Settling in

After 2 ½ months of traveling, the last thing we planned on was getting back into a routine. That, however, is what we found ourselves doing in Pittsburgh, and it was wonderful. We were there for 3 weeks (August 10 - Sept. 1), and both of us got quite a lot of practicing done. We went to the library fairly often; William got music books and scores and I caught up on my fiction and fantasy reading. I got a pass to the local gym and spent a lot of time swimming and running on the treadmill. William digitized some of his parents' record collection and bought a few guitar records from the neighborhood record store, and he also transcribed a Telemann violin piece for guitar. On the Irish side of things, we had 'band practice' most nights and worked on both tunes and songs. William had sent his Hamilton flute to Ireland in May for repairs, it finally arrived and he spent a lot of time getting re-accustomed to it. We did some cooking, we spent time with William's parents and his brother and sister, and we walked around the neighborhood. Not quite the events of an epic journey...but at this point I think we really needed a break.

We did manage to do some non-routine things, though. William's sister Maria plays Ultimate Frisbee and we went to watch one of her games; his brother participated in the 20 Song in 24 Hours project and we attended the listening party for that. We saw some of William's old friends and visited his grandparents in Ohio. I went to Phipps Conservatory with William's mom and we both went to Fallingwater and Ohiopyle State Park with William's dad. William and his dad also followed through on the much-discussed plan of bringing the clavichord up from the basement, replacing the broken strings, and getting the thing more or less in tune; we gave an impromptu performance of the Vivaldi Sonata in A Major for Guitar and Continuo one night and it went over fairly well given that we hadn't played it in months and the clavichord refused to hold the tuning on the high notes for more than a couple minutes.

William's parents live about a mile from downtown Squirrel Hill and we walked there fairly often for lunch or a snack. There were a surprising number of vegetarian items available, and one all-vegetarian place that had pizza and sandwiches. We tried: Tango Cafe (excellent coffee as well), Milky Way, Te Cafe, Coffee Tree, 61C Cafe, Mineo's, Bangkok Balcony, Pamela's, Aladdin's, Uncle Sam's and Gullifty's (for dessert). Another place that we tried and would love to go back to is Blue Dust, near the Waterfront shopping area – along with the excellent food, most of which is made on-site, they have the largest selection of beer I've ever seen. The East End Food Co-op has good coffee and a nice selection of local products, and the farmer's market at Phipps is small but has a wide variety of produce, meat, and cheese.

So, day after day there was practicing and reading and food...and suddenly it was August 31 and we had to run around the house finding everything and making sure it would all go back into the spaces it came out of. In a way, it was nice to be back on the road, but (surprisingly) I really think there is something to be said for a nice steady routine.