Take a Walk: Octopus's Garden in Friendship

On Saturday I had an hour to kill before meeting up with a friend for some North Side adventures. So I took a walk. (As part of my effort to walk around my neighborhood more often.) My destination was something I had passed by and heard about in passing, the Octopus's Garden in Friendship on S. Aiken.  Earlier in the day I had been walking around running errands and buying hot beverages and donuts and had the feeling of "I'm in love with this place" hitting me pretty hard. Hidden gems in my neighborhood like the Octopus's Garden definitely add to the love. For where I am in my life now, I can't think of a better place to live than in Bloomfield and on the edge of Friendship, Garfield, and Lawrenceville. Here are some photos from the garden. If you ever find yourself with some time to kill after grabbing brunch at The Quiet Storm or coffee at Voluto, walk down S. Aiken and enjoy the garden for yourself. 

Baby Spider Plants: Take if You Promise to Love and Care for It

Happy Labor Day!

This morning I woke up on Canadian ground. (We were camping; I didn't just sleep in a city park in Toronto or something.) I'm not sure why I'm sharing that fact, but there you have it. 

Sign says: FREE Spider Plants / Please take me if you promise to love and care for it.

On my walk around the neighborhood last weekend, I came across some spider plants for the taking on Evaline. I've been trying to cultivate a green thumb of my own. My dad is like a plant whisperer or something. He can make all sorts of things grow. I've been getting better with plants. I failed with fruits and veggies again this summer. I don't think I'm going to try them again until I have the space for raised beds or a actual garden in the ground. So now my efforts will be focused on houseplants, which is why I was so excited to come across these spider plants. 

I'm going to do my best to be a loving and caring owner of these spider plants, but I've failed once before (which I blame on a combination of two factors: a) it was a spider plant from Ikea, and I haven't had much luck with any of the houseplants I've brought home from there, and b) one of my cats pretty much ate the entire thing one day).

Baby spider plants in teapots, toddler ficus trees from cuttings my dad gave me.

I cleaned up my balcony last weekend when I picked these up. I had let my tomatoes, herbs, and strawberries die out and dry out. Got rid of those and set up a little mini houseplant garden. Hoping that with the coolerish temps and lessening hours of sun per day these plants will get little growth spurts before coming inside until late spring

And for good measure, here's what I've got going on plant-wise inside.

Fingers crossed I don't totally kill these spider plants. I want to make my neighbors on Evaline proud!

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?

Yes / No / Maybe (Friendship Ave Stitchings)

As a stitcher myself, these pieces of street art are pretty excellent to walk by going down Friendship Avenue by the park. Kudos to whoever is responsible!

PGH Beautiful: Graffiti and Street Art, January 2012

If these pictures look warmer than it is outside, it's because I took them when it was not stupid wintertime. Enjoy!

One of my favorite things about my address is the ability to tell people "I live at the corner of Friendship and Gross. Yes. Correct. Friendship. And Gross."

This was pretty awesome. Out of nowhere these beautifully designed wood planks showed up on a couple telephone poles on Friendship. Amazing.