This most recent visit to the soi-disant City of Brotherly Love is one that will remain in my memory as a succession of grey, soggy days.  Only our spirits were not dampened.  Rather than stay indoors, we unfurled our umbrellas and ventured into the rain.  We walked beside the Delaware River.  Unsurprisingly, we encountered very few other pedestrians.  We soon tired of making our way through the downpour, and took refuge in an event space on the Cherry Street Pier.

          What we encountered was an exhibition called a Maker Faire (sic).  It was a fortuitous discovery.  As it was late in the afternoon, the young woman selling tickets admitted us for free.  The Faire was an assemblage of crafters, inventors and artists who wished to show their creations to the public.  I overheard what may have been some exhibitors' pitches to potential investors.  Others were simply glad to have others view their kinetic sculptures, paintings, collages, and weavings.  There were some inventions that could have been designed by the cartoonist Rube Goldberg, with balls dropping into holes in wheels with pointless precision.  The participants' enthusiasm brought to mind the root meaning of the word amateur, that is, one who does something for the love of it. 

This machine kept multiple elements in motion while miniature wire bicycles ran around the rims of the circular tracks affixed to its arms.   

HL posed for me in the center of the enclosed pier, kept open for foot traffic between two lines of tables and larger installations.  

The members of a Lego club collaborated to produce cities, rail yards, and gardens, complete with tiny flowers.