outside our universe?  (Dark energy?)  I think not.  The short wooden fence I placed near the large Wynnewood Train Station sculpture was completely apart as well.  So I'm thinking that there was human intervention involved.  (Actually think it was sub-human intervention.)
No matter who or what, I'm getting tired of investing my time, sore back and aching arms in this venture.  Just as my retirement produced a short-term stir of loss among some of my patients, the absence of these rock sculptures will not be sorely missed.  Just ask Picasso or Matisse (oh, they're dead - don't ask them, they won't answer) if they would be missed if they didn't paint another picture.  I've certainly left my mark on this world (after all were Picasso or Matisse ever interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer?).

But, of course, I did rebuild the rock sculptures.  Not with great enthusiasium or imagination (yo, it's like 92 degrees out there!), but I did re-build them.  Let's see how long they stay intact.  This whole endeavor into the world of street art may end soon.  And then all (4) of you interested readers will have more free time to invest in more significant pursuits.

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?

Ephemeral

They may be rock sculptures, but they don't stay up long.  I'm only showing you the one at City Ave. & Conshohocken State Road.  Guess it just fell over.  Like the one in Radnor Park and Penn Medicine at Radnor and the small one at the Wynnewood Train Station.  Amazing how unstable these sculptures are.  Even cementing them to the ground and cementing the rocks to each other doesn't keep them intact.  But I have dogged persistence.  I return again and again and again, etc.. etc., etc. and restore them.  (Madness?  Of course.) 

The City Ave. sculpture that Richie and I spent so much time making secure with wedges and cement, I rebuilt rapidly with no cement.  Geh gesind.  The cop who was parked in the deserted station's lot didn't even get out of his car to check on me.  He probably said to himself, "Oh, it's just that mad, rock sculpture guy, again". 

Well, there're two photos of the Radnor Park finished sculptures, one old (last week) and the one I did today, in the middle of the day in this horrendous heat and humidity (mad I tell you, mad!). 

I also checked out the sculpture at the abandoned gas station on Belmont Ave.  It was pretty much intact, even though the construction people had made a side walk in front of it.  I spent most of my time weeding the area around it so people could see it.  Two nice folk stopped and told me how much they like the sculptures.  Bless them, as I was thinking that this was truly a waste of time (as well as making me mad).

Well, the pitiful sculpture at the Montgomery Ave. island is gone.  If you missed it, you didn't miss much.  I knew the Bala Cynwyd Civic Assoc. would re-claim that plot, and didn't put a great effort into making a grand display.  The small flower garden looks quite nice (though it would certainly look better with a rock sculpture smack in the middle of it, heh,heh). 

Oy, Does My Back Hurt!

Thank you to Dr. Peter Wolf for the fine granite blocks he so kindly donated to my efforts to build rock sculptures throughout the known universe.  The fact that he just wants them off his property has no significance to the generosity of the donation.  (Hey, he did go to the trouble to seek me out and to lift them suckers into my car.)  And, damn, but those suckers are heavy.  They could be used for the definition of the word "heavy".
I used the granite blocks twice today.  This morning I went out to the City Ave./Conshohocken State Road sculpture and re-built it with the granite to make it bigger.  (Don't care what people may say, bigger IS better.)  And, as you can see in the picture, the sculpture certainly does look better.  I've also been trying to weed and maintain this little island of shrubbery.  People stop to ask what I plan to do with the property, like I own the place.  Then, look at me like I have two heads when I tell them that I just do this for the hell of it (or like a good neighbor).

In the afternoon, Richie and I got together and built a rock sculpture in his parents backyard.  (Did I mention those granite blocks were heavy?)  Used three of the granite blocks in the sculpture, along with several of my stash of rocks.  Richie was very helpful in both the lifting and the creativity of the sculpture.  Deana and Rob, Richie's parents, commented on how his senior project was the hit of his class.  Who knew that this would be such a big deal?  If only there were financial rewards, I could retire, hire a crew of young people and direct them in building rock sculptures.  Yo, I can dream, can't I?

Anyway, the results of our efforts needed to wait for Deana and Rob's approval.  They were out getting a lesson in how to use their I-Phones.  So, a second visit will be needed to mortar the smaller rocks into place.  However, I think Richie and I did a great job and have no doubt his parents will agree.