Happy Christmas!!!

A very Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year to anyone actually still checking this blog.

Sorry for my lack of posting. To be honest it has been a bit of a shock having to work for a living again;-) We are trying lots of new ideas out in lab, which has been good fun and a great experience but my poor noodle has never been so challenged. Now at last I have a week to catch my breath.

Christmas Day was beautiful here. Blazing sun and no wind so we made the most of it by getting out with the kids for a runaround in Schenley Park. On Christmas Eve we made our church choir debut by boosting the ranks at St Pauls church in Kittaning, which is Kenny and Liz Smith's home church. The absolute best part was having two delicious dinners in five days at Ken and Liz's place before rehearsal. Thanks Ken and Liz!!! Good times were had. Oh yeah.....and check out the pic? There has to be a first for everything eh?

News Flash

Adam has started his own blog! Check it out and say hi at http://peewack2001.blogspot.com/

Snow

Winter is upon us. We had our first proper snow of the winter this week. My mum headed back to Liverpool on Monday so we had a decadent weekend sitting around in the snug of various cafes and brew pubs. Then my old mate Dr Adam Platt arrived for a lightening tour of town and a few meetings at the uni with possible collaborators. Dr Platt crossed to the dark side some years ago and now works for a drug company in Cambridge.

One major plus about our house is its location. We are a healthy short walk from the University and even nearer to the Squirrel Hill shops. Above are some pics of the view from the back deck.

We joined the JCC this week. This is a local community center with loads of stuff going on. Most importantly they have a gym and pool etc and even an indoor running track which helps given the fact that it will be proper brass monkey weather until March. Brrrrrr!

Todd Sanctuary

Too much work and cold rainy weekends has left us long overdue for a day in the woods. There was a clear blue sky today so we headed north to Todd Sanctuary....an Audubon wild bird haven. My mum is visiting and she is a big ornithologist so it seemed like a splendid idea. Actually all the birds appeared to have packed up and left for the winter but it was nice to experience the tranquility of the forest after our recent cabin fever.

After some fresh air and a stroll we stopped on the way home to buy Derek some cheap Levis at the mall and then headed for Buffalo Blues in Shadyside for ribs and beers.

A great day.

Happy Birthday Adam!

Last weekend was Adam's 6th birthday so on Sunday we hosted 24 kids for a Harry Potter party complete with compulsory wizard outfits and a magician. Good fun but definitely bordering on the edge of anarchy. Not sure I would want to do it again!

After the doo, we hung out with John and Cecile Allison and their daughters Paige and Margo for pizza and beer. I think Adam might have a soft spot for Paige :-)

Ouch!

It had to happen!.....This morning I wiped out on my bike.

I thought I would share this experience, not for the gory details of the crash but because of the reactions of the onlookers. Somehow this was prosaic as I spent a good twenty minutes earlier this morning with Laura, one of the other parents at Adam's school, discussing the fact that Pittsburgh is, sadly, a racially divided city.

So there I am hurtling down Forbes Ave in Squirrel Hill when I hit a big pile of wet leaves. The front wheel goes out from under me and I come clattering down onto the tarmac....skidding across a road junction with numerous bits of my bike flying in various directions. Once everything comes to a halt I lie there dazed for a couple of seconds before writhing around for a bit and then silently yelling expletives (you know the ones) to nobody in particular.

Thankfully I wasn't riding in heavy traffic so here I am in good enough shape to be able to write this.

As far as I am aware, only three groups of people witnessed this event.....

One was a young white guy who made sure he looked away and carried on walking when I caught his eye (from the gutter).

One was a very well-to-do middle aged white couple who stopped their car just out of ear-shot and beckoned me over. I indicated that I was OK but they continued to beckon me. So.....thinking that they were REALLY REALLY concerned about my wellbeing, I dutifully hauled myself to my feet, hopped about in agony for a few moments (more silent expletives), and hobbled over to their car. They asked me for directions to the Schenley Golf Club!!! I regret to say that I did my best to send them in the right direction. Unbelievable!!!!

Finally an African American lady stopped her vehicle and asked if I was OK and whether she could drive me anywhere. I didn't get her name but she deserves a hug.

Sophia's Tea Party

For months, Soph has been requesting that she wants to have a tea party. Not just any old tea party mind, but one to which her old pal Alex Baughman is invited.

Alex and Soph became good buddies during our last few months in Liverpool when we spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Ben and Jen Baughman from Raleigh North Carolina. They were living in Liverpool while Ben completed his Masters in Psychology at the Uni.

