New Digs

We’re quickly learning our way around our new city.  Three days ago we scouted out our wireless internet source: the Borders bookstore just down the road, since we’ll be without landline and internet at our apartment till late next week (Verizon needs to do a lot to redeem themselves; I called last week to set up service at our new address, then called the morning before we moved to confirm that the order had gone through since a confirmation e-mail had not been sent.  Turns out, it hadn’t, so I went through it with them over the phone.  Yesterday while we sat at Borders I got a call from a Verizon rep saying that my order had not gone through - !!! - and we went through it all over again.  I don’t recall having this much difficulty in the past establishing phone service; it’s pretty basic stuff, but, as my mom always says, “People don’t know how to do their jobs.”)

Oh, and another thing: we’ve been without hot water since we arrived, which, in a way, is good, because we’re saving money by not having to use gas.  Fortunately, the cold water isn’t icy, so showering isn’t unbearable, just mildly unpleasant, and best taken after a run when its coolest is most appreciated.  After my quadricep muscles heal after my quick two-miler two nights ago, I plan to work a run into my daily routine, especially since Kellie and I are registered for the Pittsburgh Great Race 10K on September 26th.  

We’ve gotten to see Kellie and her family twice - on Wednesday night, after an exhausting day of errands at the East-End Co-Op (where I submitted a job application), Ikea, Lowes, Target, and retrieving a mattress and box spring set from a man named Bob, we met the Ryans for dinner at LuLu’s Noodles.  Jack, noticing a pattern with my visits, inquired whether I’d be coming to Pittsburgh again next year, to which Kellie relied, “They live here now!”  We saw them again yesterday when we drove across town to their house to deliver my mom’s van to my father who was in the city for a My Morning Jacket show with his old boss and his wife.  Gail, Rob, and I played dress up with infant bathing suits for hats (Gail can make anything look precious), and listened to The Land Before Time soundtrack while Jack narrated.  My father was delighted to see all of his grandchildren together, I’m sure.

This morning we got up and walked to one of the many farmers markets in our area.  I was surprised to see that it was an indoor market, but it was packed with vendors, and is open year-round - a big plus.  We stocked up on vegetables to make a soup later today - leeks, potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and garlic, and got some green beans, peaches, honeycrisp apples, and some Indian lentil soup and chickpeas which we had for lunch.  I biked down to the co-op for some basmati rice and barley and spices for the soup.  It’s so wonderful to have most things within walking or biking distance!

Oh, and the weather here has been phenomenal since we arrived.  The days have been on the warm side, but are missing the oppressive humidity that plagued Maryland this summer.  Rain has come only at night, leaving the days sunny and cheerful.  Each morning I’ve woken up to see a bright blue sky out our bedroom window, despite the rumors that Pittsburgh has miserable weather.  It’s just not so.

Check out some of the houses on our street.  Pretty impressive, no?

Yesterday while brushing my teeth, Buggy seemed particularly interested, so Rob gave her one of her own and she immediately set to work.  

Yay, Pittsburgh!

I love Pittsburgh!

We’ve been here for only a day and already I’m quite taken with our new neighborhood.  When we pulled in shortly after 5 yesterday afternoon, all of us were famished, Rob especially, so a trip to Trader Joe’s was in order.  I knew that it was nearby, and we nosed it out quickly, loaded our cart with fruit, yogurt, frozen pizzas and fish, pasta, and olive oil, and returned to our apartment.  I threw two pizzas in the oven while Rob unpacked the vehicles.  The apartment’s roomier than I’d imagined - particularly the kitchen, which, our landlady had informed me, is a galley kitchen.  Despite this, there’s still room for more than one person, as well as the round card table and single chair we brought from my parents’ house.  Music was pumping from a location nearby, and from our bedroom I could see a group of hula hoopers wiggling away on the lawn of the Union Project, a nonprofit community center next door.  Sights like this make me wonderfully happy.  Unfortunately, Rob was stricken down with what he feared might be the flu, but luckily that wasn’t the case.  Still, he wasn’t feeling quite up to exploring our new surroundings, so while he rested on Olive’s crib mattress, she and I set out (first in our jogging stroller while was derailed by a very flat rear tire) on foot for the Home Depot to pick up a shower curtain liner.  We popped in on the hula hoop critical mass and met a few of the organizers, including the fairy-haired gal who makes them (they’re gorgeous, metallic colored tape affairs).  They gather for two hours every Tuesday evening to hoop so, if I’m not otherwise occupied next week, I’ll be joining them (Rob’s been invited to watch from our window).  In the basement of the converted stone church are ceramics studios, and potters could be seen from the outside working on the wheels.  Aside from grade school art projects, I’ve never really tried my hand at ceramics, but not for lack of interest; in college my schedule was already too full of classes that I either really wanted to take or was required to take, and thus Ceramics I was edged out by Parapainting (easily my favorite course I took in my four years of college).  Maybe I’ll have a chance while I’m here...

