Edgewood Club 2011

Much of the summer has revolved around trips to the Edgewood Club in Pittsburgh.  Most of the folks we know have membership and we have been heading there most days after school and then during the day (kids and Shaz) during the hols.

Bayside Maine #4

I have never been much of a one for return visits to the same holiday destination but Bayside Maine is an exception.  Maybe it is the fact that it reminds us of home but it just feels like our kind of place.  Slightly cooler than Pittsburgh in the summer, on the coast, lots of trees, islands and rocky shorelines.  It feels a bit like the West coast of Scotland.

We drove up on Friday last week having started moving house on Wednesday.  Packing for vacation AND packing all our stuff into storage and leaving a clean empty house for the next tenants was a challenge.  This probably explains why I have spent the last 4 nights sleeping 10 hours per night.

1151 Wightman St

After years of renting houses in the USA we are finally making preparations to move into our own place. Shaz and I have spent the past couple of months meeting various building contractors and engineers and trying to make lists of what we NEED to do to the new house, what we WANT to do and what we can actually AFFORD to do.  Not surprisingly the last of those three is the shortest list.  As a consequence and in typical fashion we have made a dramatic U-turn in our plans.  Plan A was to do a major remodel of the house while living in yet another temporary place until it is ready.  However, the effort of moving out of our most recent rental on Ivy Street has motivated Plan B, which is basically to move right in and do the remodeling work in stages. Despite the inevitable hassle of doing this we are much happier about this version because it means less time spent moving and less money spent renting.  It probably also means less money spent remodeling too although the result may be less impressive.

Here are some before and after pics of the new gaff!

One plan is to add a french door at the front, which would open onto the large patio.  My mate Gordon has does a nice job of photo-shopping this one.

Catch Up

It has been almost a whole year since I blogged. To be honest, I find that tricky times leave me either too knackered or too gloomy to blog and once I miss a few I miss a lot.

Last summer we came back from Maine to a moldy and half fixed rental house for which we were paying a whopping $2300 per month. We were still on H visas and so had no real idea of whether we would be allowed to stay in the USA for the long haul. Because of this uncertainty and the never ending insecurity of my job I was really hesitant to buy a house. Mostly this is because of the enormous expense of buying and selling houses in Pittsburgh. Aside from he texes, which are high, the real estate agents here charge a standard 6 or even 7% commission, which is ridiculous.

In October of last year our landlord booted us out with 2 weeks notice. We could not find a new place in time and ended up staying with our good friend Rob O'Doherty who is basically family to me. A very special guy. The kids love him too.

We spent around 2 months at Rob's house while we searched unsuccessfully for a house to buy. Right before Christmas 2010 we moved into a rental house on Ivy St. Small and expensive but a welcome relief. I must admit, this was a low point.

Everything changes. My R01 grant was reviewed at the NIH and scored a 10. The lower the score the better and 10 is the lowest and most perfect score you can get. Nobody gets a 10 but I did! I guess I am still on a high from that. Of course the grant scored in the top 1%. Nice! Then we got word that our green cards would very likely be granted. At least we found out that my "outstanding researcher" application was approved and from there it is only a short hop to a green card.

The crown jewel was that we finally bought a house. It is a rickety old 6 bed victorian on our favorite block in Squirrel Hill but it is a gem and we are looking forward to getting it fixed up.

Onwards!

Maine 2010

My blogging routine has decayed into oblivion, mostly as a consequence of Facebook which is just so easy and yet....well.....crap.  I say this because Facebook does not (as far as I know) allow you to archive your memories in the same way a blog does.  On the other hand I get about 1 comment a year on Blogger whereas Facebook is happenin' baby.

