I DON'T KNOW WHAT I like most about this photo. Is it the way the sun is hitting the ivy on the red brick? Or is it the way the blue wall stands out with the glint of the razor wire above. Light changes everything in a photo and an alleyway. I don't know how long the ivy has been growing up the side of this building on the 1300 block of Waverly Street (an alley between Pine and Lombard) in Center City, and I don't know when the wall was painted blue or when the concertina wire was installed. But I've passed this spot hundreds of times and I never noticed any of the above until Friday afternoon around five o'clock, a few hours before the summer solstice.

Is it just me or does Philaelphia find ways of surprising you when you least expect it?