March 16, 2018

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Our Philadelphia hotel served breakfast each morning (included in the price of staying there).  I had oatmeal almost every day.

My better half played bridge on March 16.  I wandered back east to a historical area.

Southern magnolias are different from our northern ones.  The leaves are bigger, and stiffer (as are the flowers).  And the leaves stay on the trees through the winter.  I encountered this one on the pavement.

I looked around for the tree, and found a few behind me.  These trees are bigger than northern magnolias.

And they have interesting seedpods.  This one was so dirty.  I'd like to see a fresher one, and I'd like to have been able to rinse this one off.....

I thought about 'shopping that skeletal "hand" out of the top of the previous image, but then I figured it was the tree's roots, and so is part of the story........

A closer look at the above.

I went to the Museum of the American Revolution.  As you would expect, it was a lot about fighting and weapons.

It's interesting to see the way museums are changing.  They are working on including those whose voices have been silent for too long.  It's not all about rich white men any more......  (Mostly, but not all.....)

Thank you, William, for standing up for those other than the 1%.  I hope you didn't abuse anyone with less power than you.



The Museum of the American Revolution's premier item is George Washington's tent.  You sit through a video, and get a very brief look at the actual tent (no photos).

This image is from Wikimedia Commons, which says it is in the public domain.

My brother and sister-in-law are in the Society for Creative Anachronism.  They own a pavilion tent.  I haven't seen it in a while, but George's tent reminded me of what I remember of theirs, including the scalloped edge where the top overlaps the sides....



I also went to the Science History Institute.  The part I liked best were the results of chemists inventing pigments and dyes.

I can't swear that the prev is part of Dorothy Nickerson's work, but I took the prev and the next images in the same minute.  I think the above is part of her work....  I could work with those colors.......

Now if we could just lose the condescending "...ess" and let her be a prophet..................



This next bit I think was someone else's work.  "Sadden with blue vitriol"............... 

I wonder what "pole well" means.  Stirring wool when it's wet is a good way to get a wad of felt......

On the way back to the hotel I walked by a federal court building.  The full statement on this side of the building is "JUSTICE THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY."  Yes.  Yes, please, o please, may the courts stand up and protect our constitution and our democracy.  PLEASE.  Amen.

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March 15, 2018 -- convention center

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On the 15th I walked over to the convention center with my better half.  Some of his bridge games were in a hotel, and some were in the convention center.  This is not where he played, but it's in the convention center.  That's a lot of bridge tables.....  And this is not one of the largest rooms that were used by the bridge players.

Several days ago we looked south toward Billy Penn along a big road that was essentially empty of traffic because of the St. Patrick's Day parade.  This is a re-run; we saw the next image then. 

That big bunch of glass on the left is the west end of the convention center.

This is the other side of the glass on the left in the previous image.  We're looking north.  This space is six or seven stories tall.

This is a closer crop of the above -- showing the stairs and escalators at the far end of that lower area.  That low area is at least three stories lower than where we are standing, looking down.  The very tall escalators at the right side of the previous image are at least three stories tall.

In the upper right of the image just above we can see a railing over a plexiglass barrier.  A sort of balcony looking over this big empty space at the west end of the convention center.  We'll see that from the other side anon.



A slightly different perspective on this same area...........  I went up one of these escalators, and turned right into a hallway.

There is a lot of art in the convention center.  Almost all of it is very big, as is necessary to make a statement in such a big space.  This is two towers made of dyed phone-book pages.  !!  I think this is cool........

Two very large drawings.  I think these were about a yard square.  Curled bark bits......

Embroidery!  There were at three pieces by this artist, right together.  I think this is Tessellations. (Near the windows on the west end of the convention center, so there's lots of reflection, alas.)

The convention center is really big.  This is the highest floor on the west end.  We are looking south.  At right we can see the windows behind the big glass area we saw from the street on parade day.

I have my back to the north end of this expanse.  I counted the steps I took from here to the light rectangle at the other end, and if I remember correctly, it was 230 steps.  This is a BIG building.  And the coolest part was that I had this whole end of it essentially to myself.  After days and days in a noisy crowded city, I had alllllllllllllllllllllllll of this space, all to myself.  It was lovely.  It was fabulous.  All of this space, and all of this air, all for *me*.  No one else breathing the air I need to live.  Nor disturbing my peace with their noise, noise, noise.  And there was no trash.  Not because I picked it up, either.  Because there wasn't any.  Lovely, lovely, lovely.  If I'd had a comfy chair (and a novel), I could have spent all day here.  Just breathing.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.................

