Sept. 30 Run: 61B Cafe on S. Braddock in Regent Square (if you're not in the Great Race)

Some of the group will be running in the Great Race (go team!) but for the rest of us, let's meet at the 61B Cafe at 1108 S. Braddock in Regent Square.  Just for a change from 61C.  Frick Park beckons, or maybe Swissvale, or maybe a loop around Edgewood Towne Center (is there a revival?)

Last week, as I am still on the DL, I can only say about the run that they accomplished a First Run Over the Bloomfield Bridge and reported that it was awesome, vertigo and all.  I'm so sad I missed it, and am hoping for a re-do someday soon.  Coffee Tree in Shadyside was quite comfy.  Numerous good things were discussed:

• The British Baking Show - such kindness, with lambs bleating in the background.  (Soooo different from the Kavanaugh hearings which have been annihilating us all day today! More British baking PLEASE!!)
• Colin Firth movies:  especially Pitch Fever and Love, Actually.  And loved him in Mamma Mia 1 and 2!
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Pittsburgh Playwrights
• Using Nextdoor to find out if people are stealing Amazon packages from porches near you
• Podcasts:  Dr. Death and To Love or To Perish
• Bats, ants, and moths - really

Sept. 23 Run: Coffee Tree on Walnut Street in Shadyside

We'll start at Coffee Tree on Walnut Street at ground zero of Shadyside - mainly because we haven't been there in years, if ever.  Why not give it a try?  There isn't a run planned - though the one where we fast-walked right through Shadyside Hospital might be tried again.  Do we want to run over the Bloomfield Bridge (it has a walkway on one side) for the first time?  Many possibilities!

Last week I missed the running part due to an annoying ankle sprain (am considering using a scooter, or a segway! how weird would that be?) so I have no idea how the run/walk went.  But afterwards the coffee spot at Madeleine's was simply dreamy.

Faves:

• the Cook Forest River Ride
• Ineffable Ca Phe - Vietnamese cafe - maybe start there next time?
• Stretch fabrics! 
• Ofebia Quist-Arcton and Sylvia Poggioli
• Scoobis
• IHOP, not IHOB
• the Isola neighborhood in Milan
• Gift cards to the Big Burrito restaurants
• Timbuk2 panniers for bikes

Not faves:

• People in movie theaters in pajamas eating Chinese food
• Having to teach kids what a mailbox is

September 16 Run: trying again: Meet at the Tennis Courts parking lot on S. Braddock and Biddle for a run through 9 Mile Run

This Sunday we'll try the same thing again since the pouring rain last Sunday kind of dampened the joy of trekking through the woods.  Forecast for Sunday is good!  We'll park at the parking lot next to the tennis courts on S. Braddock, corner of Biddle.  Coffee probably at Madeleine's bakery.

Still, we cheered the 3 valiant runners that bravely went out there and got soaked - and then joined the non-valiant among us who just showed up for coffee at Biddle's, which was as usual, enlightening!  The weight of our brilliance has finally moved me to get all of this stuff on record, so here goes 3 weeks of napkin notes:

• #1, recommended by New England-born and bred Lainy, Cousins Maine Lobster Food Truck , which if you click on that link you will notice that they will be (among other places)
• At the Pittsburgh Food Park at the Millvale Riverfront Park though they seem to be somewhat confused, since they have the wrong date.  Here is what the Food Park says: Friday Sept. 21, 5-10 pm - which was endorsed with or without the lobster rolls.  
• Which one of those dates is Fake News?? and hereby we talk about another big endorsement, which is to help Get Out The Vote - just 54 days left!  I try to not include politics here but the group agreed that drastic measures are called for these days.  How?
• Bookmark Partners for Progress SWPA's list of events to participate in, or even better, sign up for their really helpful email list.  (It's probably more important than this one.)
• Voter registration (up to Oct. 9) with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters.  
• Just get absolutely everyone you know who cares about our country to vote.  Black women in Alabama (actually watch that - it's great) evidently made the difference in defeating Roy Moore by simply harassing all their friends and relatives.  Let's do it!
• Wendy's Zumba Class at Bellefield Hall at Pitt at 5:30 on MW- it's open to the public!  I just called Be Fit Pitt but right now it's full (she said Wendy's class fills up fast!) but to check back in a few weeks (when students get tired) by calling 412-648-8320.
• Night Market coming up in Squirrel Hill Sept. 22
• A lot of talk lately of wild animals.  Raccoons, bunnies, deer, squirrels, all those birds, and "the Pitt campus is crawling with groundhogs!" Laurie gets the prize for astounding endurance in humane groundhog elimination (both ways, don't ask.)  Also mentioned:  The Wildlife Center (they are at capacity for raccoons.)  Also a mention of violent pets.
• Shakespeare in the Park Pittsburgh - really good and really free - just 2 more!
• Get ready for cashmere mitten season, and be like Gretchen's daughter Margot and donate some to the homeless
• St Moritz - actually like the Sound of Music, where "people come out of the womb hiking."
• GoodRX - 75% off coupons for pharmaceuticals - RG medical members say it works!
• Books:  Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner, Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante, Evicted by Matthew Desmond, Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
• Forest Bathing -we'll do it next Sunday
• Non-endorsement:  Maytag washers - bad, bad, bad!  Those old ads about their vaunted endurability - it's back to Fake News!!
• You know, there is more but I'm out of time.  So much wisdom!

September 9 Run: Meet at the Tennis Courts on S. Braddock and Biddle for a run through 9 Mile Run

Sorry about this again, but yet another quickie as I find that in my retirement I actually have less time than when I was working.  Or maybe I'm just really inefficient.  Or both.

Sunday Run/Walk will start at the Tennis Courts parking lot on S. Braddock at Biddle Ave. in Regent Square, at 7 of course, with coffee probably at Biddle's Escape or Madeleine's Bakery.

There will be a SLEW of endorsements coming soon, I promise!