So yesterday was the big day. Ben's brother lives in Monaca PA, which is about an hour away from our house and Ben and Jen and the kids were up for the weekend from Raleigh for a visit. Incidentally, Monaca, is now affectionately known as "Me Knackers" thanks to the fact that me and Shaz are scouse gits and have corrupted Ben and Jen into regular use of the ancient language of Scouse.

So....we spent a very pleasant day hanging out at Ben's brother's place while the kids (and us) renewed old acquaintances.

And Soph and Alex had their tea party (see below).

Alex has made it quite clear that he wants to marry Soph. She responded by saying that she wasn't going to marry him because she is "too young". I couldn't agree more.

Adam is also the focus of Alex's sister Caitlin's affections. Actually I think the feeling is mutual but Adam's public response to any mention of this is...rightly for a 5 year old bloke...."yeuch!"

JazzBurgh

The University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar has been going on all week and today was the climax of the program with a day of "show and tell" sessions from genuine A list jazz greats followed by a concert at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. At the center of the University's jazz program is the Pitt Big Band....a full jazz orchestra with all the trimmings. Shaz is an alumnus of the band, having played second alto with them for the first few years of us living here on our first tour of duty. Proof of this can be found in that fact that Shaz's photo is still on the front page of the program's web site.

Today has been fab! It was one of those brilliantly sunny yet cool fall days. We mooched into Oakland this morning with the kids and had pastries and coffee outside the Crazy Mocha (my daily coffee shop and the place where I regularly push back the foreskin of science with other future Nobel laureates). Next stop was a demonstration and question/answer session by drummer Cecil Brooks III. Both the kids thought this was brilliant, particularly Adam who was captivated. Here is a video of him explaining how he plays poly-rhythms. Here he is doing his stuff. Shaz knew what he meant. I didn't have a clue!



After the jazz, Sophia and Shaz went to a class-mate's birthday party and Adam and I visited the Soldiers and Sailors memorial museum which was packed with various firearms and sabers. Needless to say this went down well with Adam!

After racing home for a quick scoff, Adam's favorite (student) teacher from school came over to babysit and Shaz and I went to the Jazz Seminar Concert. It was wonderful to get out and do something grown up! The line up included Benny Golsen who wrote classics such as "Killer Joe" and "I Remember Clifford (in memory of the trumpeter Clifford Brown". He also wrote some classic TV theme tunes including M.A.S.H, Ironside and, incredibly, The Six Million Dollar Man. Also playing were John Faddis, Randy Brecker and Monty Alexander, not to mention our old pal Dr Nathan Davis who used to direct the Pitt Jazz Ensemble and once described Shaz's rapid improvement on the alto sax by remarking..."aint she gettin' busy?"






Finally....here are some pics of Halloween. It is a really big deal here and the kids loved it.

Blue Heron

It is still balmy weather here with highs around 90 degrees. On Sunday we headed for raccoon Creek for a swim and a paddle in the canoe. Despite the heat, the autumn has begun. Leaves are falling and the densely forested landscape is turning multiple shades of yellows, reds and oranges. At least that's what Shaz says. I am colour blind and it all looks a bit murky brown to me! Anyway this juxtaposition of summer and autumn is beautiful. The lake was absolutely still with a patchy covering of fallen leaves and lots of wildlife milling about. The countryside here is packed with beasties. Deer, buzzards, chipmunks (or "chippy-monkeys" as a Chinese colleague of mine once called them) and squirrels are common. As a bonus, on Sunday we saw a huge Great Blue Heron hanging out at the lakeside.

Soph has finally started enjoying our canoing adventures. She was reticent at first but is now a bit of a daredevil...wanting to explore how far she can rock it before we all fall in. Anyway.....as we mooched about on the lake she looked at me and said...."dad....I love the noo". Funny...so do I.

Big Bend

Last weekend we headed to Big Bend camp ground in the Monongahela National forest in West Virginia. This was our second trip down there in 3 weeks. It is a magical place with high mountains, dense forests and little civilization. The campground was home to lots of deer and various other small critters but no bears were spotted this time (although they are native to the area). The highlight of the trip(s) for me was the chance to swim in relative solitude in big slow moving rivers. As you can see from the photos above we spent the majority of the time mooching around doing this. Big Bend is so named because the campground literally sits in the middle of a U turn in the upper regions of the Potomac River that flows East from the mountains through Washington DC.

Swamped!

I am swamped!

The past three weeks have been absolutely knackering. Work is full on. I have finally recruited two fantastic research staff. They were worth waiting for. It is nice to hang out with bright people every day at work and so far I am having fun. My lab is focused on trying to identify foetal DNA in maternal blood as a way of diagnosing disease during the first and second trimester of pregnancy. This is more fun than it sounds but I have to say that my brain is tired! Beer helps!

