Hiding from Halloween

Not enough kids on my street to make it worthwhile to buy bags and bags and bags and bags of calories, so, with husband working, I dimmed the lights, had a glass of wine and enjoyed the last bit of sun on the patio. Nice. Among birds spotted at dusk at the feeder: purple finch, song sparrow, chickadee, titmouse and cardinal. A perfect combination of my favorite colors: grey, taupe, red and brown (though the titmouse breaks out of that family with its bluish grey coloring all around).
Saturday night, for the first time in ages, we stayed up long enough to watch Saturday Night Live, of which we got a kick out of the Rhianna skit with Adam Samberg. Not a Rhianna fan, but hey, how can you not be a fan of creative writing? ;)
Loved all the letters to the editor in the Sunday Styles section of the NY Times today, responding to Dominique Browning's essay on long hair in older women. Amazing to read how many women, if you extrapolate from the responses, have not had their hair cut in ages. For me, it's been almost a year, partly due to, at this time last year, having a husband in the hospital.
Now, so long. I like it; and it's nice to be able to pull it up in a pony or a bun. And wear pretty barettes.
November tomorrow. Amazing. Seems like spring was only yesterday.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I don't know that it signifies that on 10.20.10 (or 20.10.10 if we're in Europe) that I came to some good conclusions, but let's say that it does.

That way, I'll remember said conclusions. Or I'll remember winning the $46 million Power Ball!

So, there's this difficult (aka pain in the rear but I'm trying to be nice) coworker. I think this person is pretty unhappy, but why must that unhappiness be shared?

Tonight, walking the dog, I thought about a dealing I had with this person this week, and then my mind wandered to my Monday night dream. Stripped of weirdness, the dream had me walking through a long hall, opening door after door after door. It also had me trying to get a little girl who had been hit by a car to a hospital. This coworker was driving the car there. The other part of the dream was me going somewhere, realizing halfway that I had forgotten my purse. I have that 'forgetting something important' dream a lot.

My dreams are vivid, so mornings I deal by (a) quickly re-visiting, (b) shaking my head (c) heading straight for the coffee pot. It's a good plan, but it means I put off a lot of thinking.

My lovely friend Maria has an expression: "May I say?" So, to quote Maria, may I say, that I absolutely love a relaxing walk with the dog in the evening. My brain gets so much done!

And on getting things done, of course as soon as Twist and I walked in the door, I began to think about all the things I could do before posting. Therefore, may I share this article from the current New Yorker. You can read it later, if you like. ;)

Cheers!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Another weekend has zoomed by.

Twister and I did a Meet & Greet on Saturday at the Bethel Park Petco. Of which I have to say one of the most interesting side events was watching (when there were no customers interested in greyhounds) a young man and his father buying a snake, and all the hardware and apparatuses appertaining there-to. Dad wanted no part of it. Said young man is in the background of the photo, wearing the grey hoodie.

Snakes aside, it was a nice couple hours, and I think we got at least two or three people interested in adopting a greyhound. Oh and in the photo, Twist is cut off on the left. Hogging the camera is FX, our co-star for the afternoon. Thanks to Rob McGinley, FX's dad, for the image via iPhone

On to the next topic: One of my very favorite bloggers, Wanders, has decided to hang up his shoes. His blog is Mary Worth and Me and it pokes gentle fun at a newspaper comic strip that has outlived its prime by many decades.

The days are getting so short, I take every chance to sit outside and absorb the sunlight. This afternoon, speaking of comic strips, I felt like I was in "Mutts."

Why, you may ask?

Because, completely minding my own business sitting on a chair in the back yard, I got bonked in the head by an acorn falling from the pin oak on the back slope. And it hurt!

So, was there a squirrel up there laughing?

Hmmm

Saturday quickie

Quick post.

It takes 20 minutes to walk briskly from the intersection of the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette at 34 Blvd. of the Allies and Commonwealth Blvd. east on Fort Pitt Boulevard then south on the Smithfield Street bridge to the Station Square cheapie parking lot.

I did the walk this evening after work and the northwest breeze from the Ohio River was a tad chilly.

Station Square has some of my favorite pieces of salvaged Pittsburgh art. Including the pictured with this post.

Quick post.

It takes 20 minutes to walk briskly from the intersection of the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette at 34 Blvd. of the Allies and Commonwealth Blvd. east on Fort Pitt Boulevard then south on the Smithfield Street bridge to the Station Square cheapie parking lot.