Several observations during our several-mile walk last night:

1.  People here are FRIENDLY.  Coming from Eastport, Maine, I’m accustomed to a pretty personable lot, but it’s a different story to come to a city and have the inhabitants be so warm and congenial.  It’s the small town way to be pleasant to strangers, but I’m used to life in Baltimore where you’re lucky to have a person even glance up in your general direction when passing on the street.  Not a soul I passed yesterday didn’t at least smile and nod.  Even people out on their porches extended greetings.

2. We live in what the signs call a “historic district”, meaning the homes are stunningly handsome.  One of my favorite things about Pittsburgh has always been the architecture, and we’re in the thick of it in Highland Park.  Tall hardwoods line the sidewalks, adding extra charm to the neighborhood.  Did I mention that I love it here?

3. In the alley between our building and the Union Project is a paper recycling bin.  This means we don’t need to let the recycling box in our kitchen overflow before being able to take it to the recycling center that’s open once a week for four hours.  We can do it whenever we want.

4. Pittsburgh is not a city quite like Baltimore, the city I know best and to which I compare all others, because at night I can still hear cicadas or katydids or some sort of nocturnal tree bug.  I heard one siren and that was it.  Baltimore may’ve had these bugs, but the sounds of the sirens and gun shots drowned out any other noises.

Today Olive and I rose early after a restless night on the floor.  Today we are getting a bed.  After Rob awoke, feeling better, I took off for a run to map out the route to the zoo.  It was shockingly simple - just a few blocks north, then a few blocks east and there it was.  I zipped back home, happy that Rob will have such a breeze of a commute to his gorillas.  I took a chilly shower, as our hot water has not yet been turned on (ditto that for our internet and phone - and a thorough search of our apartment yielded no phone jack.  Hmmm)

We’re going to venture across town to Ikea today for a few or their cheap wares; I’m not, in any way, into that modern, sparse, Scandinavian aesthetic, but I kind of love their wooden dish strainer and woven rugs.  Later this evening, after Kellie and her family are finished visiting my brother-in-law, Mike’s, new office at Google, in our neck of the woods, they’re coming here for a visit, and perhaps we’ll all have dinner.  I’m looking so forward to seeing my sis; it’s been a long eleven years since the two of us have lived in the same town.

One Whirlwind of a Week

Rob, Zoe, Olive, and I returned to Maryland last Wednesday on two separate redeye flights from Anchorage.  Once again, Buggy did exceptionally well on the two airplane rides, wowing other passengers with her gleeful attitude and admirable restraint from crying.  I'm so proud to be the mother of such a well-behaved baby!

The four of us spent one more day in Maryland, shopping for school clothes for Zoe followed by a swim in a friend's pool, a trip to Jimmie Cone, and a game of Quiddler to end the day.  On Friday we rose before six a.m. to drive to Maine so we could drop off Zoe and grab a few items from our storage unit.  Zoe was delivered to her grandmother's apartment, and the rest of us went to stay with our dear friends, Rafi, Anne, and baby Cecilia (whose cuteness borders on obscene; I wanted to take her home with us).  We slept in till nearly noon, then we walked down to the farmers' market where we saw a few more friends.  The dreaded storage unit visit went remarkably well; the things we needed were nearly all within reach and didn't warrant the complete emptying like we'd feared, and we (and our winter clothes, Social Security cards, and contact lenses) were in and out within twenty-five minutes.  We then swung by the Peavey Memorial Library in Eastport to return a few books - The House of Leaves, which I'd borrowed and left in Alaska last summer, and the copy of Persepolis, that had found its way into Rob's sister, Jana's, bag when she visited us in May.  

