Back to NYC

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Renee and I got back to the city last night, and today is a beautiful day. I’ll be off exploring New York as soon as my laundry is finished–the reality of travel. Both Lowell and Amherst made us think a lot about the life and revitalization of cities. Lowell claims, in a tourist center introduction, that it has been revitalized. Amherst, we were told, is on the verge of explosive, upscale growth. I think about all of this and relate it to Pittsburgh and Chicago. Fifteen years ago, Chicago had a large, vacant area encircling downtown. It was made up of old, empty factories and brownfields. Today, most of that has been occupied and the city is thriving and beautiful. Lowell and Amherst seem to be similarly unoccupied. So they could go either way. My friend Julia told us Northhampton, next to Amherst, was revitalized by a powerful, farsighted mayor. Certainly that was true for Chicago. So where is a Mayor Daley for Pittsburgh?

Going away, again

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Tomorrow morning we are flying to Manchester, New Hampshire, to go to the Bar Mitzvah of one of Renee’s other grandchildren. The kids will fly back after the festivities, but Renee and I will be touring Massachusetts museums. There are lots of them, but we will only do four days worth. We’re starting in Lowell at the textile museum and the National Historic Park. From there we go to Amherst where there are several museums, then on to Mass MOCA and possibly the Shaker Village in Pittsfield Mass. We should be back in New York next Thursday where I will again have access to a computer.

Walking Tour

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Last night I went on a walking tour with the Pittsburgh Landmarks and History Foundation. We were looking at buildings designed by New York architects. It was a beautiful evening and a great way to learn more about Pittsburgh. This sculpture, by Kenneth Snelson, wasn’t really on the tour, although we walked past it. Snelson
I really loved it because the sparrows are using it to land on and possibly are nesting inside the tubes. I saw several of them walk into it.

The PPG Tower(s) were built by Phillip Johnson, a New York architect. We only viewed it at a distance but I walked around taking some pictures by myself. Photos are in my Pittsburgh Towers album.

Slowing down

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All morning I’ve been thinking about Ronni Bennett’s post about slowing up as we age. I know this is true but I think it’s not an over-all slowing down. I’ve been taking college classes for the last few months, and I know that Intellectually I am as fast or faster than most of the "kids" in my classes. But physically it’s a whole different ballgame, especially trying to learn new physical moves. I was never very well coordinated. Richard used to say I couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time, so I stopped chewing gum. Also, I have some left-right confusion. That’s actually gotten somewhat better, but not when I’m trying to learn new moves.

All this new move stuff is about my tai chi class. This is the first time I’ve been there in several weeks. When I last attended the instructor had us line up behind her and follow her moves from the back. Today she had us back in a circle–bad news. I try to stand directly opposite her and I tell myself to do the opposite of what she is doing. Sometimes I hear her say right when she means left, and then I’m really in trouble. The man next to me has similar problems, so I can’t count on him. The worst thing is when she is moving her feet and arms at the same time, especially if they are in different directions. I can actually feel my brain trying to direct my feet–arms are easier. I confess to always having these problems, but Ronni, you are right: it’s worse now.

Poetry

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My last Japanese Art class was on Thursday, and I turned in my last paper on Friday. Tonight, I have one final class, Reading Poetry. I took this class because I don’t know much about poetry and thought I should. I’m still not sure I know much about poetry, but maybe a little more. My intention is to read, and understand, Walt Whitman. I’m not there yet.

Auditing a class puts you in a kind of limbo. Some professors encourage you to fully participate, others can tell you to do nothing at all, or there is a middle ground. The poetry prof encouraged me to participate in class, but not to write papers. This was fine with me; the papers were a lot of work. I did not participate very much in class. I just felt the other students needed all the opportunities they could get and I shouldn’t take it away from them. This class was filled with relatively young kids, at most early twenties. The Japanese Art class was a special seminar with both graduate and undergrads, several Japanese and people who had lived in Japan. I think this is what made it such a great class.

Back to poetry: tonight we are each supposed to read a poem of our own choosing, and I am also expected to read. I was actually going to skip the class; I’m not sure I want to listen to everyone read; but after being asked to participate, I will do it. I have chosen a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, A Sunset of the City. It is a poem for an old woman. I want the children in my class to hear it, whether they understand or not. The poem expresses more sadness than I feel. Perhaps Brooks wrote it when she was older than I am, or wrote it for someone who was older.

Brooks was poet laureate of Illinois, getting the position after the death of Carl Sandberg, and I remember reading about her often when I lived in Chicago. This is the first time I have really looked at her poetry.

