I went meandering through the sweet neighborhood of Manayunk, in Philadelphia. The trees were budding, the sky was blue, algae was amassing in the canal… It was a brisk and beautiful day! Manayunk is a cool little area with lots of adorable shops and cafes – it reminded me, oddly, of Seattle combined Ann Arbor – or perhaps just of a time in my life when I lived in Ann Arbor and visited Seattle. In my journal, I wrote

“Something funny about these little town-like neighborhoods in the U.S. – like they’re trying to be something, and they’re partially succeeding, but one isn’t sure exactly how or what they’re doing right or wrong. It’s kind of cheesy, yet sweet, and makes you think of moms having lunch dates and older women buying colorful jewelry and college students buying incense and ironic posters.” The vibe is that of a sort of a safe-feeling liberalism, where art is appreciated and they very strictly enforce the parking meters.

In any case, I had a lovely day there. I bought the paper for the sun prints (below), and a cute pair of new shoes; I strolled along behind the shops where the Manayunk canal flows next to an old train line. The sun was shining and everything was bursting with new life. Cheesy? Perhaps. Adorable? Pretty likely.