Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Moving On's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, December 31st, 2005
4:31 pm	Another last day As 2005 ends I am also concluding this blog. My move is over. My new nest is complete enough and very livable. If you want to continue reading about the adventures (trials and tribulations) of Fat Old Artist, go to my new blog,which will allow me to post lots of photos in the midst of my ramblings. A Healthy and Happy New Year to all. Come see me at http://fat-old-artist.typepad.com/ (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 25th, 2005
8:34 am	Last Day Tomorrow I drive back to Pittsburgh, back home. It has been a lovely visit. I have seen most of my friends, been very busy and had a great time. As with every visit I ever made to New York, I'm exhausted and more than ready to go back to a slower pace of life. While I was living here I paced myself and didn't feel so compelled to see everything; there was always another day. This morning is very foggy; I can barely see the street 28 floors below. Being Christmas Day, I don't know what I will be doing. Not much is open. Robin, Steve and family, including Darcy, drove to New Jersey on Friday. They have also been visiting friends. They will pick me up sometime during the day and I will drive back with them tomorrow. I finally went to see Doubt on Friday evening. It was interesting. It certainly is thought-provoking. The most interesting thing about the performance was that Cherry Jones lost it, about three lines into her role. Watching her recover was fascinating. She is certainly a great actress. She kept the audience with her in spite of her problem. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
7:31 pm	No More Strike! And a good thing it is. I've spent as much time at the Met as I would like, right now, and my legs ache. Tomorrow I will go down to midtown and find something else to do. I'm meeting Rose for coffee, then I will try to find Leslie, and maybe get a ticket for something in the evening. I spent a lot of time today looking at the Van Gogh drawings. I could almost feel his hand moving in the strokes on each drawing. There were a few paintings in the show, and they were glorious, but the drawings feel so much more personal and immediate. I took another quick look at Iris Barrel Apfel, then headed for the Neue Gallery and the Egon Schiele show. I finished my afternoon at the Cooper Hewitt looking at more fashions. Yesterday I was supposed to meet Phyllis at the Met at noon. Renee was supposed to be picked up at 11am to go to Newark Airport, on her way to Israel. At 10:45, the car service called and said she would have to find another means of transportation; they had no cars available. So I cancelled my date and drove her to Newark. Since I was already in Jersey, I called Laura and we went out for lunch together. I was supposed to see her today, but I was sure she wouldn't be able to get here, so my change in plans was good. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 20th, 2005
4:35 pm	Strike! So, it finally happened and I am now on foot. I walked to the Met this morning and looked at half of the Van Gogh drawings. Then I walked down to the Frick to meet Mary and look at the Memlings. I loved the Van Gogh and will return tomorrow or Thursday to look at the other half. Memling is a fabulous painter, but I think I've looked at too many fifteenth century paintings. Had lunch with Mary and then walked back to the Met with her, where I browsed quickly through the new Rauschenberg. I guess I am reverting to my lower middle class bourgeois roots; I seem to have less tolerance for that kind of art. Both the Van Gogh and the David Milne watercolors I saw on Saturday gave me a deep appreciation for the tenacity and courage of these artists who were never recognized in their own lifetimes. Not counting the exhibits I have walked at least three miles already today, and the day is not over. I'm supposed to go to see Doubt tonight with Rose. I came back to the apartment to rest so I won't fall asleep during the play. (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 17th, 2005
9:20 pm	Busy Days In spite of the confusion of the on again, off again, transit strike I started the day by meeting a friend for breakfast at Grand Central Terminal. It took me almost an hour and a half to get there but we spent another hour visiting together and it was very pleasant. From there we went down to Union Square. My friend went to buy some kind of special cosmetics and I went to Strand Bookstore. I only bought a few books. Then I browsed the special holiday market in Union Square. Last year I got two little birds made of gourds. I was disappointed not to find more. In the evening Renee and I met Rose at the New York Synagogue for a special Friday night service. Dudu Fisher, the cantor along with a six-man choir made a beautiful and unusual service. Afterward, we walked back to Rose's apartment for dinner and lots of conversation. Today I met Peg and Sybille at the Met. I got there early and spent time photographing objects that had caught my eye before I moved to Pittsburgh: a wonderful Tang camel with a vicious look on his face and a European looking rider, fat goddess images from the Middle East and a wonderful curved man with a cane from Central America. After we met and had lunch we went to the Fra Angelico show, to the Costume Institute to see Iris Barrel Apfel and then looked at some lovely watercolors by David Milne, a forgotten Canadian artist. The Met missed a good bet not having a catalog for sale of the Barrel Apfel show. Even I might have bought it. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 15th, 2005
4:43 pm	New York, again Renee very generously loaned me her car this morning and I drove upstate for my Toastmaster's Christmas Party. I really enjoyed seeing everyone. Every time I make that drive I marvel that I actually did it five days a week for five and a half years. I did not want to think about it while I was working, but it's become more grueling ever since. I don't want to think I'm just getting old. Lately I prefer to do my traveling on foot or by public transit, even if not Amtrak. I got back to the apartment early, put the car in the garage and went for a walk. Even on a bitter, cold day like today there are lots of people on the street. That's what I love about New York. (Comment on this)
