Old Man Winter Leaves a Message

Old man winter lingers. The daylight equals the dark. Yet, he leaves a reminder. He still sways favor.

This snow arrived before sunrise the second day of spring.

It didn't hang around long.

Snow cloaked

sunrise blooms

White to melt

roots consume

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

2013 First Day of Spring Oaks Construction

I was fairly active with my camera on the first day of spring. Here are the construction sites at the intersections of Egypt and Black Rock Roads. Including the building sites and some road reconstruction at the US 422 exit for traffic driving east.

Bank site

Chicago Grill site

Wawa site and beyond

Landscaping near intersection

Eastbound exit US 422 at Oaks

Two utility poles were planted at the eastbound entrance to US 422 to support the weight of the power lines going around the Oaks Shopping Center site.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

First Day of Spring 2013 in Oaks, PA

The economy is still crawling along. Nonetheless, spring arrived this morning with not so much as a fair-thee-well. 

I thought I would grab a couple of photographs of the home improvement store in Oaks. They have been geared up for spring since the beginning of March. 

The weather has been capricious with quite a bit of snow and rain this month. Still, there was a phalanx of riding movers in front of the store ready and awaiting commands.

Unlike their walk behind snow throwers that just a few weeks earlier stood at attention in the very spot these sexy machines now stand, the brightly colored seductive seats of these beauties beckon the passerby to climb atop them, sink into their folds and give them a little bounce.

That should get the economy going.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Persephone Breathes Color into the Garden

Twenty-five days have elapsed since Hades released Persephone from the underworld and I saw her head pushing up the soil in my garden. Cold and wet days have poured in to fill the gap since. Now the daughter of Demeter breathes brilliant life back into the garden.

Dwarf Iris

I have always loved spring flowering bulbs. Plant them in the fall and the garden's winter palette of dull grays and browns changes to brilliant hues of purples, blues, pinks and yellows. 

crocus

Crocus and dwarf iris are the first to bloom in my garden. My  preference has changed from crocus to the dwarf iris. You must admit, they are beautiful.

crocus

Not that I don't like crocus. I do. Look at the complexity of the petals, the shape of the pistil and color of the stamen. Marvelous. 

Muscarii in the foreground and Jonquil in the background

If you don't have spring flowering bulbs planted in your garden, I have a suggestion. Travel around your neighborhood or town and look to see what others have done with their spring flowering bulbs. If you don't know the name of a flower you like, knock on the owner's door and ask. Photograph the garden bed and research online. There is no better time to plan next years spring bulb garden than right now.

Gardening doesn't get any easier than planting spring flowering bulbs. I used more time and energy choosing which bulbs to plant than planting the actual bulbs. For a small amount of physical labor you will receive years and years of pleasure. A tremendous ROI.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Shopping Center Progress 8 March 2013

Cold weather and rain have slowed the pace of construction a bit, at the Oaks Shopping Center. I grabbed these overview photographs of the construction site on Friday. 

It was overcast. The ground was covered with snow in the early morning. By 10:00 what sunshine got through the clouds was enough to melt the white blanket.

The graders deposited a large mound of soil behind what looks like a rectangle shaped plot. I believe this is for Penn Liberty Bank, near the intersection of Egypt and Black Rock Rds. There are also sloughs lined with straw between the plot and the intersection. They are probably for drainage as is the same kind of slough near the intersection of Egypt and Mill Rds.

The next plot to the west on Egypt Rd., I believe is for Wawa. That dark square of soil will probably be the gasoline pumps area.

The houses that were once shielded by the train track and trees are quite visible from the road at this point. And, if I can paraphrase, contrary-wise, the saying on the back of a tractor trailer, "If you can see me in my mirror, I can see you."

I am pretty darn sure those homeowners never saw this project coming.

I am reminded of something the Roman poet Virgil once wrote:

Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus, singula dum

 capti circumvectamur amore, 

which means, according to wikipedia, 

"But meanwhile it flees: time flees irretrievably, while we

wander around, prisoners of our love of detail"

Obla-dee, obla-da!

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Mid-day First Monday in March

Oaks Shopping Center Construction

The weather has been cold and wet since my last post about the construction. There were a few days when there wasn't any activity because of the weather.

The above drainage slough was modified with a storm water pipe just past the middle of the plot. The pipe was then covered with dirt so vehicles and heavy equipment could get over it.

If I am reading the plans correctly, pipe will be placed throughout the slough, covered and paved over. This will be the main exit from the shopping center. The only exit governed by a traffic signal.


Below the land sculpting continues.

My try at art.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Excited About Silver Linings Oscar Party

I don't watch sports much. I usually only get excited about a local sports team when it makes it to the final series.  I don't go to the cinema much either. I do get excited when a TV show or movie is recorded in or around my home town, Philadelphia. In the past I was so preoccupied with figuring out at which location a scene was filmed in Philadelphia that I didn't get the clues in "The Sixth Sense" that the character, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, Bruce Willis played was dead.

Scene from the movie "The Shooter" filmed before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA with my son playing a Secret Service Agent, as an extra.

I also get excited when someone close to me is involved in a movie, show or performance. My son has appeared in a few films staged here in Philadelphia and that excited me. When we sat down and watch any of those movies together, I am unable to pick him out unless the movie is paused and my son actually places his finger on the screen next to his image. No matter how trivial his appearance, I was excited.

My son now works at The Movie Tavern. As a perk he is able to bring two guests to see a movie, free. I have not seen as many movies in one year as I have in the last two months. One of those movies was "Silver Linings Playbook" which was mostly filmed just outside of Philadelphia, in and around Drexel Hill, PA.

I first became aware of the filming of "Silver Linings ..." in October of 2011 through a blog by a Philadelphia movie fan, who has been an extra in several movies. On her blog PhillyFilmGirl she had self shot photographs and video of Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro in and around Drexel Hill and the Llanerch Diner on US 1, 95 E. Township Line Rd during filming.

I know these locations. I ate at the Llanerch Diner. I worked in and around these locations when I built, demolished, maintained and changed billboards for some 34 years. I feel like I own part of this place. So when I go to a movie that is set in my town, I go with a critical eye. I go holding a magnifying glass to the screen with my thinking cap on, in acute mode. I want to figure out where each scene was filmed. I get excited.

Tonight is Oscar night 2013. In the Delaware County Daily Times I read there will be two Oscar parties relating to "Silver Linings Playbook" near the filming locations in Drexel Hill. I got excited.

At this time, there is no local sports team in any finals. There is no one I personally know in any kind of show. There is, however, a movie filmed in the Philadelphia area that relates, a little, to sports that is up for several Oscars. I am excited.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Sunsets, Third Week of February in Oaks

As the sunset on 20 February, I grabbed a few images of the construction at the corner of Egypt and Black Rock Roads.

The two photographs above are on the Chicago Grill / Pizzeria Uno site. 

Is it just me or does that roller remind you of the Flintstones?

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved