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.