Beauty in the mundane

At the Korean War memorial, Silas found the broken electrical box much more interesting. He knew the two were supposed to be connected, but couldn't figure out how to get them together.

Similarly, he found the sprinkler head and the surrounding wood chip mulch fascinating, completely ignoring the flowering tree sculpture in a courtyard in the Cultural District. The trees are well made and sort of interesting to look at in the dead of winter. However in the summer, it's a little sad to see man-made trees when real plants have been flowering like mad for the past few months. Maybe if I worked downtown, the perpetual blooms would brighten my mood on the overcast and rainy days, and I'd be more appreciative. The ivy is real, I think.

Pittsburgh robot

We visited the robot down by the Allegheny River. He's got parts made of bridges and is Pittsburgh yellow. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what the inspiration is. We do have a robotics lab and Carnegie Mellon University. Perhaps that's it.

I love in the picture above that there is a bird perched on the robot's bridge head.

I have heard that the yellow used to paint the bridges over the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh is a specific yellow and that perhaps it's been trademarked. I can't find anything about it on wikipedia nor from a quick internet search. So, I'm just spreading unsubstantiated rumors here...

More from yesterday's art stroll with Silas

After we strolled around the North Side riverfront for a while and then over to the Warhol Museum to find it was closed, we wandered over the Warhol Bridge into downtown. There is a courtyard in the Cultural District with a water feature and these crazy eye benches. There are also chessboards. The guy in the hat was playing air drums for a long time and then asked the monk if he wanted to play chess. I don't think they played much chess. From the bits of conversation I overheard, it was a pretty metaphysically heavy discussion...


The walk back to the car provided a nice parting view of the city on a fine evening.

Pedicabs in Pittsburgh

I forgot to post this from a few weeks ago. Green Gears isn't the first pedicab company I've seen in the city. I chatted for a while with a guy near Penn Brewery about his almost four years ago. I haven't seen him since. I hope they make it. I think the timing is good, as the city seems more accepting of something like this than it was in the past.

I saw the one above in the Strip District. The other night, Dave and I were admiring another giving folks rides between the Cultural District (downtown) and Station Square on the South Side. It's hiding in traffic outside the Byham Theater.