That night, Anne, Cecilia, Rob, Olive, and I walked down to the Pickled Herring for dinner, and Rafi met us there after attending to a prior engagement.  The food was delicious, as usual, my sweet & spicy salmon accompanied by a surprise peach salsa that Gary, owner and friend, added.  Olive, as she'd been doing all summer, commenced squawking shortly after we arrived.  Dining experiences with her have been less than relaxing, and she ends up being passed around from person like a hot potato.  She did manage to fall asleep in my lap after a short nursing spurt, taking a cue from Ceci.  Afterwards, once we'd put the girls to bed, the four of us sat down for a game of Spades, one of our favorites games we used to play together.  Rafi and I lost, as we have for the past several games we've played, but I was reminded of how much I miss living so close to good friends.  We went to bed far later than we should have, and dragged our feet getting up again in the morning.  Our friend, Robert, stopped by with his and Amy's two darlings, Cora and Ellis, before we left, then Rob, Olive and I had lunch at the made-over Blue Iris Bistro, where Amy was our waitress.  As Olive was being her normal hollering self, I decided to try quelling her with a new taste: a dill pickle spear.  From time to time, we'll introduce a new taste to her curious tongue, though it's almost always a sweeter, more child-friendly fruit - canteloupe, plum, pear.  I couldn't believe how readily she welcomed the sour saltiness of the pickle...a sophisticated palate has our little one, I suppose.

The trip back south took a bit longer - 15 1/2 hours - than the drive up, though Olive was a better traveler, sleeping most of the way since we left much later and were driving through the night.  Traffic was surprisingly congested for most of the trip, from southern Maine through Connecticut, and the rainy conditions didn't help.  Rob probably wished me asleep, as I tend to be a bundle of nerves when riding in the rain, and I was constantly requesting that he slow down despite the fact that he was rarely going above 70.  I suffer from an exaggerated fear of hydroplaning, and I should probably look into taking a mild sedative before going for a ride in the rain.  At any rate, the rain stopped once we hit New Jersey, the home stretch, though the same can't be said for the traffic.  We finally pulled into my parents' driveway at five a.m., as the early morning commuters were leaving for work.  

Yesterday was spent packing the CR-V, doing laundry, stripping diapers, cleaning our room, and setting up utility services in our names.  Ben came over one last time to say goodbye to Olive (since it'll be a while before he see us all again when he comes to visit in Pittsburgh in two weeks), then Rob and I played Quiddler with my folks (I won).

We're nearly finished loading the two vehicles (my parents are once again loaning us the van for transporting larger items), and we hope to be off by noon.  It's a wonderful feeling to have our days of traveling diminish for a few months.  I just want to feel settled again, now the the novelty of living out of my suitcase has worn off.  I'm also looking forward to living so close to my nephew and nieces, if only for a short while.

New Bed!

Our first week in Homer proved difficult at night, with all three of us crammed into the little loft bed (it's a full-sized mattress, but it's very old and not the best-maintained camper, so the bed curves downward, sending all sleepers into the center over the course of a night). We were all sleeping terribly so, even though we only have a few more days remaining here, Rob set to building Buggy a bed of her very own in the back of the cramper. He'd scored a nice big sheet of plywood that he sawed down to fit in the space in the back behind the counter and stove, and topped it with some extra cushions. After her second night in it, he spied her with a fistful of wall - the peeling fake wood paneling - and was going for it with her mouth. He drilled a torn-up pillow case to the wall to prevent any further wall-clawing, and it's been great. Last night I put her to bed at 9:30, she woke up once in the night to feed and was up no more than five minutes, then she went back to sleep. When her grunts woke us this morning as they usually do (normally at 7, at the latest), I checked the clock: 10:08! I could hardly believe it! Not only did she take two good naps yesterday, but this was her best night of sleep since the first week we arrived in Maryland. Two days ago she didn't nap at all, and was very difficult to put to sleep, despite going for a walk in the stroller and a ride in the car. I believe that teething is to blame, but that always seems to be the culprit when she's fussy for no other known reason. Still no teeth to be seen, but they're there, I'm sure of it!
We're planning on pulling out of Homer later on this evening, after we clean out the cramper and turn it over to Derek and Ariel, two of Rob's salmon employees, who are staying on in Homer to go to school. We're spending the weekend at Rob's mom's house in Soldotna, 75 miles north of here, and having a big family cookout on Monday before we take off on Tuesday. Then our trip will really begin...

