Author Archives: ruthek

Art and history in Pittsburgh

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The Frick Art and Historical Center is having an exhibit of nineteenth century printed views of Pittsburgh. The prints give a wonderful picture of the early growth of the city. Coming from the amazingly flat city of Chicago I am always intrigued by the hills and valleys of Pittsburgh, particularly the changes that were made in the downtown area by leveling Grant’s Hill and using it as landfill. Both the Frick Building and the Allegheny County Courthouse were built with the expectation that Grant’s Hill, which they were built into, would be removed. The basement of the Frick Building became the first floor and the facade of the courthouse was reconfigured. Knowing this, I have tried to envision what Grant’s Hill would have looked like. I was hoping the prints would help me, but I the best picture I’ve found is here. It looks like the kind of hill I imagined as a child, something not too large rising off a flat surface. I can see where this could be completely removed. The map just below the Grant’s Hill picture shows a pond in the middle of downtown. This was probably filled in using material from Grant’s Hill. On Sunday, there was a special lecture about the show given by the curator. I was hoping he would talk mostly about the content of the prints, but he actually spoke about how so many of these views were copied and reissued without ever crediting the original creators. Copyright law was a different animal at that time.

Earlier in the week I went to the Carnegie International, a major survey of contemporary art presented by the Carnegie Museum of Art. Although I am not usually fond of contemporary art I found this exhibit quite interesting and plan to return and spend more time there. I can’t say I loved any of it, but it was intriguing and gave me a lot to think about.

3 Miles

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I did it yesterday morning. In fact, I did my leg exercises, walked my three miles, then went to a museum in the afternoon. Of course, I was wiped out by dinnertime. Oh well.

As Phyllis and I started to walk in Frick Park we were assailed by tiny flying things, maybe mosquitoes. I’m usually a mosquito magnet so I wasn’t happy. We’ve had a lot of rain here. Although the path wasn’t wet we decided to leave and went over to Homewood Cemetery, next to the park. Where the park is wild and only the paths are cleared, the cemetery has broad roadways and the lawns are beautifully manicured. I don’t like it as well because it’s usually sunny–not so many trees, but it was cloudy for most of our walk. Most of the cemetery is wonderfully well kept. After all, it’s the finally resting place of some of Pittsburgh’s most prominent citizens, like Henry Clay Frick.

We talked about the Carnegie International, which Phyllis had seen the
day before, and I was anticipating seeing in the afternoon. (I’ll write
about it next week.) About two-thirds of the way through the walk we came to a place that could provide material for artist installations. An old, deteriorated building had been destroyed. There were some old monuments, bricks and other building materials in a pit where the house had stood. I’m surprised they haven’t cleaned it up; it’s been like that for awhile. Here are a couple of pictures looking into the pit.
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This strange thing was on the edge of the pit. I don’t have a clue about what it is. Kind of makes me think of an elephant.

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Celebration

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I passed my stress test–even impressed the doctor with how well I did. This kind of nuclear stress test–they inject you with something radioactive then measure how much accumulates in your heart while you are on the treadmill–evidently is able to show whether you have any blockages. They assured me I was fine and should be able to do whatever I wanted, including going to China and Japan as I had planned. This is the happiest day I've had since I had the problem in New York a month ago. It's been a hard month, psychologically, especially after Tim Russert's sudden death. My pacemaker required some adjustment, which is probably why I haven't been feeling so wonderful all this month. Pacemakers are supposed to make you feel good.

I've been continuing with my exercise program–leg exercises, walking, and finally got back to the health club yesterday. I haven't been able to do my usual 3 miles, only 2 miles each time this month. I'll try again the next cool morning we get here.

Last week I wrote about a wonderful painted house we looked at on Pittsburgh's North Side. You can read about it and see pictures here.

Another healthcare rant

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It's been three weeks since I got out of the hospital. I have received two different survey forms to fill out, one telephone survey and two cards, one get-well, one thank you, from my healthcare "concierge." What I want to see is my EOB–Explanation of Benefits–the paperwork you get from Medicare letting you know what the "provider" is charging, what they are actually allowed to charge and what my co-pay will be. Until now I've never come close to my "out of pocket" maximum. I suspect this year will be the first time.

