Tomorrow! 1/1 New Year's Morning at 61C @7:30 am; 1/6, Coffee Tree in Bakery Square@ 7:00 am

Tomorrow! 1/1 New Year's Morning at 61C @7:30 am; 1/6, Coffee Tree in Bakery Square@ 7:00 am

We met at the Frick gate entrance in Point Breeze this past Sunday for a spirited and well-attended walk and run. Afterwards, we attempted to coffee at the Everyday Cafe “We are open every day, 7am-3pm” but alas, it was closed.

Endorsements:

• Lainy’s new obsession: Shtisel, a Netflix series
• A Very British Scandal, an Amazon Prime three part series featuring the excellent Hugh Grant

Other topics:

• Mink cuffs (are they acceptable for mittens and if so, how to wash?) which led to discussion of a 50s mom obsessed with mink and a mink baby
• Roye’s full story of the trash raccoon (note: Roye did not attend coffee so some explanation is in order)
• Notary home delivery: Josh Reisner 412-521-3020 josh@resinernotary.com

Upcoming Runs/Walks:

• Tuesday, Tomorrow!!, January 1, New Year’s Day Holiday Run 7:30 am; meet at 61C in Squirrel Hill
• Sunday, January 6, 7:00 am; meet at Coffee Tree in Bakery Square

And don’t forget:

Wednesday, January 2, 5:00 pm, meet in lobby of William Penn Hotel for Happy Hour drinks, and to take a first stab at drafting the RG family tree

Dec. 30 Run: Meet at entrance to Frick Park at Reynolds and S. Homewood.

It's been a few months since we dived into Frick Park and it's turned entirely brown and sere (I just had to look that up) and is eerily romantic right now.  So we'll meet at the entrance at Reynolds and S. Homewood and head for the Rollercoaster Trail.  Coffee probably at 61C.

Last week we started under the Oakland morning's raucous crow-filled skies, along with a giant full moon (Moonset?) - and then saw their diving reflections shooting through the mirror-filled installation on the Carnegie facade.  Unfortunately you can't see any of that in this photo, but everyone here will attest to the awesomeness.  At the other extreme, we witnessed how CMU is trying to cover every inch of space with concrete. Aimee was able to map our somewhat ridiculous but charming route.  The Christmas run was spare but took advantage of Anne Jane's encyclopedic knowledge of Homewood Cemetery ("the Cemmie".)

So, keeping track of our ever-useful endorsements:

• RunKeeper App - see example at right
• Again the British Baking Show, but the added feature of actually baking cookies while watching!  It was admitted that our cookies are not as good as our kids' now.
• Glitter - kids adore it, but for moms, "it's probably still in my skin". So popular it recently had a major feature in the NYT (this is actually fascinating, including a satisfying tale of Newt Gingrich being glitter-bombed.) 
• Slime, equally unavoidable if you have kids
• Abandoning Facebook, Amazon, Google - but can we do it?
• Figuring out what to do with digital photos - where exactly are they, anyway?
• Podcasts:  Believed, Bagman, Slow Burn
• Movie: Mary, Queen of Scots
• Lucille Ball - the first pregnant person on TV=

Christmas Holiday Run Bulletin: forgot to mention it! Meet on Tuesday at 7:30 am at Starbucks, corner of Forbes and Shady

By Thursday we'll have a report on next Sunday's run.  This is just to announce the Holiday Run on Tuesday, of course:  7:30 am at the Starbucks, corner of Forbes and Shady.

Also, in reference to the discussion today about the gift popularity of slime, and kids gifts in general, I want to share this adorable article - which includes how to spell slime in Spanish!

But meanwhile, in the Spirit of Sparkle Season, we're bringing back a special treat from years ago, from our poet-in-residence, Lainy:

T’was the run before Christmas and all through the town

The runners were waking to rain coming down

With temperatures rising alongside the sun

The rainfall was heavy and dampened the fun

The plan was a flat one, on Walnut to meet

Outside of the Coffee Tree… patter of feet

First Sarah and Lainy, then Sandy and Yi 

But soon it was clear they were all there would be.