Entertaining the Former First Couple of Alaska

When folks hear I'm going to Alaska, questions like, So...you gonna see Sarah Palin while you're there? undoubtedly arise. And my response is, Of course! I mean, is there a better reason to go to the Last Frontier?
A few days ago the dock was abuzz with talks of the former governor being around to film a show for The Learning Channel, wherein she'd be shown trying her hand at processing halibut. Sure enough, the next day, we awoke to find a camera set up just a few yards from the camper ("the cramper", as it's now called; three's a crowd, we've found), and the camera and Auction Block crews bustling about. We went into the processing plant where she was (daughter, Bristol, was along, too. No baby daddy to be seen, however; guess they're still on the outs) and caught a few shots. We slipped out so as not to wear out our welcome, and shortly after, as she was preparing to depart, we were able to intercept her and get some courtesy baby shots, as we know as well as anyone that no one - politician or otherwise - can resist having their picture taken with Olive.Oh, and for all you SP haters, get over yourselves! She (and Todd) were seriously as nice as they could be and just keeping it real (it wasn't like she was just trying to win our vote). Plus, all the negativity towards her is getting way old, to the point of being just plain obnoxious. She's no longer the governor of Alaska, and the 2008 presidential election happened, like, almost two years ago, so drop it. Girlfriend just wants to be on TLC, for crying out loud! Who can blame her? (Apparently liberals can -and will - find fault with Republicans no matter what they do). I choose not to affiliate with either party, just nice folks.
As for Olive...it was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time, I guess.

Home Sweet Homer

Six weeks and one day is, in fact, a really, really long time to spend away from one's best friend and companion. I know this. Three days ago, my mom dropped off Olive and me outside the USAirways terminal at Reagan National Airport where we'd begin our long (but not too long) journey to Alaska where Rob was waiting for us. I was apprehensive about the trip, due in small part to my skepticism about the functioning of our newly acquired Graco stroller-car seat travel system (so far, so good!). Our first short flight from DC to Philadelphia was encouraging; despite having to change Olive's diaper in the aisle and her wetting the changing mat and having to be stripped down, she uttered not a cry of despair. Also working in our favor was the vacant seat beside me, so I brought along the car seat and stuck her in it when sleep overcame her. Still, that was only a fraction of what the 7 1/2 hours in the air she'd have to endure from Philly to Anchorage. Unfortunately, that was a full flight (except for the seat and a half across the aisle from us where a mother was traveling with her young daughter. Olive and I were crammed like herring into the window seat next to - luckily - a very nice Anchorage couple traveling home from spending Christmas in July with her crazy family (a palm tree was used rather than a fir). Olive and I were both more than a little uncomfortable, but she slept soundly for the final hour, and was somehow able to elude the blindingly painful ear pressure that befell me on our descent.

My cousin-in-law, Bethany, had graciously offered to fetch us at the airport and had us stay the night at their home. It was great to meet another one of Rob's family members, and one who remembered him as a playful, silly, and kind youngster. Her two young children, Corbin and Jenna, were dolls, and were fascinated by Olive. Bethany fixed a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and lemon-vanilla pancakes (I will most definitely be making these when we get back from Alaska), then took us to pick up our rental wagon from Alan. It's a beater, to be sure, but it's getting the job done just fine. The four and a half-hour drive from Anchorage to Homer was a wet one, and the first part along the Seward Highway was so windy I feared we'd be blown off the road. I was ecstatic when we finally crested the hill and saw Homer on the other side, the lue mountains haloed in clouds. We couldn't get there fast enough.We've been in Alaska for five days now, and each one has been wet and chilly-in the 50s every day, but I'm not complaining. Coming from a place where it's been at least 90 degrees nearly every day, and rainless but humid, this feels wonderful. And Rob, well, I've never been happier to see him. It's great to have the family together again, and this time, for good.