Closer crop of the above.  For scale -- benches around the bottom of the big rectangular support thing in the upper right corner of the prev.  Behind the rectangle we can see the railing above the plexiglass between us and the balcony over that big open space near the top of this post (with all of the escalators).

This ceiling seems low, after 6 or 7 stories of open space where the escalators are.  But you can see it must be at least 12 or 15' tall.

We have now walked all the way to the south end of this same space.  We're looking out into the rectangle of light we were looking at from a distance a moment ago.

Billy Penn.

The window we looked out in the prev is to our right now.  We are looking down the hallway along the south side of the convention center.

Closer crop of the above.  This was not so empty as the west end, but way less congested than outside, and quieter, too.  Note at least two more art installations on the left.  There was a LOT of art in here.  I didn't like all of it, but I was glad to see many media and many women represented.  Good job, convention center art buyers!!!

I walked and walked in the convention center.  This is a (BIG) space getting ready to hold a convention.  (I think this is along the east end of the convention center?  But I don't know.)

Closer crop of the upper left of the above.  Rolls of carpet.....  And a few tiny guys in the distance.  I wonder how long it takes to turn this big empty room into ... whatever it's going to look like when it is ready for prime time.

In the hallway outside the door I looked through into that big big space, a bunch of people were working on getting banners hung.  I talked to one of them for a couple of minutes.  He told me this is "only the 5th largest" convention center in the country.  Or something like that; my memory for that sort of detail is getting hazy, almost a month later.  It must take SO many people to make this building do it's job.  So much organization.  So many person hours.....

I don't suppose random people would have been allowed to walk around in that room once it was set up, but I wonder what it was like.  I hope the librarians found their convention interesting and useful.

Back in our hotel room.  I guess this was a bed spread.

This interesting textile was spread on our bed.  It was light weight -- heavier than a sheet, but not by much.  Love the texture.  We are looking at the end of the bed.  On the left the spread is heading down to the floor.

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March 14, 2018 -- part 2, Drexel's Natural History museum

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Drexel University's natural history museum is very near the Franklin Institute.  The natural history museum is smaller, and quieter.  (At least -- it was quieter when we were there!)

They have paleontologist talks.  This next image shows the paleontologist we talked with, in the place where we talked to him (with his drawings on the blackboards behind him).

This image is a confusion of media.  At some point, someone took video of him, and much later I took a pic of the video (which was elsewhere in the museum).  (This explains the gold reflections on his throat and shoulder....)

The lab (one of the labs?) where they separate dino bones from the rock in which they were found is open to the public (with plexiglass between, so visitors aren't showered with rock dust or fragments).  I think they use a lot of dental tools to get rid of the rock......  It was interesting to talk to the paleontologist, who was on the team which found some of the bones they were cleaning when we were there. 

There was also a volunteer there, working on cleaning bones.  What a cool volunteer job!  (Aside from the requirement that volunteers talk to visitors about what they are doing....)



I'd seen pressed flowers and pressed plants before, but this is the first time I'd seen a pressed plant specimen the size of a full-grown sunflower plant!  This was over 6' tall.  When I think of "pressed plants," I don't think of something the size of a sunflower stem.  That is not a flat object.......

Drexel's natural history museum has a bunch of taxidermy.  I'm pretty creeped out by taxidermy.  Knowing how so many of the critters displayed are now endangered makes me sincerely wish the ones who are dead, in museums, had been allowed to live out their lives in peace in their rightful habitat.

Sigh.



I'd rather look at live bugs than at dead mammals.

They have a butterfly room, with lots of butterflies (and some moths).

This one was on the floor.  I was hoping no one would step on it, especially after someone came in with a little kid and a stroller.  They did have a person in there to protect the butterflies.  But one person can't really keep close track of more than one little kid, unless they are really on task, and if there are more than two little kids, I'll assert that the insects are not safe with only one alert guardian.

These guys were enjoying a slice of orange.

Interesting and scary  how many of these insects were injured, even in a place with no predators.  (Though, I suppose, a toddler is a fairly fearsome predator.....)

This was huge.  Over 6' wide.........  Note little pale things in lower left corner.

Betting these are someone's eggs........  (And I think the shadows are interesting.)

I like that we can tell it was flapping those wings.

This is an insect, too.  I believe we are looking mostly at its back.  I think its head is near the top, pretty much in the middle.  I think it has a big point on the back of its head.  I think I can make out six legs.......  This would be really well camouflaged in dry leaf litter...........

On our way out.  Aren't these the coolest door pulls?

Walking back to the hotel.  Tadeusz Kosciuszko was a Revolutionary-war hero.  My mom grew up in Kosciuszko County, Indiana.  I always get pics of Tadeusz when I find his image.

This is for you, Mom. 

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