b l o g o r e l l i

36 Hours in Heaven

Ok, let's just pretend that my allusion to adolescence worked there in the title and get to the big news: The New York Times featured Pittsburgh in this past Sunday's "36 Hours" column!

Though a bit Strip District-centric, the article covered most of the essentials, including the Warhol Museum, Duquesne Incline, Oakland's universities and museums, and PNC Park. One definite oversight -- eating the classic Pittsburgh sandwich at Primanti Brothers. I am, however, interested to check out 16:62 Design Zone when I return home in August for my cousin Kris' wedding to the lovely Melinda (on their farm in a classic airplane hangar they're redoing for the reception, which is so cool.)

I think this part of the NYT article says what I've been preaching all along:
"Pittsburgh has undergone a striking renaissance from a down-and-out smokestack to a gleaming cultural oasis. But old stereotypes die hard, and Pittsburgh probably doesn’t make many people’s short list for a cosmopolitan getaway. Too bad, because this city of 89 distinct neighborhoods is a cool and — dare I say, hip—city."

WOO-HOO -- go PA!

(photo from Flickr, by NearDC...see more of his Pittsburgh shots here. Thx to JennJ for the heads up in the Comments, although I amazingly and coincidentally did see the actual printed article.)

I Love Pittsburgh

Don't say that I haven't warned: Pittburghers' civic pride is...effervescent?
"If 'yunz" ever come to Pittsburgh, it's for sure you'll want to stay..."

Truly a must-see.

Smitten Minus A Mitten

Ever see a lone glove sadly lying next to the stairs near a T entrance, dirty and flattened by hurried commuters' soles? Me too! Luckily for all those Desperately Seeking Snowmittens out there, warm-hearted Pittsburgh transplant Jennifer Gooch started OneColdHand.com.

For Gooch, a student pursuing her Master's of Fine Arts degree at Carnegie Mellon, the collection of "forlorn, abandoned lumps, useless without their mate" started with a single lambskin glove. She picks up hand coverings of all sorts around CMU's campus and the city in general, replacing them with a cute cartoon sticker asking if anyone is"MIssing a Glove?" She even has collection boxes around the city for strangers to turn in strays.

I especially love the "REUNITED!" announcements on the OCH blog and the fact that Gooch is franchising to other cities. OneColdHand Beantown sounds like a plan to this collector of discarded treasures!

(below, a OneColdHand collection box, and a few other things that promote pairings -- shoes from Finland for a parent + child to dance together, a similar idea for mittens [link unknown], and the eye-catching results of a Flickr search for "mittens.")

PA Holiday

Tonight I head out for an extended weekend visit with the family in PA. While I am completely looking forward to visiting with everyone and eating lots of brick cheese, this trip will mark my first return home since Nona's funeral and so, in some ways, I am hesitant. I know that the happiness of my visit will be tinged with sadness for the one person that I can't see.

Still, with planning The Prof's party, work, weddings, and miscellany, life has seemed hectic lately. I'm definitely planning on using the next few days to relax, reflect, maybe take a drive in the country to "leaf look", hit a few church sales (plus the thrift store of course,) AND watch the Sunday Steelers' game with my Gammy.

I might post from PA tomorrow, but if not, have a relaxing weekend!

A few autumnal Pennsylvania scenes (from the Inter-net):

Why Exactly Don't I Live In PA, Again?

The Labor Day Weekend Heinz Field Kickoff and Rib Festival...I mean, come ON, does life get much better than

- Coors Light
- ribs
- Bad Company (!!!)
- Steelers Experience + a chance to meet mascot "Steely McBeam"
- PovertyNeck Hillbillies (who, coincidently, were on my radar a solid year ago; at least they aren't playing Walmarts anymore)

This, fellow Americans, is the Western Pennsylvanian existence at its best. And I won't even be there to experience the festivities! The Prof and I are heading down to the Cape for two days of hanging out with Frankie Nacho and his (fairly new) ladylove Tracey at his parent's vacation house.

Luckily, the Steelers ("Stillers") are playing on the Columbus Day weekend and I've already bought my plane ticket to go home for a visit. Could fate finally hand me the sweet dream of seeing my first Black-and-Gold game?

Returned

I'm back from PA. The past week+ have been some of the hardest and most heartbreaking days ever for me. As my aunt said sorrowfully when she saw me coming up the church steps at Nona's funeral on Saturday morning, "This is the saddest day of my entire life."

I agreed wholeheartedly.

But together, as a family, we proceeded. We greeted those who attended the church service, we walked up the aisle after the casket, we released her soul (in an official Roman Catholic capacity, although I know that her essence was already long gone and soaring.) And Dadorelli went to Communion! Talk about a miracle on Earth just for my grandmother.

We said "goodbye."
I said (in my head,) "Talk to you Sunday?"

My father and I cleaned out her house, I went to the cemetary every day after the motley crew waiting outside the small on-site chapel buried her. But, nothing ever felt better at home...or easier. I couldn't believe that this thing I worried about and fixated on my entire adult life had finally come to pass. They spelled her name wrong on the death certificate; maybe if I went over to her house, she'd be there waiting on the porch in her turban and Greta Garbo sunglasses? Would my aunt keep the three small plastic tubs that she had left in the freezer labeled "Sauce" in distinctive script? What if I forgot her voice?

I eventually exhaled and just came back here to Boston.

Recently, I've had ok and really-not-ok days, which I guess that I expect for some time. Grief is such a sly constant companion; its sneaking attacks are unexpected and swift. At least soon I won't have to spend nights alone anymore since The Prof is moving into my teeny apartment until we find a place together. I'll have a companion, a portable human space heater, and a night light. Hee hee. We'll be in cramped quarters, but if that means I won't be alone with my thoughts then I welcome the distraction of Red Sox games and constant playback coverage, er, I mean of having another person here.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to say a heartfelt *thank you* for all the kind emails, cards, and calls that I received over the past week...you know who you are. I might not have responded (yet,) but I truly appreciate the sweet thoughtfulness.

So I'll conclude with a pretty photo of some peonies that I found on Flickr; Nona had a vase of these flowers in plain sight of her bed so now I feel affection for them as they might have lifted her spirits when I couldn't be there.

A hope for cheerier days ahead,
Blogorelli

Rest Well, Cherished One

Alvena Delpoio Gorelli
February 11, 1915 – May 30, 2007

My father was with her and said her passing, peaceful. She took one large breathe and two small, and finally exhaled right to heaven...where we all know she's belonged this whole time.

"Sometimes when I lay down at night
I swear I can see to heaven
For it's in dreaming that the things
I always knew
are the only thoughts I have
And when I look up at you, love
Handsome as a magazine
Wild as the sun, like nothing below
could ever pull you down"

Respite

The past weekend was a wonderful blur of cookouts, friends, celebrations, and sunshine...

now, it's back to reality.

I'm not sure how to start this post because its main point is to say that I'm stepping away for a bit. Lots is going on: the BoNE Show opening is next Thursday (which means this week is GO time) and The Prof and I are scurrying to look for apartments before our June 1 deadline (this Friday.) I feel, in a word, overwhelmed. The things above, and the stresses which accompany them, though, I could handle. I've organized and carried the burden of greater things in the past.

The thing which makes me need some quiet, some time...away...is the news from my father that my Nona is now in hospice care and her condition degrades daily. My brother told me yesterday that he is shocked at how changed she is in a mere week. I'm now so grateful that I got to travel home last weekend, visit her every day, and basically tell her how I felt and say my goodbye.

We had our last Sunday. We chatted; she was happy, lucid, and I saw all the best parts of that grandma who has been there for me, every day, for over 29 years. When I left, I even said it -- the actual word, "goodbye." But I made sure to add, "Talk to you Sunday!" because everyone knows that, if anything, I am stupidly and optimistically tenacious.

