Tag: Philadelphia

  • Goodbye, Letterly Street

    We go to set­tle­ment on our Let­ter­ly Street home in a few hours. Once it’s over, it’ll be the first time nei­ther Helen nor I have rent­ed or owned a prop­er­ty in the Philadel­phia area since we met in 1996. You were good to us, Let­ter­ly Street. Thanks for all the won­der­ful memories.

  • Saying Goodbye to Port Fishington

    When Helen and I first set­tled in Port Fish­ing­ton six years ago, we thought we’d made a bad deci­sion. We’d moved from a vibrant, bustling street in Pennsport to a des­o­late block above York Street. We found lots of vacant hous­es and even less to eat. It was­n’t scary; the neigh­bors were friend­ly and wel­com­ing.…

  • In Praise of Local Coffee

    What’s your favorite local­ly-roast­ed bean? I’ve tried three recent­ly myself: old favorite La Colombe as well as new jacks Green Street and ReAn­i­ma­tor. Is it blas­phe­my to say I pre­fer La Colombe? It may be my per­son­al pref­er­ence, but no mat­ter how much cof­fee I brew, I just find that La Colombe has a bet­ter,…

  • Visiting Engine 29

    Yes­ter­day’s vis­it to the fire­house at 4th and Girard rekin­dled Char­lie’s love of fire­fight­ing. He climbed on all the trucks, played with every­thing he was allowed to touch and he even sprayed me with a firehose.  Don’t believe it? Here’s proof: Spe­cial thanks to Hip­ster Hen­ry for orga­niz­ing the out­ing. Was a great way for…

  • Hurricane Irene Made for a Hectic Weekend

    Here’s how I fought Hur­ri­cane Irene last week­end in Philadel­phia, PA: Drove wife and son to be with fam­i­ly in north­ern Va as they pre­pared to vaca­tion in, gulp, Corol­la, NC this week. Watched news at moth­er-in-law’s house. Won­dered if Out­er Banks would still exist. Slept. Drove home to Philly at 6 AM. Caught in traf­fic twice behind…