Playing in Pittsburgh

Ben has a great job--I am constantly grateful for his employment with such a great, great company.  There is some travel, but sometimes that works out really really nice if I get a chance to come along.  This last week he had to go out to Pittsburgh and I was able to arrange things at work so I could come along.  I was especially excited for this because of this guy:

Fred Rogers is my hero.  It is here in this rugged city of steel and bridges that Mister Roger's Neighborhood was filmed and broadcast at WQED, traveling over the airwaves and into my childhood heart.  Where most children grow up and out of the land of make-believe, I held on with a vigilance that borders fanaticism.  It really began one summer of my youth when I found out they were going to stop running new episodes of The Neighborhood.  Remembering with fondness the years of memories and early-childhood education I received from my television screen, I ran home every day from summer school (I was getting ahead--nerd, not dropout) to watch the last week of current episodes.  I remembered all the good times with Mr. McFeely, Lady Aberlain (who always reminded me of my Mom), King Friday and the Gang.  Riding that trolley to the land of Make Believe was my personal haven from suburban hardships.  It was there that I vowed I would always remember the legacy of Mr. Rogers.  Mr. Rogers and his wonderful sweaters.  Seriously, his wikipedia article is actually INSPIRING.  I think it's the first time a wikipedia article has ever made me want to be a better person.

My passion for Mr. Rogers was amplified, when one foggy weekday morning in February on my drive to Seminary (early morning Bible study for us Mormon kids) I was listening to the news on my Honda Civic's radio that had a way of dying and then coming back to life, and they announced the death of one Fred McFeely Rogers.  My sister who hadn't been paying attention to the broadcast was startled by my hounding cry.  I had to pull the car over I was so upset.  Dramatic?  Maybe.  But this was a man who exemplified goodness and wholeness ON TELEVISION.  And off--people who met him were often surprised that his calm demeanor was the same off the set as it was on.  Talk about integrity!

I remember dragging myself into the Seminary classroom that morning, eyes still red from the tears.  My classmates asked what was the matter and I gave them the terrible news.  Of course they didn't really give a darn, but one friend in the class a few weeks later brought be a present--a small edition book of sayings by Mr. Rogers.  It even had a little trolley charm attached to the bookmark ribbon--she knew he had met that much to me.  To this day I am still touched by the sentiment.

So here I am in Pittsburgh, trying to get as much Mr. Rogers as I can in the short time frame (I spent most of the time in the hotel room getting caught up on projects I've put off--I'm sure the maids were confused by the Bernina and fabric scraps littering the room).  Last night Ben and I drove around (getting HORRIBLY lost--Pittsburg has a way of taking you on the freeway if you make a wrong turn...) trying to find the Fred Rogers Memorial Statue.  We eventually did--he sits on the North Shore in front of Heinz field watching over the city.  The statue was done in an impasto style which makes for some creepy photos, but I climbed up into his freezing cold lap anyway and got a few shots.  Ben was a trooper--especially since, he never even watched the show as a kid (farm kid--he had animals) and has no attachments to our cardigan-clad friend.  To this day, when people ask that getting-to-know-you question: "If you could have lunch with one famous person living or dead, who would it be?" I always say Mr. Rogers.  Or Sister Wendy but that's another blog post for another day.  After re-reading that question I realize that sort of thing was ONLY asked on getting-to-know-you-for-possibly-eternity situations at the Y and has not been inquired of me recently.  Makes me even more grateful to be done with that phase of my life.

In closing, one of these days, I will get out to Latrobe, PA and visit the grave of that great man.  Will I bring flowers or a shoelace?  In hushed reverence I will thank him for all the magical memories and for being something to television you rarely, if ever, see.  Won't you please?  I'll ask, Won't you please? Please won't you be my neighbor?

Here I am at the Children's Museum of Pittsburg where
they have most of the original puppets used on the Show

There's that sweater!  Most of the workers giggled when I told them why
I was there at the Children's Museum, obviously without children.
There were also pieces of the set I got to see, as well as his shoes!

Say Goodbye to Fall

I had my first fall out here in PA and boy howdy--what a season!  Sometimes I was worried my eyes would have aneurisms the colors were so vibrant and beautiful. Utah isn't known for it's beautiful falls, unless you take that drive up the canyon that I never did and San Diego, well, I won't even go there.

Anywho, we got back from Thanksgiving in Utah (more on that later) and all the leaves had done their falling and I guess it's now officially winter.  Except we had amazing 50-60 degree weather for another couple weeks (can we say "I Love Philly"???).   Fall ate too much turkey and slipped into a coma before we could get the Christmas carols out.  Although I did cheat this year and start listening to Christmas music the week before thanksgiving--go ahead, hate me.

For those out there who felt those autumn colors were swept away to soon, here are some photos I snapped on my neighborhood walk.  They really don't do the tri-state-gorgeousness-that-was-fall justice, but it will have to do.  My eye balls were too busy having spasms most of the time to remember to take photos.