When people, usually Republican people, write about Medicare, or Medicare-like healthcare, the complaint is always made that we don't pay attention to those bills or how much we spend on medical care. I pay close attention to those bills, when I get them. It would be helpful if they came promptly and also if they clearly identified what service was provided. My hospital stay was OK. I am grateful they were able to make a diagnosis quickly and do what needed to be done. Now I'd like to know what all of this costs.

BTW, how do you like the way I've deal with all that jargon?

One more thing: those EOB's do not come from the government. Mine come from one of those private medicare advantage insurance companies.

Sunday Sunshine

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Here are some photos from our visit to the Three Rivers Festival on Sunday. After we looked at most of the artists wares we walked out to Point Park. Eli has been customizing his shorts by drawing pictures on them. Here Charna is helping him by drawing on the back of the shorts.
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She's so good. She just drew three little pictures. If he was my brother, I might have thought of lots of nasty things to draw or write.
Here is Eli doing handstands.
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These kids were looking for votes at stuckatprom.com to win college scholarships.
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Their outfits are made of duck tape. The website has lots of pictures of prom outfits made of duck tape. If you'd like to vote for them, they are entry No. 4115.

I was still having trouble with the heat and humidity on Sunday and to some extent yesterday. I seem to have trouble breathing when it's humid out. Today is cool and dry and I'm feeling good.

This week

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It is almost two weeks since all of my bandages and bits of tape have been removed and I have showered every day, but I'm still finding adhesive on my body. It's finally showing up as dirty and I'm having to pick it off. I wonder if there's some on my back I can't see, where they fastened those electrodes.

I've been following an exercise schedule–working on my leg exercises and walking again. I've taken two walks with Mary and Phyllis, but not going all the way. There's a shady bench about two-thirds of the way down the path where I sat and waited for them. It's supposed to be cooler next week so I'll try going the distance the next time I walk. I'm alternating walks and exercises.

Eli came home on Thursday and Renee is here for the weekend. We spent much of yesterday afternoon waiting for the rain to end so we could go to the Three Rivers Festival. Finally went down to the Strip and got to a few places before they closed. We drove toward the Festival watching an ominous gray cloud to the north, then went over to the North Side to the Moxie Dada gallery. Eli recommended we go there. It's a great place–an old firehouse turned into artists studios, mostly ceramists. There was a wonderful covered jar for sale–beautifully made with a perfectly fitting cover. More money than I could afford, but I loved looking at it. Across the street are two wonderfully painted and decorated houses–someone's personal art project. One day I'll go back and photograph them; too much rain yesterday.

In the evening, Eli, Renee and I went over to Construction Junction to a kind of cabaret run by the Pillow Project, a local dance group. The dancers and musicians were wonderful. I'm told they are students, graduates or somehow associated with Point Park University. I was very impressed. This is obviously a young persons activity; we were far and away the oldest people there, but they made us feel welcome. I'd like to go back again.

Nancy Crow and other art events

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This seems to be Nancy Crow week in Pittsburgh. She gave a lecture on Wednesday, which I attended, and a huge (50 quilts) show of her work opened last night. You can read about it here. I'm not a quilter, although I made one and pieced another one that remains unfinished. But I love fabrics and have always done some sewing, at one time making most of my clothes. I often heard about Nancy Crow and pictured an older Native American, because of her name and one or two of her early quilts I saw. She's certainly not the person I dreamt up, and her quilts have changed dramatically from those early pieces. I enjoyed the lecture and the opening, but I can't say I found the work compelling enough to go back for another look. The gallery write-up calls her one of the most genuine voices in contemporary art. I don't seem to have a lot of interest in contemporary art. Only occasionally does something speak to me.

The Three Rivers Arts Festival is also on now. I'm planning to get there this weekend. Last weekend, when it opened, was just too hot.