Take A Walk: The Streets and Alleys Between Friendship and Coral

Love these window boxes and the lush green coming from them.

I had half of a coffee left to drink Sunday morning. I'd been up for a few hours writing (all the wonderful things that posted this week on EvBetPGH) and was in need of a quick break. I grabbed my coffee, my headphones, and a camera and took a walk. I ventured up and down the streets and between Gross and Amelia and Friendship and Coral. One thing I was struck by as I walked along was how jealous I was of every backyard I came across. I even saw one tree with a climbing wall built to the side with a treehouse too. Jealous! Here are some shots from the walk. I love my neighborhood, and the little discoveries and surprises that it brings.

Show your work.

Sunflower and the sky.

Happy Friday! I'm off to Canada for the Labor Day weekend. It's been over a year since I was there last; that's over a year too long.

PGH Beautiful: Street Art and Graffiti on Friendship, August 2012

It's been a while since I posted some proper street art/graffiti discoveries. I'm striving to take more walks these days, which means possibly more of these posts to come.

First, another in the Friendship Ave stitchings series. My good pal Eric documented these on his blog recently too. 

Bird / Only You on Friendship near Nico's / Across the street from the funeral home parking lot.

I'm not mad, but where do you go late at night?

Stroll the Cemetery: Summer 2012

Residing so close to the Allegheny Cemetery is a really wonderful thing. It's such a quiet place, and a semi-haunting place, to walk through. After our walk through of the Frick grounds, Allie and I parted after checking out a couple shops on Butler. Instead of walking back up the hill to Bloomfield through Lawrenceville, I took a leisurely stroll through the cemetery to Penn Ave. I'm going to make an effort to visit the cemetery each season coming up, to gather a collection of photos showing this beautiful place in its different states. Here is the summer series. (Sadly, they are a bit crappy because of that dead damn cellphone camera. Oh well.)

I have a weird fascination with graves that contain my name.

Downtown peeking through the cemetery trees.

The pyramid boobs. Best mausoleum, ever.

Doing a little clicking around on the Allegheny Cemetery website, I've learned that the cemetery has an app for Android phones loaded with tours. I'm downloading it now so I can test it out next time I find myself strolling the cemetery.

30 Before 30: The Frick Art Museum (and Cars! and Plants!)

This is the first of two posts this week that brings me back to past. In one day I revisited two places that I first experienced on field trips - one in middle school and one in college. Though it may seem odd, I have not always been this PGH-obsessed. I am a born Pittsburgher, but I was quick to flee as soon as possible after getting a couple degrees from Pitt. In my youth (youthier youth; in my mind I'm forever in my youth), I did not appreciate Pittsburgh. Which is a shame, but I really missed out on some dynamic things. At least I'm appreciating them now.

Saturday afternoon Allie and I visited the grounds of Clayton, Henry Clay Frick's estate in Point Breeze. Though you have to pay to tour the house (which was part of my field trip in middle school), the art museum, the carriage house, and the gardens were free admission. So that's what we explored. No photos were permitted in the museum or carriage house. The art wasn't really my thing (I tend toward the modern and contemporary stuff), but the cars were awesome. Cars aren't my thing; we've covered this fact before. I could have easily seen myself behind the wheel of a couple of the smaller little roadsters. If you have a spare hour or so, it's worth a trip to Frick to see the cars and then wander around the gardens.

This is a playhouse. I wouldn't mind it as a real house.

The greenhouse and outdoor garden were abundant with growth. We figure that they use the produce at the Cafe. We didn't stop for anything at the Cafe while we were there, but I wouldn't mind trying out their tea service sometime in the not too distant future.

These are monster tomato plants. I don't think I've ever seen tomato plants this tall.

Tons of basil.

On the grounds of the Frick, a pet cemetery.

Eventually, I'll take the tour of the house again. But when looking for some free activities on a Saturday afternoon, the Frick provides three very different options.

Let's Drink to Wigle: Wigle Whiskey's Inaugural Tar & Feather Party

You wanna know what's an excellent thing to do on a beautiful late-August Friday right after getting done with work (for the week!)? Having some whiskey. What makes that even excellenter? Having those whiskey drinks made for you by Wigle Whiskey. At the Inaugural "Let's Get Tarred and Feathered" event, there were three whiskey drinks available for the tasting. I drank a few lemonade whiskeys and a few extremely tasty pomegranate whiskey drinks.  

Unlike the Food Truck event from several weeks ago, there was tons of space in the Wigle parking lot, which made nice to hang around with friends. For a while we sat on the ground snacking on pierogies (from the PGHPierogiTruck) and soups (from Soup Nancys). (Excuse the black and white photos. My phone's camera is somehow dead. Getting that taken care of this week, I hope.)

Kate and Zack, snacking on some pierogies and haluski. 

Different nonprofit organizations interpreted "tar and feathering" in various ways. Upon entry to the event, everyone received a feather to use as a vote for your favorite. Coming back from the bar, I got involved in Attack Theater's interpretation, which involved a lot of spinning around in a tight circle. It was fun, but I was dizzy as hell. Which is a good way to feel before you start on your second whiskey drink. I think someone got a picture of me doing this, but it's probably better that doesn't surface.

Here's what Attack Theater's tar and feather interpretation looked like, without me in it.

This was a really great event. I've talked about it with a few friends who were there, and everyone agreed that this was a really great way to spend a Friday evening. I should get getting back to Wigle soon for a tour; I'm taking my dad there as part of his Father's Day present. The same day as this party, Essential Pittsburgh aired a segment with highlights from the Wigle Whiskey tour. Listen to that while surfing through the Wigle site, which is really fun and will make you wish it were 2013 so that the aged stuff is ready.

30 Before 30: The Color in Frick Park

And we're back in the park! One thing I've learned to love about hiking (even urban hiking like this) is finding the spots of color peppered in among the green. So here are the bits of color I found while wandering the woods.

I climbed up a bit to get this, but it was well worth nearly twisting my ankle on the way down.

Spending a few hours away from things by getting lost in Frick Park (but not too lost, it wouldn't take too long to walk to the edge of this forest). It was just me, my iPod and my camera. It was glorious.

30 Before 30: The Green in Frick Park

So there I was.

A perfect Sunday afternoon. 

With nothing to do; seemingly no one around.

So I went on a hike.

I've been on the outskirts of Frick Park. Never really ventured in. That's how it ended up on my 30 Before 30 list. (Which, by the way, I've edited a bit and am in the final stages of finalizing.) Now that I've spent some time exploring, I've learned how easy it is to disappear into a nice green space in the middle of the city. I'm breaking my little hiking excursion into two posts, mostly because I took so many pictures. This will be the green post. Tomorrow you'll get the little surprises of color I found popping through the green.

Seriously - this is within the city limits. 

If only they allowed overnight camping. Actually, that's probably good; I'd be sleeping in Frick Park all summer long.

And here's where I can sleep. Just drape a sheet over it and I'm set.