So while I was walking one evening last week I saw a rainbow over a house upon further inspection I saw a very puzzling sign and flag. Is there really a Polish embassy in little Newtown? Either way it's a nice rainbow and a very interesting house. Also a mystery to be solved. 
The interesting color of the trim and the red bricks got my attention first then the beautiful wild daisies took over. This is an early 1950's era school that has been closed. It's right behind my house and is in the process of being reclaimed by nature.
This is the back of some Newtown buildings that are on State street. The brick building is the hardware store.
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I wonder how many swan songs took place here both inside and out over the past seventy years? 
At 6:30pm on Friday I with camera in tote walked over to the historic Half -Moon Inn also known as the Court Inn (built in 1733) and gathered together with about thirty other people for a historic homes walking tour. The tour was led by members of the Newtown Historic Association. We walked around for about an hour as the guide gave a little history about Newtown and described the different styles of houses along the tour. The tour mainly focused on homes built in the 19th century. I didn't catch most of what he was saying because I was straying away and taking pictures but from what I heard there are lots of Victorian era and queen Anne styled homes also some of the homes have whats called French roofs. What I found interesting is the contrast of styles from pre and post railroad era. Pre-railroad the houses were built with a limited amount of mostly local material and post railroad opened things up as they could easily import material from far away. It makes sense but I'd never really thought about that before.
I've decided to stay in the town of Bristol and post a few different pictures of the same mural. One for the Monochrome Weekly Theme and the other for Mellow Yellow Monday. I guess I could get greedy and add Ruby Tuesday. This mural is just around the corner from our sleeping barber friend that I posted the other day. To me this mural just adds to the old fashioned feel of this historic part of town.
There is an old industrial area in Bristol with a pond and a grassy area between an old building and the rail station. The pond and grassy area is home to an army of geese and some turtles. There were also some furry little critters that swam around and seemed to be building burrows. What surprised me was the loud hiss the goose made when the furry creature(anyone know what they are?) got close.
I took these just after a big thunderstorm passed over the Philadelphia art museum(where I'm standing). I think the odd angles of the building in the distance look pretty cool. 
This is some of the 300 year old Quaker community called Fallsington. It's about five miles from Newtown. I've been wondering what style of architecture the houses are. Early American? American colonial? They're all over this area but I'd never seen houses like that in person until I moved here. Maybe after 300 years the graveyard's residents got bored and tried to escape. What do you think? :-)
I saw more than one church on my walk after the penitentiary trip. This one is on Green street about two blocks from the brownstones that I posted the other day.
Medieval looking turret on the corner seen from outside
The remains of a cell
Looking down a row of stacked cells in black and white
As I mentioned the other day, I went to see the old Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. It was used from 1829 to 1971. This place is pretty amazing. It was closed and left to the elements for decades and has the water damage to prove it. A few interesting tidbits that I gathered are that it was the world's first penitentiary, it was very innovative in its time with a wheel spoke type design and over the years modern conveniences were added here before most people got them on the outside. The walls are really high. It reminds me of an old fortress.
When I was walking between Eastern State Pen. and the Art Museum in Philadelphia the other day I was amazed by all the wonderful old row houses and brownstones. Here are a couple of them. The bottom one is the Bergdoll mansion it's at the corner of Green and 22nd streets and the other is also on Green street. The Bergdoll was built in 1890 by a wealthy brewery owner. It has since been turned into apartments, but from the pictures i've seen the inside has been restored beautifully. 
Today I got a great surprize when I returned from church, My blogger friend Bharat Khatri from the amazing blog Unseen Rajasthan gave me this really nice award. For this I am truely humbled and very thankful.
We made it to the museum just as a big thunder storm was leaving so the sky was beautiful. 
Today my exploring led me to Eastern State Penitentiary. This prison was open from 1829 til 1971. Now they have tours and the public can explore it for a fee.