entertaining

You've just moved into a new home, nothing is unpacked, there's no furniture, and it's the hottest weekend on record.  What do you do?  Have houseguests!  Andrea and her friend Shannon were in town for a wedding, so we put them up in the office.  It's the perfect size for some bookshelves and a desk, but add two sleeping bags and things are pretty tight.  Above, we have a picnic lunch while Mr. Sandless works downstairs.

One of the nights they were here we went out to dinner at a place called the South Philadelphia Tap Room.  Greg loves the place because it serves Boar Burgers, which he describes as tasting like bacon but in burger form.  One of the members of our party didn't have ID, so the waitress regretfully informed us that none of us could order from the bar.  We didn't mind drinking soda, but apparently they felt so bad about it that they sent us out a free dessert!  It was very tasty, but visually, well, it resembled feces. 

After that we broke in the new floor with a game of cards.  Below, Andrea and Shannon dolled up for the wedding.  I have to put this cute picture of Andrea in to soften the blow for the pictures I'll be posting soon...hehehe.

city murals

If you spend much time walking around the streets of Philadelphia (apologies to Bruce) you'll notice the murals that decorate the city.  They are part of an initiative called the Mural Arts Program (www.muralarts.org) and they really do bring a sense of community to the city--there are murals celebrating everything from Philly boxers to Old Blue Eyes to feminism.  

However, the mural that I pass every time I drive to Lowe's or Ikea confuses me.  It's the face of a child surrounded by what appear to be white clouds in a blue sky.  

A closer look, however, reveals that the clouds are actually cat heads.  Why?

Even more strange is the one two doors down of a woman shooting a basketball surrounded by purple squid.  I'll try to get a picture.

two amazing images

This first one, which is right around the corner from our house, pretty much speaks for itself.

This second one didn't turn out too well in the picture, but I still have to post it.  It's an ad that came in the South Philly review for Glock Day!  According to one of the little bubbles, "Members can win a Glock just by walking in the door."  To which there is only one appropriate response: AWESOME.

A South Philly favorite done right in South Jersey

We didn't make it to Mercy Street this weekend.  Greg is nursing a sore throat and I'm working on end-of-the-semester papers.  However, we did make it out for a stroll to the Water Ice Factory, which is just a few blocks away.  Water ice is a local delicacy, not to be confused with slushees, sno-cones, or Italian Ice.  It's frozen yet creamy in texture, and in my opinion, tastes best in some kind of tropical fruit flavor, like mango or coconut.  Looks like we'll have to do the hard work of testing all the options in our new neighborhood.

Funny flier

It's a tough call as to what is most amusing about this flier, which was waiting for us on our step today: the fact that Kelly decided to name her cat Buttface, or the fact that she thinks Buttface's polydactlity will help us identify him.

Window dressings

There's this thing they do in South Philly: decorate their windows and doors for the holidays. When we moved in, it was Christmas lights and Santa cutouts.  On approximately January 2nd, every window on the block had candy hearts and roses.  Now that Valentine's Day is over, however, things have gotten a little hairy.  Here are three pictures of three houses right next to each other and directly across the street from us, demonstrating the competing holidays.  (Apologies that the pictures are fuzzy; I took them from inside our own house so people wouldn't think I was nuts.)

Saint Patrick's Day

Chinese New Year

Easter

I'm trying to decide whether I should just put some nice seasonal flowers in our window box and leave it at that, or if I should fully embrace the tackiness and make it my goal to outdo everyone on the street.

South Philly Freestanding Chick-Fil-A

At the end of a long day's work, it's nice to know that Chick-Fil-A is right down the street.  The  South Philly Chick-Fil-A is not just any Chick-Fil-A, however.  It has something I haven't seen at any other Chick-Fil-A I've been to.

That's right, Texas Pete hot sauce.  It is the perfect complement to the original Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich.  Why is South Philly so special?  Why don't all Chick-Fil-A's offer this delicious condiment?  I don't know, but I'm glad I live by this one.

And even more exciting, the view across the parking lot.

Local Flavor

Yesterday I spent the afternoon scrubbing walls and removing staples and nails from the bedroom and office floors.  Greg and Dennis came over after work and the three of us decided to take a walk to local sandwich place for dinner.  Here are some of the conversations we overheard while we waited for our cheesesteaks:

***

[Elderly man enters.]

