"Hail, Our Alma Mater..."
Wednesday late afternoon (after our Jeopardy! class for Introduction to Arts and Sciences) Jenny CD and Linda I arrived from the airport and from Cleveland, respectively. After dropping off Jenny's luggage, we headed to Victor's new restaurant, where we enjoyed 2 lamb dishes, a shrimp dish, a salmon dish, and a vegetarian dish with Amanda MS and Charles. It was great to see everyone again, and to have a photo....
We all stood outside, Jenny and I in thin sweaters as the temperatures had dipped from the 60s Fahrenheit to the 40s to 50s as the sun went down. Jenny drove Linda and I back to my parking lot, where we bid Linda a fond goodbye and safe trip. Jenny and I tucked into our respective beds by 23.30, and I awoke about 6.30 Thursday.
Thursday Jenny and I visited St. Paul Cathedral and my workplace. We walked to get eggs over easy, Lyonnaise potatoes, bacon, and wheat toast as well as croissant French toast (and coffee for Jenny). We then headed to the Cathedral of Learning, touring the higher floors before the lower floors of Nationality Rooms first. We then toured the Frick Arts Building (the library, the Jello courtyard exhibit, and the U Pitt Museum Studies Class's exhibit SLAG: What's left after industry?), and the Carnegie Library and Institute. As we left the Carnegie, we opened the door for Marissa and Solomon, and Beatrice and Les.
After loading Jenny's bag into the car, we departed; I for work and she for lunch with her husband's former intern.
Labels: art, Beatrice, biology, Carnegie, dining, international culture, library, Marietta, mountains, organ, organizing, painting, photos, Pittsburgh, reunion, school, sleep, St. Paul Cathedral, work
Healing in the Novel of Heidi
...and when we were young children, my mom purchased a small pink and white plastic steamboat theatre play-stage for putting on plays (I think at auction). One of the plays/stories was Heidi, about a very young shepherd girl who goes to live in the anomie of the big city...later, another girl she befriends, Clara (whose name I recalled as Laura, or Lara), who was wheelchair-bound and who lives in the big city (Frankfurt) and who is pasty-faced from city-living, spends time with Heidi in her alpine environment and through healing with the sun, flowers, and shepherding, learns to walk.
This weekend was much like the healing in the novel of Heidi for me. Clara is I, I go to the mountains of the Laurel Highlands this weekend, and due to the fresh air, sun, and time playing with Tito Larry and Tita Tina's dog, Hermes, feel much better than before the weekend began. This morning alone I spent a good quarter of an hour walking about the main floor of their condominium with my crutches. At the beginning of the weekend, I used one crutch to get around the small guest room at my parents' home...by the end of the weekend, I felt strong enough to raise myself up onto one crutch and make my way about the main floor of the condominium. Most of yesterday's afternoon Hermes and I sat sat-by-side in the large, leather chair in the living room, alternately reading, listening to music, and, dozing off. Oh, and we ate a lot of VERY GOOD food!
~~~
...which brings to mind the "Haiji" cartoons/anime from the 1970's. My youngest sister as well as the daughter of my parents' friends, Didi, thoroughly enjoyed watching this series of stories when they were very young. My siblings and I---as well as Didi's siblings---were thoroughly taken by the similarity in sounds of laughter and distraught in Heidi = "Haiji" .
Labels: adventure, cinema, dine, dog, exercise, games, international culture, languages, meeting, mountains, music, sleep, walking
