Category: art/design

I Gallery Walked my way through Harrisburg with Johanna today, in yet another example of Harrisburg being far cooler than I thought it was.

To be honest, there was not that much art I thought was overly impressive, and we saw only a tiny fraction of what was offered, but there were some beautiful pieces and it was a new and interesting activity that neither one of us had ever done before. I’m not an art critic so I won’t even try to describe what we saw, but some of my favorites were at the Gallery at Walnut Place and the Center for Women’s Creative Expression. I was surprised that I enjoyed so much at the Women’s Center, I usually find art that tries to depict the suffering of poor womynkind and the like to be contrived and whiny, but there was some powerful photography. There was also some crap, but that’s to be expected. There was also some great stuff in the atrium at Strawberry Square by “emerging artists”. I wish I still had the list from that exhibit so I could mention specific artists by name, but, alas, I was short sighted and threw it out.

Anyway, I had a good time, it definitely helped move along my mission to learn the city by the end of the year, and made me aware of some spaces I didn’t previously know about. It was also very good to spend time with Johanna, and, as always, good to hang out with the illustrious Snow family.

The other highlight of my day was the acquisition and installation of four shiny new tires. I’m actually kind of proud about this.

Before I was allowed to get my driver’s license, my mother required that I be able to change a tire. After I demonstrated that I could indeed do this, though, I hadn’t had to use my apparently uncommon ability in several years, thanks to a combination of boyfriends and AAA. Part of my single life and quest for independence/self-sufficience has been a desire to handle crises — bit or tiny — on my own. While I’ve handled everything without the help of a boyfriend, I seem to have always had to enlist help from either my sister or my parents, which is less than satisfying. Other than rides from and to the tire place, though, I handled this one without assistance. I didn’t think I was going to be able to, simply because of strength issues, but I finally got the hubcap off, loosened the lugnuts, did the jacky thing with the car, got the lugnuts (lugnut is a funny word) all the way off, and then (and this was the hardest part) pried the tire off the axle or wheel or whatever the part that the tire’s actually lugnutted to is called, which it was completely rusted to. Then I put the spare tire on, but that was the easy part. The whole thing is pretty basic and rather silly, but I’m pleased and feel a little more like an independent woman. AND I now realize just how badly I needed new tires — the car is a dream to drive now, smooth and easy to steer!