Day Five – June 22, 2018 – Pittsburgh


Day Five – June 22, 2018 – Pittsburgh

Someone’s alarm is going off at six a.m.??? No, it turns out, later, that it’s the smoke alarm that has turned into a water alarm.  It wound up on the windowsill when everything got moved yesterday to find a way to shut off the water, and this morning’s rain set it off!

Roddy, Betsy, and I are all up and dressed well before the ETA for Vince the Plumber.  He’s caught in traffic and doesn’t come ‘til later;  but it doesn’t matter.  When he does arrive he decides that Jim’s temporary fix is good enough until he can get back next week to do a major repair.  He doesn’t charge for today’s visit!

There is West African peanut soup for lunch;  but Skye really loves it, so I snag some before it’s gone!  Of course there are lots of yummy left overs, too. 

Barbara and Jim are packing for the wedding and we’re enjoying some down time.  When they’re ready, Roddy and Skye take them to the airport.  Skye will have to pick them up at midnight on Sunday night, so this is a test run for her.

While they are on the road, Betsy and I walk to the other Giant Eagle, which is further away, but has, maybe, less hills along the way.  We get home just as Skye and Roddy are pulling to the curb!  Talk about great timing!




Love the camo trunk!



Doesn't look too strange...

until you see its neighbors!




Isn't this fabulous?!  It's the walk up to Barbara's house!

Skye loves peppers and Barbara doesn’t, so she would like us to use up the package of frozen peppers and onions while she’s gone!  Betsy takes out a chicken breast to thaw while we think about a stir-fry recipe.  When it comes time to actually cook, Skye takes over most of the work!


 Joel, who works with Jim on some complex computer modeling projects, comes over to visit Roddy and Betsy.  He’s only got an hour, but fills it with tales of work and home repair and lots of laughter.  Betsy tells him that we’ve waited to have a beer until he arrived!  Joel is involved with SCA and looks up Tampa Bay Fencers on Facebook.  He thinks he’ll follow them!

The stir fry is really good!  Adding fresh ginger really gives it a kick! After dinner Betsy and I walk to Frick Park.  The neighborhood is so elegant with all the two and three-story red brick homes and manicured lawns.  Most of the front yards have multiple steps leading up to the actual houses.  Good thing there are alleys in back that are at a higher elevation!  Wouldn’t be fun to carry groceries up all those steps!

Things that make you go, "hunh??"


This one is in the same neighborhood!  Great to have choices!


Another thing that makes you go, "hunh??"
The perfect bike rack for Squirrel Hill!
zebra grass?

Every park should have one of these!
The park has a large playground with lots of slides and plenty of things to climb on and around and under.  Most especially, though, it has the Pittsburgh Blue Slide!



There are also lots of trails, many of which go through the woods, and exercise stations.  There are even two deer!!  My day is complete!





 We head back home, hoping for a sunset from the back deck.  Failing that, we can have a banana or some ice cream of another beer.  The sunset doesn’t really turn out to be much, but Betsy and I go jump on the trampoline in the back yard!  Laughed ‘til I cried!! 







This one is Barbara's;  but there are several more in the neighborhood.  Very cool!


My new phone does this automatically!  But it doesn't include the jumping on the trampoline!
Back inside we watch a couple of episodes of the Daily Show and call it a night.

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