April 2 Run: Downtown at PPG Place fountain

On Sunday we meet at the PPG Place Fountain downtown (parking usually available on 4th Ave.) There was some talk of going over to the North Side and maybe up the trail on the Ohio, but we'll cross that bridge, etc.  Oh, and there are also the red buds that are just coming out on the North Shore - will we make it?

Quick review:  Last week's run on the South Side was delightful and involved 2 bridges and lovely views over the water.  We decided that the pavement on S. Carson St. on a Sunday morning was too gross to revisit, though.

Endorsements:
Project Prom needs seamstresses, Wendy reports - get your needles ready for next year
Mindfulness - always
Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse - Thriftique for creative people
Going to the Citizenship ceremony (15 countries represented) - especially inspirational in these times
Social capital - more people in your life - especially us
Pearl Nails, ask for Lynn
Pittsburgh Dance Council
Arrival - the movie
Missing Richard Simmons - the podcast

Questions:
When does long hair become witchy?
Whither mahjongg?
Where's your arthritis?

Quotes:
"She's working me down from bright colors to natural."
"This is what democracy looks like!"

March 26 Run: South Side run starting at Big Dog Coffee (2717 Sarah St. Pittsburgh, PA 15203)

Next week we’ll try to take in two bridges on the South Side and we’ll see what’s new along Carson St...

Don’t ever underestimate the power of Joanne to draw folks out of bed and into Highland Park! It was great to see the BIG turnout for this week’s run and Joanne deftly lead us through the grand streets of Highland Park and the homey Pittsburgh warmth of Morningside. And no, it wasn’t even unbearably hilly!  Coffee at Taza Doro was delightful….hmmm….did anyone take notes (sorry Roye!)?

(Thanks, Lainy, for posting!)

March 19 Run: Highland Park (or thereabouts) run starting at Tazza D'Oro on Highland

Next week meet at Enrico's Tazza D'Oro - old favorite on Highland Ave.  Sadly I have to miss it - don't forget to pick someone to write this next week :-)

We thought there was nothing new under the... grey sky - but we discovered unseen parts of Bloomfield last Sunday, as we circled through those mysterious treeless streets of row houses, down past giant rusted pipes strewed outside the defunct Iron City Brewery, and alongside railroad tracks and the busway.  Well, maybe not so pretty but kind of fascinating, and then we came across the Iron Eden workshops and also store (photo), the "Try Try Try Stairs" (Laurie's find), a tiny Italian bakery in a garage, and the fanciest masonry parking spaces ever seen. Multiple endorsements from the very comfy Crazy Mocha on Liberty:

• African-American History Museum in DC - tickets are sold out for months but you can get same-day ones online or by phone at 6:30 am if you're quick on the draw.
• A great funky song from circa 1989 - Walk the Dinosaur - known to have been played on juke box at Nico's Recovery Room
• The Americans series on Amazon Prime.  (While discussing this a random guy pops up and says "I'm hooked on it!  And it explains why there are no pay phones any more!") 
• Bad Lip Reading - still a riot
• Book Bad Feminist
• Movie:  Get Out! 
• Advice from Lainy's Mom (a former model):  When being photographed, ankles together!  

photo credits:  thanks, Virginia!

March 12 Run: Bloomfield run starting at Crazy Mocha, 4525 Liberty Ave

New exploration going into deep Bloomfield on Sunday, starting and ending at Crazy Mocha at 4525 Liberty Ave. (near Tessaro's.)


Last Sunday was memorable, starting with heading out Butler Street toward the zoo and passing a zone of hipster outlets too numerous to count including one window full of lace, the Home of Gently Worn Bridal Gowns.  Heading up some unknown Pittsburgh stairs as long as the Stairway to Heaven, we came to a "Stairs Closed" sign about 3/4 of the way up.  Naturally we decided to bushwhack the rest and run through a couple of backyards, arriving way way up at the top of Upper Lawrenceville. Verdict: adorable.

Then down down to the aforementioned Abbey on Butler with truly over the top Victorian atmospherics, and a cozy place in front of the fire.  Great coffee!  And a surprise welcome return of Aimee now with 2 beautiful children, and maybe Women's History Month too, led us to new-fangled diapers (superthin, HareKrishna, bamboo), handsfree breast pumps, and when is best to go back to work after childbirth (a Friday.)  Also advice heard in January:  "if you have a urethra and are going to the march..."

We realized that our next run falls exactly on Purim, Jewish festival of hamentaschen, Queen Esther, and origin of the term "the whole megillah."  Though not Magilla Gorilla.  Wendy reminded us of the eternal theme of Jewish festivals:  "They tried to kill us. We survived.  Let's eat!" of which there are several musical versions on Youtube.

Just a few endorsements:

• Andrew Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie with civil war room
• New White Whale bookstore on Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield
• North Park when the frogs are mating (site of run soon!)

Here was the best part:  no mention of T----p the whole time.

                                                                                              Photo credits:  Michele and me.

March 5 Run: Lawrenceville run starting at The Abbey, 4635 Butler

Next week we're trying out a new coffee place - The Abbey, on Butler at 47th so we'll start there and figure out the run later.  It's apparently a converted funeral home, across from Allegheny Cemetery.  Maybe we should wear all black?  Maybe it's a sign of the times?  Maybe I should stop overthinking this, but that's hard to do these days.

Last week we got the scoop from Lainy on Cuenca, Ecuador, complete with blue-footed boobies, death-defying bus rides, and, weirdly, the best bagels in the world.   This was at Biddle's Escape, aka Resistance HQ, where sadly they were not serving the maple bacon latte, but they had some other intriguing beverages, not to mention t-shirts, postcards, and a million bags of tea.  The run took us into new Wilkinsburg and Edgewood territories, including an outdoor art gallery covering abandoned homes, many Pittsburgh stairways, and the famous old Edgewood Club.

Endorsements -
Cuenca, Ecuador!
On that theme, movies in Spanish (with subtitles):  Even the Rain with the amazing Gael Garcia Bernal; Julieta from Almodovar
The work of the Squirrel Hill Health Center with local refugees and immigrants
Quotes:
"You look here like someone else I know that's not you."
"This is a not-on-the-napkin story."