Saturday, December 22, 2007

South Philly Love Song

I'm moved in... an 18 hour day. My son was to have come by ten, didn't show up till two. By that time, I'd carried almost everything downstairs and loaded it on the truck. Those endless boxes of books... all but the computer desk and a couple of file cabinets. The first, too awkward to get around the corner on the stairs, the file cabinets, too heavy.

An eighteen hour day. I'm not that young... two days to recover.

But oh is it good to be back in South Philly. My idea of paradise... well,okay. Not paradise. But a neighborhood with everything I could want or need in walking distance. Not a small consideration, having no car. And food! Ah... the food! A Vietnamese/French bakery a block away with bread and croissants to die for, butcher shops, cheese stores, the Italian Market... misnamed these days...now an international market. Restaurants: Mexican, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Italian, Spanish.. you name it.

I don't cook foo-foo. My oldest son's a chef. I leave that to him. I cook paisano... but good food, well prepared, simple, fresh ingredients--what makes life worth living day by day.

The hours of daylight grow longer... soon it will be spring!

2 comments:

  1. Ah South Philly. Nostalgia blossoms and your post brings me back to yesteryear. Actually, I think it was the year before yesteryear. Yeah, winter of 05/06 right? And oh how I miss the Asian/Hispanic (aka "Italian" market. Spring is not around the corner, I'm afraid. We have a few more months of frigid weather, but we ought to get together for a chess game at that cafe, you know, the one with the good soup. I'll start. E4. Your turn.

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  2. that would be 1... e6

    Cafe with good soup... which one?

    One with Veeegan soup, no? Yes? On 8th street?

    Or the one in the market on 9th? Do they have soup?

    Soup, soup, beeeyouteeful soup!

    Yesteryear... that's when the Lone Ranger rode the range, right?

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