A New Beginning

I am arrived at my new home in Philadelphia.

My fancy Victorian doorknob

It is very different from the Bay Area; the heat is tropical in feel. There is distant thunder and sudden showers; a clinging heat; the relief of cool breezes. There are cicada rattling away in the trees and mosquitoes breeding in puddles.

There are Victorian row houses and debris everywhere. Some of this debris is useful, even wanted, if not by the person who discarded it. (More on that later!)

Urban gardening abounds. Yesterday afternoon I went with my housemate to pillage a friend's front yard. We took away about five pounds of figs, quite a few rose hips, a large bunch of rosemary, lemon balm, two kinds of basil, a couple fat yellow tomatoes and some Indian spinach.The figs are going to be preserves or jam, if my housemate tends to them in time - fresh figs apparently don't have very long shelf life in a sweltering heat. I plan to cut up and dry the rose hips for tea. I imagine myself having a hot cup in the wintertime, when the snow comes.

Vegetarian food cart at Clark Park

Every day I am wearing myself out with running errands and explorations. I am out of shape, and not used to the heat. I am sunburnt and sore and have learned the hard way that V. can't or won't walk for more than about four city blocks without insisting on being carried. I wish I had someone to carry me! When I get too tired, we either go home or to Clark Park, and she runs around for a while with the mix of kids that pop in and out of there. At any one time there can be four languages spoken, from Mandarin to possible Croatian. V. thinks it's a blast, but not because of the linguistics: she just likes to play.