No Wendy or Paulas, no Karen nor Roye,

Just FOUR East End Runners, all ready for joy.

They loitered, they waited, for hopes there’d be more

By 10 after seven, they wondered “what for?”

On Walnut they headed toward mansions on Fifth,

To gaze at a manor all wrapped like a gift!

Then down Panther Hollow, more modest abodes

And up a steep staircase to Oakland’s back roads.

Now Tom should not read this, of this I must WARN

For then…a spontaneous route change was born

See, Sandy, it turns out, had yet to discover

The most beloved Shrine of the Sweet Blessed Mother.

So onward the foursome did head in a line

To take in the Queen of the Parkway Shrine

As always, a treat full of awe and some wonder

The sky remained grey with some rain, but no thunder.

Now back into Oakland and towards the Cathedral

(And now comes the trespass that wasn’t quite legal)

Though fire alarms flashed and speakers spewed warnings,

We’re used to the Cathedral being open most mornings

Now, back at the Coffee Tree others arrived

And into the ritual chatter we dived

We spoke of good movies, and holiday treats

And next week the run starts in Oakland at PEET’s!

In keeping with Christmas Day rituals and rites

We’ll meet at the Starbucks, in jackets and tights

Not ‘til 7:30 (you get to sleep in)

Then promptly the Christmas Day Run will begin.

But meanwhile we hope that the week will bring fun,

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good RUN!

December 23 Run: Meet in front of Phipps Conservatory in Oakland

We are meeting in front of Phipps Conservatory (map) so that Elaine can initiate us into the mysteries of "crows over Oakland."  Don't ask, just come and you will be enlightened!

It must be said, it rained on the downtown Holiday Run.  Seriously, it was sacrilegious, though at least it was mainly a drizzle.  I think the photo says it all.  But we did see the sights: the SuperVatican Creche (always a standout), many lit-up trees, the full-of-tchotchkes Holiday Market, and especially one major improvement: Menorah.net! which has FINALLY replaced the tacky PCP pipe menorahs with state-of-the-art internet-connected glossy steel candelabras. We won't quibble that Menorah.net seems not to know that Hanukah ended last week.

We lounged in our damp running gear in the brocade chairs and under the crystal chandeliers of the Wm Penn Lobby and it was lovely as always.  Endorsing:

• The Wednesday and Friday morning runs, 5:45 at the corner of Murray and Forbes, are reportedly in FULL FORCE.
• Happy Hour in this same William Penn lobby, 5-7 on weekends, so good that we set a date:  Wednesday, January 2 - meet everyone there at 5 and we'll drink to... there's lots we can think of.
• Movie:  Roma, maybe the best picture of the year - don't miss the chance to see it on the big screen.
• TV: Mrs. Maisel, especially now that they're in the Catskills
• Shows: Hamilton, of course - many people are going!  How did they get tickets?  By being clever and persevering, unlike yours truly, who will have to wait until the next decade.  Virginia says that there is another lottery coming up, though.
• Yoga retreats, especially if they're in Aruba or the Mexican Caribbean (and of course Linda Meacci's)
• Not endorsed:  copulation in Gateway Center Park - evidently a problem

Dec. 16 Run: Annual Downtown Holiday Run! Meet at entrance to Omni Wm. Penn Hotel, 530 Wm. Penn Place

Meet everyone at the warm and wonderful Wm. Penn Lobby entrance to begin our annual holiday trek through sparkly dahntahn - much to visit.  Here's a map. We still think of this as Tom's run, so Tom, if you're reading this, we promise to follow our leader!  Coffee inside under the giant chandeliers.

