Toleration, another view

I'm cheating today -- this photo was taken two weeks ago, on January 26. I want to spend a little more time talking about this fellow.

The statue is known as Toleration, and stands as a tribute to the local Quaker tradition. It has been presiding over this spot on Rinker's Rock on the eastern ridge of the valley since 1883. To give you an idea of scale, he stands close to ten feet tall; this photo was taken from the trail at the bottom of Rinker's rock, maybe forty feet below. The Wissahickon itself runs about one hundred and fifty feet below.

The most outstanding characteristic of this statue, to me, is its obscurity. He's not easy to find, standing on a secluded outcropping of rock far from the most used trails. Most stumble upon him by accident.

Looking for snow

Taken around 9:00 this morning, atop Rinker's Rock, looking out toward the western ridge of the valley. That's the Toleration statue to the left. A dank, drizzly and cold morning, appropriate for February.

This has been a mild winter, with no more than a coating of snow. It occurs to me that if we don't get snow in the next week or so, the chances of it for this season will soon quickly diminish. In three weeks it will be March. To be sure, we can get a major snow storm in March -- anyone of a certain age living in Philadelphia in 1993 will remember that year's late season blizzard. But that storm is remembered as much for its rarity as for the amount of snow.

Rush hour, Walnut Lane Bridge

8:00 a.m., Friday morning, from atop the Walnut Lane Bridge.

A thing of beauty

Wednesday, February 6, a little after noon.

The inn at Valley Green , three and three-quarter miles from the creek's mouth, and a mile from the Germantown Avenue, is a rendezvous of and delightful refreshment station for all. For many years a committee of public-spirited women have had it in their care. Here ends navigation for canoes, and here in winter there is excellent skating. Just above the inn Springfield Avenue comes down from St. Martin's over an arched bridge which is a thing of beauty.
-- The Wissahickon by T. D. Daly, 1922

Duck. Duck. Goose!

Tuesday, February 5, a little after noon, Valley Green. The sky was overcast, but the temperature was pushing sixty, and it felt every bit of spring. Someone was feeding bread to the ducks and geese, and I had my camera ready.

One response to public space

Detail from graffiti, under the Henry Avenue Bridge, Monday morning.

Gimme shelter

Gray Monday morning, 8:00. I scrambled under the Henry Avenue Bridge to escape the drizzle.