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January 8, 2011

Pittsburgh! Part 2

Filed under: Travel,Winter — Judy @ 1:46 pm

After an evening of lots of laughs and warm family time with everyone trying to keep everyone else on task to put dinner on the table, we settled in for a good night’s rest. Aside: my sister and her husband have just about every single bit of wall space in their comfy home taken up with books – a home library to be reckoned with!

The next day was clear and sunny, but cold, and we were off to visit the University of Pittsburgh. The area around the Pitt campus is bordered by Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, Montefiore Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, and a whole host of other educational and cultural venues, plus lots of little shops and eateries (including ones that know what vegetarian means other than a salad of greens!).

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
Although it was Monday and the university would be starting classes on Wednesday, most of the buildings were still closed for winter break. Our first stop was Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), the largest academic building on campus.

Posvar Hall

It reminded us of an airport inside and the minute we said that, we noticed the plane hanging from the ceiling. In fact, it is one of the two remaining Langley Aerodromes (the other is on display at the Smithsonian), an umanned tandem-wing flying machine built at the end of the 19th century. No. 6 was launched by a catapult from a houseboat in the Potomac River and flew about 5000 feet! Another interesting tidbit about WWPH is that it was built on the site of the former Forbes Field, that historical ballpark of the Pittsburgh Pirates where Babe Ruth hit his last two home runs. The actual home plate is preserved in the floor of Posvar.

Our next stop, after finding the Hillman Library and the Pitt Union closed, was the Cathedral of Learning.

Cathedral of Learning

This landmark building is the tallest education building in the Western Hemisphere,the second tallest university building in the world, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in the style of late Gothic Revival, the lobby, or Commons Room, reminded us of what we thought Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series would look like!

Cathedral of Learning Commons Room

Also in this impressive building are 27 Nationality Rooms, rooms that were designed and decorated to represent the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. They are functional classrooms and were still all decked out for the holidays when we were there. What fun to take a class in one of these!

German Nationality Room

German Nationality Room

Ukrainian Nationality Room

Ukrainian Nationality Room

The blackboards were behind these doors!

Early American Nationality Room

Early American Nationality Room

Austrian Nationality Room

Austrian Nationality Room

Who wouldn’t want to take a class in this elegant room!

Continuing on our walking tour, we passed by the Log Cabin. Apparently this cute little building from the 1800’s is only a symbol of Pitt’s humble beginnings in 1787 and has little historical significance to the University other than that. It is currently used as a storage shed by the Pitt grounds maintenance crew.

Log Cabin

We also checked out Carnegie Hall, Dippy the diplodocus with her red bow for the holidays, and stopped in the Carnegie Library, before crossing the bridge to Schenley Park and the gorgeous Phipps Conservatory. More on that tomorrow!

January 7, 2011

Pittsburgh! Part 1

Filed under: Parks,Travel,Winter — Judy @ 11:07 pm

Another day, another trip – this time a girls’ only trip to Pittsburgh. We started out with little to no snow on the ground, but hit white-out conditions in the famous lake-effect corridor near Pembroke. We thought we were doomed, but the weather quickly turned and the rest of the trip was clear and sunny. A rest stop in Meadville yielded an amazing sight along the highway in front of the Highway Department there.

Meadville DOT

This picture does not do justice to the incredibleness of this project called “Read Between the Signs,” a collaboration between the Pennsylvania DOT and Allegheny College. Discarded road signs are sculpted into various images and forms depicting the Allegheny Mountains, the French Creek watershed, roads, PennDOT workers, and surrounding farms and forests. More pictures and videos here.

Continuing onward towards Pittsburgh, we arrived at the “Steel City” or “City of Bridges” in the late afternoon.

Entering Pittsburgh

It has been over 40 years since I’ve been there and I remembered the city as being dirty and ugly, truly a “Steel City.” Was I surprised! This city, situated at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which join to form the Ohio River, has reinvented itself. Its economy now is based on education, technology, healthcare, and financial services and, in 2010, it was listed as the most liveable city in the United States by Forbes and Yahoo.

FRICK PARK
One of my sisters lives in Pittsburgh and after the long trip, we all got some exercise in nearby Frick Park. Extensive trails wander up and down and around the steep valleys and wooded slopes.

Frick Park

The light at this time of day was magical.

Frick Park

Interesting geological formations,

Frick Park

considerable biodiversity,

Frick Park

and extensive ecological restoration work by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy

Frick Park

make this largest of all municipal parks in Pittsburgh a wonderful place to visit even on a late cold, snowless evening in January!

Frick Park

More on our trip tomorrow!

December 23, 2010

Salty Washington

Filed under: Travel,Winter — Judy @ 12:08 am

We made a quick trip to Washington for a long weekend last week for our daughter to visit George Washington University for grad school and to see a few of the historic sites. There was just over a foot of snow here when we left,

Snow at home before trip

but that amount quickly dwindled and the landscape was brown and barren with just flashes of snow here and there on the way. A few flakes were drifting down as we approached Washington, but nothing to speak of according to upper New York State standards.

Washington Memorial

Washington Memorial

Unfortunately, Washingtonians apparently thought a ‘snowmageddon’ was approaching because the salt trucks were out in force, spewing megatons of salt over every inch of the highways. In fact, when we awoke the next day, there were piles of salt all over the roads up to three inches deep in places, and thick clouds of salt dust were kicked up over everything and everybody as traffic passed by.

Landscaping note: Snow, by itself, is good for the garden – it adds moisture and, if deep enough, can protect plants from drying winter winds. In fact, both snow and rain can deposit a small amount of nitrogen, sort of a ‘poor man’s fertilizer.’ But adding salt to the equation means damage to plants and the environment, with both direct and indirect effects, and short and long term effects. More information can be found here.

After traipsing around GW, the Metro zipped us to the National Mall and we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for a lecture, “Fossil Forensics: Investigating How Early Humans Died,” a topic of great interest to a future anthropologist.

Smithsonian - National Museum of Natural History

At the Smithsonian - National Museum of Natural History

What a fabulous place that was! A return visit the next day to see more of it and a very few of the other historic sights only served to whet the appetite to see more. (more…)

December 11, 2010

The snow cometh

Filed under: Containers,Decorating,Our gardens,Winter — Judy @ 1:18 pm

I love snow, don’t get me wrong, but over two feet in the last week on the home turf might be a bit much even for me. This composite cell phone picture looking out the back door was taken before we had another eight inches or so. Isn’t that great?! Reminds me of a Thanksgiving when we got snowed in with four feet and the kids were sliding off the top of the deck railings down the hill!

Composite of snow in yard

We were shoveling three times a day to keep up with it, but actually had to break out the snowblower one morning after another eight inches was dumped overnight. A little too much to handle when you have over 200 feet of driveway to do!

Thought you might like to see a couple of fun topiaries I did for a client this year.

Front door wide view

The spiral obelisks were wound with gold and white frosted beaded garland and white mini-lights, and then topped with a lovely gold ball.

Single topiary - closeup

At the base, I created a wreath of a mix of fabulous greens – blue-green noble fir, microbiota that had turned purple from the cold, blue-berried juniper, yellow arborvitae, feathery white pine, droopy douglas fir, and incense cedar – all intertwined with more white mini-lights.

Wreath of mixed greens

The view at night – spectacular!

Topiaries at night

When the weather outside is bitter cold, and the wind is blowing, I would much rather stay inside by a warm, cozy fire. But when I can get outside, clear those cobwebs from the brain, breathe the fresh air, and maybe play in the snow – life is good!

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