So apologies for the lack of posting. Here is some recent domestic history.

We moved out of Mt Lebanon on the 31st August. Unfortunately this was also Soph's 3rd birthday which means that her big day was memorable more for how utterly exhausting it was rather than what a great time we had. The movers came at 10 am so we were up early and eating cake at 7 am with my mum ("Gan") on a video Skype call. Soph wanted a penguin theme (Happy Feet has been a huge hit with the kids).






Our stuff spent 3 days in a van while we waited for the owners of our new place in Sq Hill to move out. This meant we were homeless for 2 nights and so we headed up to Lake Erie at the Northern end of PA for some fun.

Lake Erie is great for people like us with sea-faring ancestors because it offers some relief from the feeling of being land-locked that one gets in Pittsburgh. Although not exactly the roaring Irish Sea in a good blow at Aberdaron it has some sandy beaches and even a few waves.

We spent some time hanging out on Presque Isle which was fab and below are some pics.






We have been camping in remote corners of West Virginia for two out of the past three weekends. Pics to follow.

In!

We have officially moved.

New address is 1236 Malvern Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15217.

Dr David Finegold proved that he is not just a supremo geneticist, physician, canoeist and all round nice guy by donating some nice pieces of furniture for the kids rooms AND helping me haul them back to our house and up the stairs. Thanks David!!!

Adam and I pootled into Oakland on the bike this morning. Him to school and me to MWRI. What a civilized experience compared to the slog from Mt Lebo which was taking up to 1 hour 15 min.

My new next door neighbour in Squirrel Hill described living in Mt Lebanon as like being in the witness protection program. This is a pretty accurate description. It's good to be back in the land of the living!

Will post some pics soon. Love to all.

The Great Escape

News flash!!!!!

We are moving again.
Yup....we are nuts!
Emigration on its own is for wimps!
Mount Lebanon is so normal that it is....well....."not normal". So we are heading back to the City of Pittsburgh to live in Squirrel Hill which is nice because that's the district we first lived in when we moved here during our first tour of duty in 1995. New address is 1236 Malvern Avenue, Pittsburgh 15217.
Adam started at school round the corner from our new house on Monday. He is at the University of Pittsburgh Child Development Center. The waiting list is about 5 years long but guess what?.....Adam was right at the top of the list!! Apparently we had registered him when he was 6 months old and he was still in the queue. They had been wondering what had happened to us!! So far so good anyway. He seems happy. It is a lovely school with interested teachers, small class sizes and fantastic facilities. Best part is that we can cycle to school.

Phew!!! You live and learn. Problem is I keep forgetting!

Fame At Last

Thanks 1,000,000 to Mike Roxburgh for sending me this link.

Fame at last.

East is East

Given its relative location, I have no idea why this place in Ohio is called "East Liverpool" (surely it should be "West Liverpool") but I am not complaining because today....bless 'em....they had a big street bash and English car show in honour of the 800th birthday of OUR Liverpool. Yes folks....it might be a shit-hole but it's OUR shit-hole eh?

So we pootled off in convoy with me and one or other of the kids in the Spitty and Shaz in the van. East Liverpool is West of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River and I am pretty sure it is a bastion of Republican Bushites with some good honest Christian Fundamentalism thrown in for good measure. So as you can imagine I donned my best Socialist Worker T shirt, my Charles Darwin beard and my "Stuff the System" badge that I nicked from Grandpa Derek back in the 2nd year at NewHeys. Despite all this, we were welcomed as honoured guests and even paraded to the crowd at one point as being "true scousers". I hadn't realized how difficult it is to wave to a crowd whilst simultaneously trying to duck out of sight.

Our route home took us right past Raccoon Creek State Park and so we went for a dip in the lake. Poor Adam had some vaccinations yesterday, ready for school which starts this week, and so he has been a bit drowsy and under the weather. Apart from that we are all fighting fit and ready for another week Stateside.

Bike Pittsburgh

Today we went out for a bike ride with one of Adam's new footy camp buddies...Eli and his dad Avi. Avi is a huge biker and, strangely, I have seen him all over town this summer wearing his day-glow T shirt and pink socks. Quite a character and a great city guide.

We did a loop of the Eliza Furnace Trail. A true urban bikers paradise. It runs along the Monongahela River, taking in the county jail, downtown, the South Side and Hot Metal Bridge. The feeling of cruising quietly along next to a big slow moving river was punctuated by lots of graffiti, 100 car freight trains and the deafening roar of the US376 Parkway.

After this supreme effort we had a quick kick around and then headed for ice cream at Jitters in our old Shadyside stomping ground (sniff).

