Living In the World, Not on It

The first part of the day was amazing in one sense, but the latter part of the day was the best in terms of personal fun. I love the city of Philadelphia and my favourite part - and I go there every time I visit - is the foutain in Logan's Circle. It is a really wonderful piece of artwork. It's actual name is Swann Memorial Fountain, and there is a lot of meaning to it. It represents the meeting of the three major rivers in Philadelphia: the Delaware, the Schuykill and the Wissahickon Rivers. The artist, Alexander Stirling Calder, designed the characters representing the rivers after Native American gods. The young girl leaning on her side against an agitated, water-spouting swan represents the Wissahickon Creek; the mature woman holding the neck of a swan stands for the Schuylkill River; and the male figure, reaching above his head to grasp his bow as a large pike sprays water over him, symbolizes the Delaware River. Sculpted frogs and turtles spout water toward the 50- foot (...

Yesterday was a really big day for me. A lot happened while nothing happened. It was huge. The whole reason to go to Philadelphia was to see Dr. Carsten Bonnemann, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a specialist in neuromuscular conditions, especially limb girdle muscular dystrophy. My aunt went there with her daughter and met with Dr. Bonnemann some time ago, maybe in the fall or summer of 2007. We finally made an appointment about mid-February for yesterday. We had an 0830 appointment and got there about seven minutes early (the traffic in Philadelphia is absolutely horrendous ). We filled out the paperwork, got Ma registered and waited in the room with a million kids. OK, not a million but way too many. You know me, no kids is perfect. One child is livable but not ideal. There were at least six or seven in there. I must say that they were more behaved than most. Maybe it is because they are there with neuromuscular issues from minor and not obvious to the patently...

The return trip home was a longer journey, both because we were over tired from walking around all over the place, and because leaving any place (especially a major city) at 1615 is a problem! The congestion in and around Philadelphia was staggering. Still, with only one ten-minute pitstop, and the first ten minutes of my mother whining incessantly about the usual things, we were underway and got to my house by 1930. That is a long old trip. Still, once my mother stopped complaining and moaning and popped in another movie, it was fine, Ray and I bonding some more on the drive back as the sun played hide-and-seek with the high cirrus clouds that presage bad weather. At least we can say that - we did indeed have truly perfect weather! Unfortunately, the gods of technology are displeased with me once again... my laptop battery died completely. I can't even get it working plugged in. My own home unit died sometimes a few months ago. So, until then, there are no photos, and it will be h...

Pictures will follow tonight or tomorrow. The dinner was phenominal! It really was delicious, and I am very, very happy that I splurged and went for the shrimp. The bed was torture, the room was FREEZING, and I turned, tossed and had a ton of weird dreams. Not what I had in mind for a good night's sleep. And my back... is killing me! This is the restaurant on the lobby level. The shot was taken outside of our room on the top (8th) floor.

We made it! The first five minutes were definitely the hardest - I thought I might have to kill my mother: "Where is this?" Why can't I hear that?" "Can you open this?" "Can you get me that?" "Is there anything to eat? I need to eat." Ye gods. I bet you didn't know anyone other than a 2-year-old could fit that many questions into a five minute time span. Once on the highway with the new navigator leading the way, she got into watching whatever movie she was watching (I think it was Steel Magnolias ) and Ray and I could talk - the whole 2+ hours - watching the traffic (thankfully there was none until 295 South), seeing other drivers, passing places that Ray worked as an electrician. We did stop once to get gas and thought that at $3.17 (low test) and $3.40 (high test) a gallon it was a steal - how sad is that. We got into Philly and low test gasoline was a whopping $3.50! Yowza! Good thing it's only a day trip (one night over in ...