THE GROUNDSKEEPER

If he's not too busy yelling and cursing at his wife, our fascinating neighbor Andy, leaves his place in front of his television and takes shear to hedge in this thrilling episode of Life In Pittsburgh.

FRICK PARK

It’s taken me over a week to finally leave the apartment and visit, a short ten-minute walk to this vast 600-acre jewel that runs in a small ravine southwards towards the Monongahela River. A brief hike to the bottom and all urban sound dissolves, you’re removed from the city, as if our neighborhood could ever really feel that urban with all its trees and insect melodies. These forests are filled with busy little dramas most people are probably unaware of as they jog the paths or walk their dogs. The small world rewards investigation.

NEW HOME

We moved again, out of our peaceful yet raunchy sublet and into a placid, permanent address. It’s technically a borough called Wilkensburgh, so we’re not even in Pittsburgh proper anymore. It’s a huge place, with hardwood floors and almost perfectly preserved from the last aged tenant who died a few months ago. I used to think I’d be up for a life where I was always uprooting and traveling from place to place, working wherever for short stretches of time. The truth is at some point the human body, mind and spirit has to stay put somewhere for awhile, things need time to reconfigure, restore. Otherwise you’re just an entity floating around and where you’re at any given time is impossible to know, and impossible for it to know you.

ALLEGHENY CEMETERY

More impressions from this wonderful place.

CEMETERY GATES

We took our bikes to the North Side today to the Science Center to see the Titanic exhibit, a production I’d seen a larger version of years ago, this one a bit smaller and oddly sterile. On our way home through the Lawrenceville neighborhood we decided to take a route uphill through the sprawling Allegheny Cemetery on the East Side, an eerie, beautiful thing full of beauty and wildlife. Along with a Great Blue Heron and flocks of Canadian Geese, we witnessed two small groups of deer foraging around the sprawling family plots, oblivious to what was underfoot, as if they cared if they knew.

HIT THE POLE

Whilst riding my bike in East Liberty I heard the unmistakable collision of heavy metal on wheels. It’s a sickening sound unlike any other, and instantly creates fascination. I was about a half block away and immediately headed toward the scene, obviously something was seriously wrong rather and I was rather amazed that not a single other person in my immediate vicinity made any attempt to put one lousy foot forward to investigate. An older man was in the car on the pole and slowly getting out, I asked him if he was OK and all he said was the other car came out of nowhere. Luckily there was a medical professional in the crowd to attend to him, so I called 911 and was put on hold for at least five minutes when a firetruck arrived just as they took my call. The other driver, a woman, was trying to get a witness, and unbelievably seemed like she was having some difficulty getting someone to come forward. In fact, with all the attention the older man was getting, it appeared nobody was even bothering to ask how she was. Her car was in pretty good shape considering, but she said the same thing the other driver did, the guy came out of nowhere. I wonder how you sort something like that out without witnesses. Whose word gets taken?

MORE HIGH-BROW CARNEGIE MATERIAL

Had a chance to wander over near the dinosaurs where this incongruous installation was resting on the third floor.