So after Dave and Peter Woods left town we had a week of calm before heading out on a road trip to Maine.  This was all very last minute.  In fact, we didn't know what the plan was when we left the house (I LOVE this kind of traveling) so we packed for multiple outcomes including camping.  In the end we spent one night under canvas in Poe Paddy State Park in PA and then legged it up to Bayside Maine which is where we ended up last year.  I usually prefer to explore new places but Bayside is unique! At this time of year, most of the North East USA is sweltering.  I am sitting here writing this in Pittsburgh with the temps in the 90s and humidity is way up there.  In contrast, Maine is just right....with nice sea breezes on the coast, sunny days and cooler nights.  Bayside itself is a collection of Victorian cottages on the coast (near Belfast) that surround a small sailing club.  There is nothing of commercial interest in the village so nobody bothers going there except the few folks "in the know".  The result is that Bayside is perfect for a family holiday.  Plenty of other kids, somewhere nice to swim and kayak and enough to go and visit so as not to get bored.

During the first week we were joined by some friends from New Hampshire, Vicky, Mike and Sasha.  Mike's last name is "Striech" (pronounced Mike "Strike")....cool eh?

Pretty normal scene at the dock in Bayside.  Adam and Soph spent lots of time just chilling down here

The bikes in Belfast Maine are part of an art installation that you can play on. My kind of art!

Splendid local "Andrews" Pale Ale brewed in Lincolnville

One memorable day trip was out to Fort Knox. This was probably built to keep out the Brits but we did a pretty good job of getting there. They were having a re-enactment of the American Civil War when we were there.  Good stuff.

I managed to aim it at his head :)

Revenge!

Yes Sah!

Mini-Shaz does a quick Travolta routine during the Civil War re-enactment (surreal)

Another memorable day out was spent on the Amity Sloop.  Run by Captain Steve (originally from Oz) and his son. It was a bit calm for good sailing but maybe that was a good thing given how sea-sick I get :-) 

Amity

 

Dave and Peter Woods

We are having a very pleasant time entertaining Dave and Peter Woods.  Adam adores having Peter (16 years old) here. Peter is a great musician and footy player. A good role model for our boy! Trumpet lessons are underway, as is a healthy resurgence of a scouse accent (although only from Adam...not Soph :))

Most of the weekend was spent chilling out although we did hit the pool and of course we watched all the available footy.  Last night we went to Leo and Joanne's annual summer music fest.  Adam and Peter did a turn off the back of about 10 minutes rehearsal.  Hats off to Peter to accompanied Adam on the guitar despite having never actually heard the tune before!!!

Here is a link to a vid of the "fab 2"

Ooh...almost forgot.  Adam competed in his first swim race at the Edgewood Club last week.  The team is called the "Edgewood Eels". Have to say it was an excellent day out.  Lots of great kids, great parents, great coaches.  Just good fun.  I am impressed!

Bike Camping With Scallywags

Shame on me for being being such a slacker. Life has been busy, cameras have been lost and found, Facebook serves as an easy distraction for sharing news but, let's face it,......I must try harder!

Loads has happened.  Much of it forgotten (which is exactly why this blog needs maintaining).

Adam played the Spring footy season at Pittsburgh Dynamo.  I coached...which, frankly, was a bit of a disaster because I naturally revert to "Scouse Git Man" whenever there is a large round ball nearby.  None of the kids (except Adam) has any idea what I was rattling on about but we won all our games anyway so something must have gone right. Actually, I think we did well because, well, a) the kids can actually play well and b) Brent Plummer did a top job of translating and organizing and....er....coaching.  So well done us.

Last weekend was Father's day here so Brent and I took our boys (and the Soph) bike camping.  We rode 16 miles South East along the Yough trail to Adelaide with all our gear and camped overnight.  It was a great weekend!  Adam and his buddy Caelen rode their own (new) bikes.  Soph rode on Brent's tandem and Aiden rode with me.  Packing was a bit of a nightmare. I took too much and forgot half of what I actually needed (including raingear) but we saw a Copperhead snake, got rained out in a lightning  storm and then sprayed by a skunk so what more can you ask for?

Shaz's brother Dave and his son Peter arrive tomorrow. Will try and update with more news soon.