Rittenhouse

First off I need to extend congratulations to our winner of the trivia question from last night. Jana Lithgow hailing from Chicago, IL correctly guessed that Peter Boyle was previously a Christian Brother before becoming an actor and starring on Everybody Love's Raymond. Thank you to everyone for playing. There will be another trivia question at the end of this blog.

Rittenhouse Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn (the founder of Pennsylvania) during the late 17th century in central Philadelphia. Originally called Southwest Square, Rittenhouse Square is named after David Rittenhouse, a descendant of the first paper-maker in Philadelphia, the German immigrant William Rittenhouse. William Rittenhouse's original paper-mill site is known as Rittenhousetown. David Rittenhouse was a clockmaker and friend of the American Revoluation, as well as a noted astronomer; a lunar crater is named after him.

The four squares were intended to mark the outermost corners of Philadelphia, but the growth of the city over the centuries has far surpassed these original squares. They now are gathering places for friends, lunches, or a stroll with your dog. Tonight Rittenhouse Square was also a venue for a free concert. Denis and I attended with my friend, Bethany, who I met on my original visit to Philly in May.

We enjoyed the music, ate great Qdoba burritos, and Bethany solidly beat Denis and myself at Phase 10. All in all a great night. Here is a picture of Denis and Bethany in the midst of our card game in the park.

I also thought I would include a few pictures of my community while I was at it. These are all of the outside of the house. I will add more when I can play with my camera more...wait you might be wondering where did Mari suddenly get a camera. Well my previous supervisor gave me the best belated graduation present a girl could ever ask for. Thank you Beth for making all my dreams come true :) I am finally in the 21st century, but I am still keeping my old 15lb. camera for memory sake.







Now for the trivia. A sculpture of William Penn stands atop City Hall which comprises the fifth square of the city he designed many years before. In the sculpture, William Penn is pointing northeast. What is he pointing to?