I did the walk this evening after work and the northwest breeze from the Ohio River was a tad chilly.

Station Square has some of my favorite pieces of salvaged Pittsburgh art. Including the piece pictured with this post.

Wednesday Whimsy, 10/13

(Experimenting with a new name. Stay tuned.)

As we are based in Pittsburgh, and just to get it out of the way, general congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the Pirates beating the Yanks in the World Series.

(Crickets chirping).

OK then.

A couple design points for discussion.
Point 1. An underappreciated, or more realistically, not-appreciated, form of design, metallurgy, in the function of the manhole cover and other doors to the underworld. The name East Jordan Ironworks is on many such covers hereabouts. And many of them are, in addition to being so heavy, durable and constructed from valuable ores and metals/ores as to be worth stealing, very cool looking.
One is above, I love how the water has oxidized the metal differently between different thunderbolts of the lid.

Point 2. When form rules all. My friend and colleague James Hilston and his bride, Amy Chapman recently visited New York City and splurged at Rice to Riches. Whereat customers shell out for rice pudding in lovely, beautiful plastic bowl and utensil sets. Which are, when empty of rice pudding, thrown out. Why? Why? Why? Especially with all the love given to the vessels on the company's Web site. And those colors! Is there any combo better than green, brown and red? Not for my money. (OK, lavender, green and tan are up there, too.)

Last word: Rice to riches has a nice sales design concept. But their sustainability, unless, I am missing something, is nil. Therefore, as pretty as their company, business model and packaging are, if that pretty packaging gets tossed after one use, RtR gets a totally failing grade.

Last last word: Sirius in the western sky early this a.m. Beautiful planet in a silent morning.

Sunday Serendipity (on Monday). And cancer

Well, in spite my best efforts, Sunday got away from me. However, now that it is Monday I can more fully reflect on the weekend.

My favorite part of every Sunday is the New York Times. I always reach for Sunday Styles, Week in Review and Sunday Business, and thereafter the front section and the Book Review. As Philip Roth's latest offering was on the cover of the Book Review this week, I felt comfortable in AVOIDING IT COMPLETELY. If you get my drift. Angry old Jewish men. Writing about their anger. No thank you.

Ann Coulter catering to gay conservatives on the Sunday Styles cover. Gads. I read it, but it was more about AC than why gays think its acceptable for them to support her.

Ahem.

Twist and I had a lovely walk in the Sunday dusk, below a silvery-gold crescent moon.

Wait.

What's that you say?

It wasn't PINK!!!!!!!

Oh, the nerve of Mother Nature to ignore Breast Cancer Cancer Cancer Cancer Cancer Cancer, oh, one more time, Cancer Month! The nerve. Fountain waters are pink this month. Big, burly football players are wearing pink gloves. Even the Sunday funnies in the newspaper are pink. So seriously. Get with it Mom.

That said.

My style icon for Sunday is a new acquaintance, Jill Black, from Mary Worth. That's right. Black. She looks to be a real hard case who will reduce Adrian Cory, who is as dumb as a drawer full of hammers, to a puddle of jelly while helping her "choose" her wedding dress. Again, imagine the nerve of the comic strip's author introducing a character named BLACK!!! during pink cancer month.

And speaking of cancer, cancer, cancer, I like this post from Blag Hag.

The "illustration" is done by deviantART muro. Just call me Jacksonia Pollock.

Cheers. Happy Cancer Month!

Wednesday Whimsy

OCTOBER 6, 2010
The week: It's been rainy so far, but I have seen some interesting things in the drizzle. One of which I will describe below, and having witnessed it, am resolved to now carry my cellphone at all times. To use the camera.
Heading back from the PPG Food Court on Monday, one-ish, I came down the steps from the PPG building and stopped a step above a tiny woodpecker, obviously so lost. It tried to cross the street, hopping, and I trotted along behind to hurry it along before it got run over. He trotted across and then unfortunately flew back across the street and smack into a Wintergarden window. Stunned him but he perched on the ledge, although I can't imagine it was good for his little brain.
He was interesting looking, not a downy though. So henceforth, I will carry my camera. It's the second time I've found an interesting bird in the vicinity of PPG Place, which really is a death tower, with all that glass, for birds. A couple years ago I found a dead cedar waxwing on the sidewalk next to the Wintergarden.

Readings: Very interesting article in the New Yorker from last week by Malcom Gladwell about the value of social networks. The link is here: The revolution will not be tweeted.

This week's picture: I love this sign design, from an actual non-chain drugstore in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville.