What I don't know could fill a room or work is good

I was sitting at my desk and out of the corner of my eye, I saw somebody reach over and grab a donut.  After our construction meetings on Wednesday mornings, there are always donuts leftover which I put in the reception area for the staff.  Something told me, check that.  Maybe it was his body language, the way a kid  radiates guilt when they’re up to something they shouldn’t be doing.   I go over and look in the donut box, and sure enough, its empty.  This happens often in my office.  Someone will take the last of something and just leave the empty box, bag, whatever, just sitting there.  I could feel my mother bubbling right up inside of me.  I had caught him red handed.  So I stepped into the office, handed him the box and walked right out.  He took it without hesitation.  He we was busted.  It’s the little moments in the day that just make you smile.

I can remember in the clinic, when a nurse practitioner or some other trained medical staff person would come up and say, “we are out of needles.  Do we have any more?”  It would drive me bananas.  Again, channeling Pearl I would say, “ and when you used the fourth to last, third to last, it never occurred to you to mention it?”  That was serious stuff and they were just so cavalier.  I guess they always worked somewhere where someone else took responsibility for everything.  EVERYTHING.  Oh, they do the same sort of thing here… leave the bathroom with no paper or towels.  Use the last ream of paper and don’t tell anyone but we’re on to them.  Now it is challenge for GM to stay one step ahead of the staff and their crazy work habits.  One of my colleagues always takes it personally.  It frustrates her to no end.  Me, well, if I made it through the stress of the clinic where people’s lives really were impacted, now it’s a game.  A challenge.  A gauntlet.  Frustrating?  Of course.  But those little moments…. Handing that donut box over, well…  How sweet it is.

Wednesdays are my best and worst days.  Those donuts mean its construction meeting day.  It also means a roomful of men angling for one thing or the other.  The architect is an absent minded professor who is basically a two person shop with no support.  The contractors are great.  Real Philly folk, complete with accents and attitude.  The project manager is a guy who is well meaning but also with a flair for the dramatic.  He gets so frustrated with the architect and how slowly he moves that sometimes he literally looks like a cartoon character with steam coming out of his ears. 

Sometimes they try to draw me in to take sides on one issue or another.  If I knew one darn thing about construction, this might work. Luckily, I don’t.  So I can’t.  I’m no fool.  For the most part it is amusing… at least when no one is yelling.  My boss tends to yelling.  We can have the most stressful, tense meeting and then the architect will tell me, “this is the best part. “  Really, THIS is the best part?  Ugh.

We’re a little behind schedule, the thickness of the walls is in question, the split system made in the US is 1.5 times as expensive as the Mexican one, the sprinkler design is off kilter, the transformer probably won’t fit into the basement in its finished form and that’s just the stuff I understand!

It is a whirlwind and the learning curve is steep.  But better challenged than bored any day.

Children’s Theatre starts next week and according to all sources it’s a circus.  And so it goes.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

weekend warrior

This was a great weekend. Yesterday I met some new friends at Reading Terminal Market. It’s a downtown Market that has been open since 1893. It was renovated in the ten years or so I think. It’s a bustling market filled with every kind of food you can imagine. The most interesting are the Amish vendors selling pies, bread, desserts as well as ribs, deli salads and more. There is coffee, food, sweets, savory, candles, quilt, and everything else you can think of. Here’s a tidbit from the Reading Terminal web site. I love the last line… a veritable babble of farmers and food purveyors.

Soon the so-called ‘Jersey Market’ (because most of the hucksters were from the neighboring state) began to expand westward in the middle of the thoroughfare that had been appropriately renamed Market Street. With the growth of Philadelphia came the expansion of public markets. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the string of market sheds had become six blocks long, making the easternmost mile of the city’s main street a veritable babble of farmers and food purveyors on most days.

After the market I hopped the 23 bus and headed over the Wilma Theater to meet my friend Patch who came up from DC to see a show, Satchmo at the Waldorf. It was wonderful. If you get the opportunity to see it somewhere, you should go. It was one actor, John Douglas Thompson, and he was amazing. It was a nice afternoon and my first time at the Wilma.