So here we are on Sunday night. A heavy week looms.
I will resume my obsessive quest to figure out a way of detecting and analyzing vanishingly small amounts of foetal DNA against a massively overwhelming background of mum's DNA in a sample of her blood. This, I admit, has been keeping me awake at nights and yes I admit I am wierd. But.....bloody hell it's good fun.

I can sense the chuckles and head shaking from here.

Perfect!

This was close to being a perfect day.

After a good snooze and a leisurely breakfast we strapped the canoe to the roof of the van and headed to Moraine State Park to meet David Finegold for a day of paddling, picnicking and pontificating.

The temperature was well into the 80s today and so the paddling was punctuated by frequent stops on the deserted shores of Lake Arthur and plenty of splashing around in the murky waters.

The highlight of the day was finding a "lawn" of lilies on a finger inlet of the main lake. The place was utterly teaming with life. Absolutely beautiful! It was a Zen moment.

Adam spent much of the day paddling with David Finegold in his Mohawk canoe. Both David and Adam can talk with Olympian prowess and I think they are now officially buddies.

Great!

Swamped!

Blimey! I had forgotten what it is like to do an honest days work. Things have been mad at the lab, hence my total lack of bloggage.

In contrast, life has been quite quiet on the home front. We have been enjoying sunny days in the garden and lazy walks down to the local park for a play and the famous "Scoops on Beverly" for ice cream. Adam went to footy camp again last week, this time at Schenley Park near the University campus, and next week he is going to "Space Camp" at the Carnegie Science Center.

Sharon took the kids to the National Aviary which, according to the homepage is "America’s only independent indoor nonprofit bird zoo" and also home to Elvis the penguin. Adam told me earnestly that he had seen a Speckled "Wobbler" (read warbler) which gave us all a giggle.

As you can see from the piccy below....Soph has got some new sequined footy boots.

PS: thanks to all those who posted comments. Congratulations to Gareth on winning the Pie and a Pint contest.

Speak Up!

Is anybody apart from Dave Berg reading this? (Dave....you there buddy?)

If anybody is out there....PLEASE....click the comments button and say hi :-)) My paranoia is growing.

Kicked In the Clutch

On Saturday I actually diagnosed and fixed a fault on the Spitty! OK....admittedly by the standards of Lewis Horton and Gareth Dubbeling my efforts were pretty lame. There I was, pootling with Soph back from the ice cream shop when suddenly I couldn't select any gears and it felt like the transmission was going to fall through the floor of the car. After a quick panic I mustered the courage to do a few Google searches on the subject and came up with the solution. Now the clutch is better than ever. A pint and a pie to the first reader who guesses what I did to fix the problem.

On Sunday we went to Moraine State Park for a picnic followed by swimming and a paddle in the canoe with Kenny and Liz Smith and their three boys Rowan, Sawyer and Adam. "Our Adam" had a go with one of Kenny's fishing rods and managed to catch a rather fine fish.

I Know Best!

I have it on good authority that Sophia is still the boss. Tonight she stated that "I know best" which, given all the faffing about and indecision that accompanied our move back to the USA, may well be true.

Today has been a great day. The sort of day that makes me feel justified in dragging the troops away from their cosy nest in Chalfont Rd. We had a genuine light bulb moment in the lab about something we have been struggling with for ages. The daily opportunity to try and solve important public health problems gives me enormous satisfaction and can be incredibly good fun. This of course has to be balanced against the scientific norm which usually involves lots of banging of heads against brick walls and an infuriating lack of progress.

It's Not the Taking Part....!

Well we didn't win but who cares. It was a fantastic day. We met some new friends and hung out with a few old ones. The only downside is that I got the distinct impression that you have to be an anorak to take part (you know the type Ed). There were plenty of them there and lots of improbably shiny cars.

I am shattered. Here are some pics.

Spitty

Tomorrow is Roger the Spitfire's big day. It is the first day of the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix which means a day of relaxed scoffing and hanging out while the hardy few hurl their race prepared vintage cars around Schenley Park. Unfortunately, Roger the Spitty lost a wing mirror yesterday thanks to my clumsiness in the garage so he will look a bit lop-sided. My chances of winning the Spitfire category (they run a kind of "Miss World" for old cars) are diminished by the fact that Roger seems to have developed some kind of electical fault that involves mucho clicking and complaining when I turn the key followed by (fingers crossed) the engine turning over and starting with a healthy roar (and a faint smell of electrical burning). So.....Lewis and/or Gareth....if you are reading this, a diagnosis would be much appreciated!!!