Owner:  Hey, buddy how you doin'?  Where's your brother?

Man:  He's working on my car...did you hear I got a new car?

Owner:  Oh yeah.  Did you have a good New Year?  Of course you did, you're a Mummer*. Mummers always enjoy New Year.

***

[Delivery Woman returns.]

Delivery Woman:  Anything ready?

Cashier:  Nah.

DW:  Did you hear about the weather this week?  60 degrees on Wednesday.

Cashier:  Crazy.

DW:  Did they send a shuttle up to space again?  Every time they do they mess with the ozone layer and it screws up the temperature.  I wish they'd stop sending people up to space.

***

[Dennis introduces himself to the owner and explains that we are new to the neighborhood.]

Owner:  Where ya from?

Dennis:  South Jersey.

Owner:  Oh yeah, where?

Dennis:  Magnolia, it's not far from Deptford.

Owner:  [Silence.]  What diners?

Dennis:  Philly Diner, Geets Diner.

Owner:  Oh yeah, Geets.  Right.

And then we got our sandwiches and headed back.

*A Mummer, as far as I can tell, is someone who participates in Philly's Mummer's Day Parade on New Year.  Apparently this is the country's largest folk parade, which means rather than elaborate floats financed by corporations, you have groups of families and friends parading around.  The parade is divided into the comics, the fancies, the string bands, and the fancy brigades.  Each of these groups is more lavish than the next.  The comics (at least from what I saw this year, my first encountering this very unusual tradition) seem to be mainly drunk men in goofy costumes, sometimes organized around a theme, but usually pretty loosely.  The fancies have slightly more exaggerated costumes, using the three main ingredients (sequins, feathers, and parasols) liberally.  The string bands have fairly complex acts and are judged based on musicality, choreography, theme, etc.  Their themes might be "Hot Nights in the Jungle" or "The Old West."  Finally, the Fancy Brigades, which focus mainly on the staging and choreography.    It is really bizarre to watch straight men prance around in sequins and feathers for twelve hours, but it's apparently at the heart of what makes South Philly and environs so community-oriented.  If you have a second to google Mummers, you'll get a much better idea of what I'm trying to describe.

Why South Philly?

Ever since Greg and I decided to leave our apartment in Media, PA (Everybody's Hometown and America's First Fair Trade Town), we've been answering the question: Why South Philly?  My family asks because they're not from around here and all South Philly means to them is Rocky and cheesesteaks.  Greg's family asks because they are from around here, and many of their relatives left this very part of the city one or two generations ago.    

Because people ask for different reasons, we give them different answers.  We tell people who aren't from the area that South Philly is much more than Rocky and cheesesteaks: it's the Italian market, the close-knit neighborhoods, the red-brick rowhomes, and the sense of history and tradition.  We tell those who live in the suburbs that we want to experience living in a city--sure, parking will be a hassle, and there's that city wage tax, but we're young and energetic and love the movement, the diversity, the fact that we won't have to worry about mowing the lawn or finding something to do on a Friday night.  Our realtor, who has lived in South Philly his whole life, told us incredulously that when he visits his brother in the Jersey burbs, the streets are quiet by 9 PM!  

As someone who grew up in apartment buildings and condos, the idea of living in a stand-alone home is unsettling.  I spent a few years during elementary school in a house in Southern California, and I was often scared going to sleep at night, having watched the news and knowing that my bedroom window was pretty penetrable.  Later, living in a high-rise apartment building in a big city, I found a lot of comfort in the knowledge that there were people above me, below me, on either side of me.  That's not the only reason I want to live in the city, but it's a definite perk.

On Andrea's last day in town, I let her off demo duty.  We drove around the neighborhood and had a tasty lunch at the Royal Tavern.  All these pictures, which Andrea took, are of locations within walking distance of our place, and hopefully give an idea of why we chose to live here.

Howdy Neighbor

Over the last few days, we've met a few neighbors.  Across the street is Rita, who's lived in her house for 50 years, but told us about two other women who have lived on the street longer than she has.  Next door is Lou, a student a University of the Arts.  We also met Nick, a 27 year-old who's been here his whole life.   At this point, I think Greg is most excited about the elderly ladies and the hope that they'll bake him pizzelles if he shovels their stoops.