Burgh

Today a day of not doing much after a good night's rest. Visiting friends and family. And driving on, around and under the decaying infrastructure of Western Pennsylvania and the ubiquitous orange construction barrels. How a city can be perpetually under construction in entirely unbeknownst to me. But out of all fairness, Pittsburgh does have a rather complicated topography of mountains and rivers (and the most bridges in the United States), so that does not help matters. (And neither does inept government.)

I am writing from a coffee shop in Shadyside, a place where I lived for many years in Pittsburgh when I went to grad school. The street had a lot of funk in the 70's (so I've been told), but gradually morphed from a neighborhood of art galleries and small clubs and shops into a row of mostly national chains (Talbots, Banana Republic, blah, blah, blah) with only a handful of local establishments remaining.

Oh and the picture is of random homes in Mt Lebanon - a cool neighborhood where I spent the past few nights. There are many larger homes than these and a few smaller. Most are built of stone with mature trees abounding.