Her illness is one of the hardest things I've ever gone through and knowing that the essence of her is gone now, was gone a little bit every day since the diagnosis two years ago, hurts in a raw way that I've never before felt. She is all clouded up behind a misfiring brain that is full of tumors and a fragile little emaciated body which can't get out of her rented hospital bed. I try not to think of her in this state, but every time the phone rings, I can't help but flash the message -- "this could be it" -- through my brain. And I think that, finally, I might be ready. Long declines have a way of exercising everyone's emotional capacity to exhaustion. How many times can a person say farewell?

So, I've decided to lighten the load on my thoughts and emotions for a while and just...detach. I mean, as much as one can with those other two things I mentioned before being unresolved. By next Friday I should be fully adrift. I'll return, no worries -- maybe next week, more likely the week after. Let's face it, I'm far too addicted to the Inter-net stay away for long.

I'll post any updates about Nona as they come but I'm closing the Comments; *so* many thanks to everyone for all the positive thoughts/kind words about my sweet little Nona, now and in the past.

Until next time,
Blogorelli

Back in the 'Burgh

I flew home last night to the "America's Most Livable City" with The Prof in tow, and we plan to relax and eat our way through the weekend with my family...celebrating my stepfather's further matriculation and visiting the Nona (who unexpectedly went into the hospital last week. She's home now.)

Until I return, a few things to ponder:

– has anyone seen the Beijing Olympic's mascots, the Fuwa? I like the amount of thought that went into these little creatures...they'll definitely make the world forget that the games are being held in a heavily polluted, Communist country. And they even teach phonics!

"Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say 'Welcome to Beijing,' offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games."

– City Yard Sale...why did I not think of this idea? (Thx P. Natty for the link)

– SATees...no word is big enough to express their cuteness!

"So Whatcha Wanna Do Is"

Eighteen hours of driving, five thrift stores, many Yuenglings, and one decapitated deer head on Interstate 84 later, The Professor and I have returned from our mini-vacation in Pittsburgh. Road trips can make or break a coupling (ahem, The Orange) but I must admit that, if anything, the past four days only endeared him to me more.

Gag.

I love crossing "The Independence State" because Pennsylvania changes not only its slogan but also advertising campaigns quicker than a motorist can blink an eye. Stinks for those inmates pressing the license plates, eh? The new ad campaign, which pairs a truly non-grammatical "So Whatcha Wanna Do Is..." with non-color corrected photographs of unruly Pennsylvania fisherman, hunters, and race car drivers (?) promises to bring the least amount of tourism OR transplants to PA yet. Well, that campaign or the new winning bumper sticker, "I Break for Shoofly Pie" (a Dutch Country favorite.) Sadly, the contest's press release proudly relays that "The exciting competition was neck-and neck until the final minutes; the winner barely edged out the runner-up, 'Pennsylvania - State of Independence.'

WHAT?!?

People, that's just the state's name and slogan -- did anyone notice? Holy farkin' shizat. Personally, I thought some of the runners up had snazzier idears, namely whoever came up with "PA ROADTRIPS...ARE YOU THERE YET?" and " YINZ LOST?"

Come on!

Below, a few photographic highlights of our trip...

Here, I use a diorama of sparring elks to signify The Professor and I's "battling iPods" during the drive.

My boyfriend or a grizzly? Tough call due to similar amounts of facial hair on both...

Squirrel Hill's finest dive bar, "The Squirrel Hill Cafe", known to locals as "The Squirrel Cage", re-named by me as "The Squirrel Hole"

What you find in a Western Pennsylvanian squirrel's hole: DEEP FRIED HOT CHEESE BALLS! Heh heh.

Mom-orelli despises my art direction when we take photos together...but here I managed to get her to do a modified Chin (#31: Casual Support Hand)

The Professor, pondering the "Game Night Special" and about to ingest more fried food than he has since college

I know, it's like you can't throw a stone near me without hitting a baby these days! Geesh. Here, I catch up with my favorite townie girl, Kendell

I can't believe she's already almost 6 months old, the little minx!