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.