Last Sunday we threaded in and out of picturesque Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, and Edgewood and then warmed up at funky Biddle's where we opined on all things seasonal:

• White Christmas: the thing and the movie - also Holiday Inn: the movie but not the thing.
• Which brought us to - how to watch old classic movies, preferably lined up for you in some clever and adorable way, if you don't have cable with TCM??  Please write in with the answer if you have it. 
• It may have something to do with Roku, Chromecast, or Apple TV.  Again, please write in.
• Four Frozen Farmers - best place to get Xmas trees, at Construction Junction
• The Rivers Casino is a nightmare vision.  It feels like "an adult Chuckie Cheese."
• Ditto Las Vegas, where you end up with sex stickers on the bottom of your shoes.
• A murder of crows - this was either the crows themselves (more on that in 2 weeks!) or the movie.
• Sheets and towels - seriously the best are at Macy's or Target? But dispose of old ones at the Humane Animal Rescue Shelter.
• What about duvets?  They are swanky and European but somehow the quilt keeps moving down and then you freeze.
• We appear to have been kind of cranky last week.  Hopefully the Sparkle will be with us on Sunday!

Dec. 9 Run: Meet at Biddle's Escape, 401 Biddle Ave. Wilkinsburg

Short but sweet coverage from Elaine: 

Last week:  It was a terrific morning in North Park. 

This week:  Group decided to meet at Biddle's Escape (map) for next weeks run. Ill see if Councilman Mike would like to host a tour, or maybe Virginia or Michelle or Galit might escort us around the hood and/or frick park.

Dec. 2 Run: meet at North Park Boathouse parking lot

It's been a little over a year since we had a North Park run, so it's time already!  We'll meet at the parking lot for the Boathouse (map) and then have coffee in the Over the Bar restaurant right next door.  It should take about 35 minutes to get there from Squirrel Hill on a Sunday morning.  If anyone wants a ride, Lainy is driving her van from in front of Colfax School on Beechwood Blvd. (another map) - leaving at 6:25 (unlike the run, that doesn't mean 6:30.)

We had a familiarly comfy Squirrel Hill run last week (entitled:  Reverse Bird Run) predictably involving more uphills than down.  They love us so much at 61C that they asked us to make them our "official" cafe!  But what if there's a breakup?  (Which has happened before, talking to you, Commonplace on Forbes.) Too sad! We must simply go where our Mizunos take us.  And our endorsements:

• There was something about a TV mystery series set in West Virginia, but I can't find it so I'm providing this instead:  Television shows set in Pittsburgh: so many!
• Places to get lots of pies:  5 Points Bakery (apple recommended), Allegro Hearth, and Soergel's.  Also many of our kitchens on Thanksgiving - see Virginia's recipe for special pecan pie below!
• Welcome Blanket - the inventor of the Pussy Hat started another craft movement to make blankets to give to refugees and immigrants and to conceptually counter the cursed "Wall": "what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?" 
• The amazing book series starting with My Brilliant Friend is now on HBO - brilliant.
• The Annual Chanukah car and bike parade is happening on Tuesday.  
• Movies:  The Green Book, Widows
• Books:  Last Ragged Breath, Little Fires Everywhere, An American Marriage
• All of those and more on Audiobooks, especially using the Libby App free from Carnegie Library. So much use, "my ears got bruised!"
• Save the date for the Annual Downtown Holiday run:  Nov. 16

November 25 Run: Meet at 61C Cafe - also Thanksgiving Holiday Run: Meet at Forbes & Murray at 7:30 -

Getting this out under the wire to remind everyone about the Thanksgiving Holiday Run, meeting at Forbes & Murray at 7:30 a.m.  Then on Sunday, back to the trusty 61C at 7.  Walks and Runs are both happening.  Lots of calories to burn off!

The cold gloom of these days is seeping into everything but we had a pretty cheery time among the 19th century tombstones and 21st century deer and geese in Allegheny Cemetery.  Also the Big Guy, below, offering peace, some of which we then found in the atmospheric Abbey coffeehouse, sinking deep into the upholstery.