So...watch this space. Will Roger win the grand prize? Adam and I polished him tonight so at least he is looking his shiny best.

I'm In Charge!

Yesterday Sophia announced that "I'm In Charge". I have always suspected this but now I know for sure that she is the boss. I think we were all relieved to finally discuss and establish the family pecking order.

Our latest acquisition (this is becoming addictive) is a canoe. Inspired by a canoing trip with Dave Berg on the River Dee during Xmas 2005 we bought an Old Town canoe. This has become an immediate hit.

Dave and Rosie Woods were flying out of Toronto into Liverpool on Sunday so on Saturday we headed North together into New York State and stayed in Ellicotsville (next door to the Brew Pub!). Sunday morning was spent paddling and picnicking in the Allegany State Park after which the Woods duo headed North for the airport and we pitched a tent for the night. On Monday we drove South into Pennsylvania to the Allegheny State Forest and paddled off for a picnic and a swim on distant shores of the Allegheny Reservoir. Fresh air makes you sleepy!

Bye Bye Ma and D....Hello Dave and Rosie

It has been 5 weeks of family fun.
My Mum and Derek arrived June 4th and stayed until July 2nd. Derek brought his journalist hat and spent much of his time here researching a story about urban regeneration in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. This is the old African American neighborhood from which many of the famous Pittsburgh-born jazz musicians emerged. For famous...read Art Blakey, Ray Brown, George Benson, Lena Horn, Erroll Garner, Earl Hines, Ahmad Jamal and Henry Mancini (wrote the Pink Panther). I almost forgot to mention....Billy Strayhorn who wrote "Lush Life" and "Take the A Train".

This leads me into a fantastic "name dropping" opportunity. Ahmad Jamal's drummer, James Johnson, was the bass singer in a vocal group Shaz and I sang in back in the early 2000's. Other distinguished members were Nancy Egan, who does the voice-overs for the "Howard Hanna" showcase of homes (only follow that link if you are bored shitless) and also sings with "Homefront"...an American folk music group (famous or what?) and Thatcher Over Montgomery who sang bass in "InVoice" (mega!). As you can see....James Johnson is the least famous.

The Hill District's most famous venue was the Crawford Grill which was still open when we were on our first tour of duty here but which has now (sadly) closed. To his eternal credit, Derek boldly strode into some of the most ghetto-ized parts of town in search of a scoop. I am ashamed to say that I have yet to visit many of these places despite having spent a total of 9 years living in this city. Not only that but Derek managed to gain the support of a few local cultural and civic leaders which is good going. So.....well done D. Hope something big comes of that.

Mum spent most of her month hanging out with the kids. They loved having granny on tap and have missed her this week. Mum also managed to retain her sense of humor during our move to the suburbs which turned out to be more traumatic than necessary.

One sterling job performed by mum was the entertaining of the kids while we test drove a variety of....(and I am somewhat ashamed to admit this)....."minivans". Yes folks.....not only have I recently turned 40 and moved to the burbs but we have bought the iconic middle class soccer mom middle-American vehicle...a Toyota Sienna. Super-practical and totally lacking in any romance. It does however have 14 cup holders. Which is great if you are catheterized and/or wearing incontinence pants.

After our excessive consumerism we visited Moraine State Park which is North of Pittsburgh and the favorite spot of local dinghy sailors including David Finegold who has just given me a much loved but no longer used 470 to sail there (a dear friend and a good man!).




Sharon's brother Dave and his daughter Rosie arrived on Tuesday. We met them at the baseball ground...PNC Park.....which I have to say is amazing. All the seats are behind the batter and look out onto downtown Pittsburgh which, frankly, is more interesting than the baseball. To put this derogatory comment in context, the Pittsburgh Pirates have just won their first major league game of the season (we were there!) despite having been playing pretty solidly since April. So there you go.



It is a beautiful skyline. In fact this is one of the compensations of my morning commute which involves bursting out of the Fort Pitt tunnels and across the Allegheny River with full view of the downtown skyline. Very impressive!

Homogenous

Well here we are in US suburbia.
Err...oops!!! It's a bit like Pleasantville. I feel a constant urge to roll home pissed and leave furniture in the front garden. Actually come to think of it I did that stuff before we moved here so maybe it's not so bad. Ironically it is faster to get into the city than it used to be where we lived before so it must be psychological. I think the difference is that whereas I could bike everywhere and drink in any one of about 10 pubs before walking home, now I have to jump in the car. Also, for the first time in my life I feel like a minority. ALL the neighbors are American and middle class. In Shadyside they were frequently foreign and/or colourful characters. Still...onwards and upwards. As Rob says....."it's still good to be us".