Following the show, I walked through the streets of Philadelphia heading roughly toward my mom’s. I decided to make another attempt at Federal Donuts. I went last week but they were out of their “fancies” and all of their chicken. Yet again on this trip they were out of the fancies but at least they had chicken. I got a small order with “cowboy coffee” glaze. I wandered the rest of the way to my mom’s stopping here and there, with the most amazing fried chicken smell wafting out of my backpack. It was worth the wait – and the hype. It was delicious.

Today I went out in search of a Turducken. For those not in the know, that’s a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey. I tried one day table. I had called a number of places and got a recommendation of a butcher in the Italian Market. So that was my adventure for this week.

Welcome to Philadelphia’s Italian market, the oldest and largest working outdoor market in the United States. Still predominantly Italian it has the best of many cultures and cuisines to offer the shoppers. Gourmet cooks and tourist alike can explore and discover the depth and breadth of the multitude of products available here.

There are farmer, butchers, poultry, bakeries, cheese shops, spice shops and I’m sure much more all packed into very crowded city streets. I visited Esposito’s butcher shop and got my Turducken. I decided to get my veggies while I was there too. I had my “bubbe” cart and was ready to shop. I wandered along, finding the best looking vegetables and got everything I needed. What’s funny is that one side of the narrow sidewalk, you have fruit and veggie vendors and on the store side, some of the stores are just junk. Little markets, a wig store, a “variety” store, dollar store types (but mom and pop, not big box). I bet you could find anything down there, but only if you had the wildest clue where to look for it.

I cut down a little street and headed back to the car. I heard someone yelling, “hey, lady, Hey, lady,” but wasn’t paying attention. Finally, for some reason, I turned around and realized that a woman was calling after me. I was leaving a trail of oranges down the street. My bad had toppled over in my cart, and the oranges were falling right out through the lattice work of the cart.

Hilarious.

Needless to say, it was the highlight of the trip!

Dinner with the family, and a call with my Miami bestie. Who could ask for more?

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Hard hat or hard headed? Never sure...

Hey, look what I got!  It's my own hard hat for when I visit the construction site.  Yeah.  How fun.

Let's see.  It's been a whirlwind

We opened our second show of the season, had a 25th anniversary concert, had a hurricane, a nor'easter and an election. Not bad for a two week span.

Luckily, the city of Philadelphia - at least the downtown area was spared everything but the wind by both Hurricane Sandy and the nor'easter.  Did that one have a name?  There was plenty of damage to go around in the surrounding areas, however, and that was more than a bit scary.  How ironic to have left Miami only to be faced with a super storm up here.

I’m assuming the election has been all talked out by now but suffice it to say I am still stunned by how sane people can believe such very different things when looking at similar circumstances.  That's me being diplomatic.  Cool, huh?

Winter is certainly on its way.  Temps have been down even into the 30's on some nights and that is a change no matter what I tell myself. My self-declared opposition to socks may be tested by my move up north.  We'll see.  I have nothing but linen shirts to choose from in the mornings...shopping might be in order. I think there's some fashion rule against wearing linen in November in the north.  I don't think I want to break any fashion rules… I think I live close enough to the edge of that sort of thing.

I decided that I wanted to try a new spot every week.  This weekend it’s going to be Federal Donuts.  This is a Philly establishment in South Philly.  They just opened a new one downtown and it caused a full out tizzy amongst the foodies.  So I want to try it.  Obviously, they sell donuts but interesting flavors like pumpkin, maple bacon, Turkish mocha, and PB&J.  Yum.  They also sell fried chicken with interesting sauces but I’m unclear on the level of funkiness.  I will report back.  Being an explorer is a hard job, but someone has to do it.  I am up to the task.

Come visit and explore with me.  Until then, your intrepid reporter.  I’m off to sleep. There’s shopping to be done.  And, well, we did good this week. We did. The next four years won’t be easy, but they could have been much harder.  Cheers.