Endorsements:

• Finding the turnips for the celery remoulade - not at the Giant Eagle?  Ask one of us, we have them on hand.
• A solution for Too Many Cabbages:  cook 'em 3 ways. 
• Not the Abbey's Pumpkin Scones - they were a "bit stodgy"
• (Which brought up the group love for the British Baking Show - just rerun the first series and all anxiety will melt away.)
• But definitely their Malva Cakes!
• Still seeking the perfect 25th reunion plan - it will be the 30th by the time we find it.  But one thing for sure:  no awards will be given!
• Former VP Spiro Agnew was a creep and a crook, but that  saga is totally engaging and eerily current (witch hunt!) in Rachel Maddow's new podcast, Bag Man.
• Movie:  Bohemian Rhapsody
• Yoga class at the Carnegie Museum - don't need a membership
• Feldenkrais - if you missed the yoga class

Nov. 18 Run: Meet at the Abbey coffeehouse, 4635 Butler St. Lawrenceville

Did we pick a place for Sunday?  No idea, so I'm going for the cozy Abbey Coffeehouse at 4635 Butler St. and a Lawrenceville - or maybe Allegheny Cemetery - run, since the parks are pretty muddy right now.  And outdoors is darkly atmospheric these days, so this sort of fits the Victorian ambience.  Wear your corsets!

Last week we honored Squirrel Hill and the tragedy that took place there, with hopes for moving forward with love, justice, and care for each other, and gratitude for the beautiful solidarity of our Pittsburgh neighbors. When Jewish towns were burnt to the ground in 19th century Russia, nobody said, "Sorry for the pogrom!" The mutual sorrow and kindness that happened here, and around the world, has been so uplifting.

And we contributed another full house at 61C where we took up most of the tables, and probably air in the room, while endorsing:

• Millennials! They are our hope for the future (Baby Boomers having screwed up, it must be admitted) and we forgive them for running up the prices in thrift stores.  
• Speaking of millennials, hurray for Sarah and Kristin for running yet another marathon (the Bobcat) and then showing up to run with us the next day!
• How about those House races that keep flipping?  We now have a member of Congress named Xochitl! 
• The return of Tom (and Kay) and his brilliant and knowledgeable contribution to our discussion of Steelers uniform variations.
• "Librarian Chic" - aren't they all?
• Enix Brewing Company - more great beer in Homestead.
• Not only is the Wednesday weekday run back, so is the Friday!  Squirrel Hill Library corner:  be there at 5:45 am.

November 11 Run: meet at the JCC on Forbes Ave.

We'll meet at the JCC on Forbes (map), and give our love to Squirrel Hill.  There is also a totally optional participation in the "Virtual 5K Run/Walk to Benefit the Pittsburgh Jewish Community Center" which can be done simultaneously. I'm doing it for the t-shirt.

The last two runs have gone by in a flash. Memorable parts were:  finding Elaine and Aimee on the Strip in the dark via the blaze of Elaine's personal headlight, the still-warm almond meles at La Prima, and the technicolor leaves drifting down on us in Schenley Park. And the hugs of course that are helping everyone through this time.  Huge turnout last week, graciously documented by KDKA photographer Kenneth Sims!

Not to mention some endorsements:

• The RG's revitalized weekday run, every Wednesday at 5:45 from the Squirrel Hill Library corner - 5 runners last week! Just show up. Going that early feels kind of otherworldly.
• Taking the train to New York - long but so restful, plus the Horseshoe Curve.  Also to DC.
• Boden Sample Sale coming up Saturday! Convention Center, 10-4. 
• Choolah Indian restaurant - good for parties, great naan. 
• Plans for 25th RG reunion - in the works - brunch or dinner?  Here or there?
• The In Bed By 10 Dance Party - and the upcoming one on the 17th benefits Tree of Life.
• Books:  Unsheltered by Kingsolver, Alternate Sides by Quindlen, Anthony Trollope's 47 novels, Educated, A Memoir by Westover,  Paris by Book by Callahan
• Screen time:  Love, Gilda documentary, Jane the Virgin, Haunting of Hill House, the Jane Fonda movie with Robert Redford.
• If you have any Disney movie VHS tapes, they are worth a lot!
• Blue light - makes you less sad.
• The crows are back.

November 4 Run: Wendy Bennett Trailhead for a Schenley Park Run

I swear that after Saturday, suddenly all the trees, which had been dusty green, started glowing, and took on their fall colors overnight.  We'll surround ourselves with those on Sunday in Schenley Park, starting at the Wendy Bennett Trailhead (map) and absorb all of their healing power.  And of course all of the healing power of the running group then and later. 