Wrap up

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Yesterday afternoon I had tea at the little table on my front porch. All of the trees are blooming, the grass in the front yard is greener and nicer than I had anticipated all winter, and I could hear the birds singing. What a contrast from New York. Renee’s apartment is near the FDR so we hear lots of traffic noises and sirens. Michael kept saying he could hear the ocean. This is not to denigrate New York. I love the energy on the street. But it is very nice to listen to the birds.

Today is another beautiful day. April180291
My Japanese maple is glowing in the back yard and there are mystery shoots coming up underneath it. April17008_1
I have never taken much interest in gardening, so while I feel the need for trees in my life, their identity, and the identity of the stuff underneath, remains a mystery.April17004

This afternoon I am going back to the eye doctor for the (I hope) last checkup on my cataract surgery. I want to go back to my contact lens practitioner in New York for new lenses, but I’m hoping to be able to use the old lens in my left eye until I get to her on May 10.

My Japanese Art class ends on Thursday, to my sorrow. I wish it would go on all summer; I have really enjoyed it. I’m working on the last paper, due on Thursday. I’ve been thinking about it for a month; now I have to get down to business.

Back Home

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I am being teased because I spent three days in museums. I also visited with a few friends and had lovely things to eat. Our Seders were great. Wednesday night was a lovely family Seder. It was all Steve’s family, but they always make me feel like I belong and I love being with them. Thursday night we went to my Rabbi’s home in Teaneck. Are you surprised I have a Rabbi? Sometimes I am. Some day I’ll write about him; he’s great.

I still have a lot of things and people I want to do and see in New York. I’ll be going back in two weeks.

A beautiful day in the city

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I tend to forget there are trees in New York City, outside of Central Park. Trees
I walked from the Met back to Renee’s apartment, enjoying the blossoming trees, tulips blooming under the trees and an achingly beautiful blue sky. Tulips
Even though I am enjoying Pittsburgh, I really love New York, people walking around, traffic, barking dogs and all. I met Eli and Romina at the museum. We looked at some Asian art together, had lunch, then they went to look at paintings and I went back to the Japanese art. They had a lot of Hokusai prints, many I had never seen before. The screens I wanted to see were not on display. Many things are shown in poor light and I have trouble seeing them. I still have no contact lens for my left eye and sometimes that also presents problems. And there is that middle distance. I can see fairly well close up and sometimes fairly well at a distance, but the middle distance is a killer, and of course, low light is very frustrating.

2 Wars, 3 Churches and a Melange of other places

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As I discovered last summer having a guest is wonderful, but it is very intense. We went to eleven different places, not counting the things we just drove around and restaurants. We had a great time; Betty is a wonderful guest; I saw a lot more of Pittsburgh.  On Friday we started at the Warhol, primarily to see the Darger exhibit. Betty knew a lot about Darger but had never seen so much of his work. Although this was my third visit to the exhibit, and I am not fond of Darger, it was fun going again because Betty had a lot to say about him. My favorite thing in the museum is this lion:
Warhollion
This is a more interesting view than head on.

From the Warhol we went to the Frick house, Clayton. Again, I loved seeing it with Betty because she is so knowledgeable. We each have very different areas of interest within the wider field of art and architectural history. So we always have a lot to contribute to each other.

Saturday we started with the French and Indian War at the Sen. John Heinz Regional History Center. This is a wonderful exhibit about some of the most important events in the early history of our country that continue to affect us today, even though we don’t think about them. We concluded our day with Joyeux Noel, a heartwarming but very graphic film about the Christmas truce during World War I. With all of these films and exhibits about the agonies and atrocities of war, I cannot understand how we continue to permit our young men to fight.

Sunday we went to church. It seemed appropriate after all that war, but we really went to see the architecture. Ralph Adams Cram built three churches in Pittsburgh. We drove around the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Homewood that did not seem to be open. Then we went, briefly, to the Palm Sunday Service at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside, and concluded at a later service at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Richardsonchurch
As we drove to H. H. Richardson‘s Emanuel Episcopal Church on the North side of Pittsburgh, we stopped at Temple Sinai, a reform Jewish Temple in Squirrel Hill housed in the former Worthington mansion. We finished the day with a visit to Duquesne University to see the Duquesne Union designed by Paul Schweiker and the engineering building by Mies van der Rohe.

Before I took Betty to the airport today we stopped downtown to tour the Allegheny Courthouse and Jail, also by H. H. Richardson. This is the first time I have seen inside those buildings. They are amazing.

My whirlwind tour of Pittsburgh is finished. Tomorrow I go back to my Japanese Art class, and on Wednesday, we are all going to New York for Pesach and I will have three whirlwind days in New York, hopefully seeing more Japanese Art.