A Different City, A Different Park

We were lucky, today - we only had a 10 a.m. student matinee all day, and knowing that I was going to have to give my sister's truck back tomorrow, I ran around and did as much as I could do in the way of errands, one of which was to run to the library and pick up a couple of copies of T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party for Holli Hamilton & I. Ron Siebert asked us to join him, Cary, and a couple of other folks to sit down and read this play together, as it's something of a favorite. The chance to see Ron & Cary was enough reason to say "yes," so I jumped on the bandwagon.

As I was in Oakland at the Carnegie Library, I took the opportunity to haul out the camera and snap some photos on Flagstaff Hill, which is one of my favorite sun-worshipping spots in the City of Pittsburgh. There weren't very many people out, but I did manage to get some shots looking into Oakland and toward downtown Pittsburgh from the top of the hill.

Here's a shot looking toward Oakland (sort of the big University section of Pittsburgh - though that's not entirely true, as Pittsburgh has colleges and universities coming out it's ass, and they're spread all over - this is just where the biggest few are concentrated, like the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University) from the top of Flagstaff Hill.

This is where the edge of the park butts up against the city, and it's really an interesting place to hang out, visually. Just to the right and over my shoulder is the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, which has a surprising amount of green space for an urban campus.

Here's a shot of Flagstaff Hill itself, which kinda gives you an idea of how big the greensward is here. Those two tiny specks at either end of the frame are folks sunning themselves on the hill. Had I not had to worry about getting a parking ticket at the meter I'd left the truck at, I'd have been joining them, believe you me.

Although it turned out a little fuzzy, the next shot is my favorite of the afternoon. It's a slightly different perspective on the guy who's in the lower right of the photograph to the right. I just liked the way he was placed in the midst of all this raging verdancy. Being me, of course, it doesn't hurt that it was a kinda cute guy sans shirt reading a book - several of my favorite things all rolled into one. I'm still a hopeless voyeur, I guess.

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My parents left for California today, and though I don't know for sure, I suspect they'll be there most of the summer, staying with my brother. They're going for my niece's Quinceneros celebration, which would be the Mexican equivilent of, say, a sweet sixteen party, only a much bigger deal - sort of a sweet sixteen combined with a coming out party and a religious holiday all in one - and it's celebrated on the fifteenth birthday. I won't be going, sadly, 'cuz my brother and I seem to be estranged; for what I think are stupid reasons, frankly. But alas, it takes two to tangle, it'll take two to become de-stranged. I've let him know that the door's always open on my end.

[Note to self: Remember to write to your brother Pat. You haven't talked to him in a while, either.]