No heart at the moment to list all the wonderful endorsements that have piled up, but they will come, I promise, with a better day soon.

October 28 Run: Parking Lot at 21st Street and Liberty Avenue in the Strip District

Another quick note this week.  Sunday let's meet at the parking lot at 21st Street and Liberty Avenue for a run starting in the Strip District.  There are lots of possibilities from that starting location...anyone interested in a Run-to-the-Run get in touch with either me or Elaine.

Last Sunday's run I missed, but heard that it was amazing.  I heard that Virginia and Galit led a well-organized and interesting tour of all Halloween decorations through Regent Square.  I haven't seen any photos, but if anyone has any, feel free to share them with the group.

October 21 Run: Meet at Biddle's Escape for a Regent Square Run

Just a quick note this week.  A request was made to check out Regent Square's amazing Halloween decorations, so let's meet at Biddle's Escape on Sunday.  It sounded like Virginia and Galit had some ideas up their sleeves.

Last week we enjoyed a nice run at the Waterfront side of the GAP trail.  The sun was starting to rise just as we set off.  I don't have any endorsements from the Starbuck's coffee because it was so chaotic due to a race event (for local NAMI) going on that was set up right in the center of the Waterfront shops.  I do, however, have some photos to share.  Elaine, Galit, and I did another RTR (second photo), so if you're interested in joining us one of these cool dark mornings (it's great!), let one of us know and we can coordinate.

October 14 Run: Meet at Pump House at the Waterfront for a GAP Run

Next week we will run on the GAP trail, so let's meet at the Pump House on the far side of Waterfront near trailhead past Lowe's.  We want to run to the part where you can see the Kennywood rides from the trail and Edgar Thompson Works from across the river.

This past week was a mostly flat run for the runners and a somewhat hilly (steppy) walk for the walkers.  The walkers tell me they discovered the 15th Street Steps and what is known as the Church Route.  The run was through the South Side city streets down to the Terminal Building and then along the riverfront trail back to Big Dog Coffee which was warm, comfy, and peaceful as always.  We sat on the patio and discussed the pros and cons of various activity-tracking devices, including the Fitbit, Apple Watch, and the lesser-known Apple Health app on most iPhones (it is the one that is just a picture of a heart).  We were overwhelmed and came to no consensus about which one to use, but we agreed "enough with the data!"   We also discussed "Stripper Names" (First name is your first pet, Last name is the very first street you lived on), and agreed that "Bosses are so bad!"

Endorsements:

Insecure
Sharp Objects
Foyles War

Also, Elaine and I are bringing back the RTR- Run to the Run!

October 7 Run: meet at Big Dog Coffee on 2717 Sarah St. on the South Side

South Side run again - meeting at Big Dog Coffee at Sarah St. and 28th St. on the South Side.  First reason why:  we love it there!  Second reason why:  it's the 2nd Annual 4.12K for Casa San José and I have to be (and maybe others?) on the South Side for that too.  (There's still barely time to register - though too late for t-shirts - by noon on Friday.  This is my fault because I think I forgot to notify the group.)

Last week - walkers once more outnumbered runners (some were Great Racing) and Michele suddenly appeared like the Good Fairy and led us through her Regent Square/Edgewood labyrinth of hidden stairs and alleys.  How the hell did we end up on a bridge at the back of Edgewood TOWNE Center?  Photo documents our discovery of a Headless Steeler on the way.  Almost time for Halloween Inflatables!




Various endorsements:

• Limiting news consumption allows your inner Pollyanna to come out - or at the very least may keep you out of Western Psych.  
• Grassroots rising!
• Turner Classic Movies - another calming influence, but how to watch if you're not in a hotel?
• The Theatah!  Now playing:  Chatterton at Quantum - brilliantly unique production as always but helps if you know the plot - here it is. Also - they give you a terrific dinner in the middle! 
• Also Barebones Productions - new play Lobby Hero on right now.
• Eating alone in foreign places - we got tips on how to handle it
• Busway Love 💕