8:23 am	Amtrak rant There are four ways to get from Pittsburgh to New York. You can fly, at great expense. US Air is obviously trying to make up their entire shortfall on the cost of a ticket from Pittsburgh to New York. You can drive, take a bus, or the train for about a fifth of the airline cost. This time I chose to take the train. It takes much longer, but I figured it would be comfortable and I would see different scenery than driving. It started out all right. I had two seats to myself, plenty of legroom and I could get up and walk whenever I wanted. I was ready to overlook the dirty windows. We started off on time, 7:20 am. I got a much needed cup of coffee (nothing available in the station), started reading. As the light improved and we got away from the city, I started to watch the passing scene. I had hoped for beauty, but it was a very gray day; the landscape was almost entirely black and white. Still, it was interesting. I contemplated power plants belching white smoke; counted huge churches in tiny decrepit towns; thought about a huge smokestack spewing black smoke in the air. I could do this for hours, and I did. But then came the moment of truth: all that coffee had to go somewhere. I got up in search of a restroom and what I found was a nightmare. Most of the facilities I found were unusable. I don't want to go into the details. More than dirty, they just weren't functioning. I know that Amtrak doesn't have money. I understand the economics of the operation. But toilets are essential on a nine+ hour trip, but maybe I'm the only one who thinks so. Adding further to my misery, we spent more than 2 hours in Philadelphia while they made some, they said necessary, equipment changes. (Not because of non-working bathrooms.) All in all, it took 12 hours to get to New York. You can drive it easily in seven. NO MORE Amtrak for me. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 12th, 2005
3:19 pm	More Snow It snowed again yesterday, a lot. I brought something to Robin in the afternoon and had trouble getting up the hill to her house, then was terrified coming down because I didn't think I could stop at the intersection. I'm not used to those hills. I'm not sure I can get out of my driveway today, and I don't think I want to find out. I'm going to a concert tonight with Sari. I'll let her drive, unless someone comes and cleans the driveway. Tomorrow I will take the car out to go and workout. I could walk there, but there's all that cold and snow. I am going to New York on Wednesday. I've made tentative dates with most of my friends and I have a list of exhibits I want to get to. With my usual luck on this stuff it's very cold there and the transit authority is talking about striking. Fortunately the Met is walking distance from Renee's apartment and many of the people I want to see are also within walking distance. That's all I really need. (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 10th, 2005
4:38 pm	A beautiful day It was sunny today, and got to thirty degrees. The sky was blue with white, fluffy clouds. I went to the museum at Frick Park to see a show of English drawings from the Morgan Library in New York. I went to that show once before; I wanted to see it again. Tonight I am going with Robin and Steve to see "Measure for Measure." Nice things to do in Pittsburgh. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 8th, 2005
9:58 pm	Tai chi, lunch and snow I went to lunch today with two women from my tai chi class. Sue is a fellow alum; we both went to the University of Chicago although she's a lot younger than I. Grace is a fellow former photographer; we seemed to have a lot in common. All of us are recent Pittsburghers. Sue has been here 3 years, Grace only a few months longer than I. It was a nice afternoon. Now it is snowing, fiercely. I am hoping to go to a lecture tomorrow morning on recent trends in architecture. I just hope I'll be able to get out of my house. Robin said she heard Pittsburgh shuts down in a snowstorm. I don't know what it will be like tomorrow. I've certainly had plenty of experience with snow in Chicago, but Chicago is mostly flat. The times I had to go up or down an incline (hi-way ramps) in snow were never pleasant. I'm not sure I'll get out of my driveway here. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 5th, 2005
10:05 pm	My move is finished On Sunday, I got all of the rest of my stuff from Steve's basement. I am pretty well settled now and beginning to feel like I belong here. I have joined the Center for the Arts, where I've been taking a collage class for the last four weeks. Tomorrow is the last class. I joined the health club and I'm trying to work out regularly. I actually got there three times last week. I signed up for classes at the University of Pittsburgh. They have a senior program, which begins at the end of January, and I can also audit some undergrad courses beginning January 4. I plan to audit two courses and take three others in the senior program. This is by way of keeping busy and meeting new people. In the meantime, I am going to New York on Dec. 14. I've been arranging to see all of my friends and I plan to get to all of my favorite museums. I will stay there almost two weeks. I'm going on the train. Flying to New York from here is ridiculously expensive. The airlines are trying to make up all their losses on that one route. So, if the train is tolerable, I'll go fairly often. (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 3rd, 2005
11:05 am	Guardian of my home My new picture shows the alligator guardian of my home. He sits on my front porch and welcomes my visitors. He is one of the reasons I rented this apartment. I don't yet know his name, but I hope to find it soon. (Comment on this)
10:33 am	Weather Report It has been cold and gray here, too cold by my way of thinking, for early December. I am constantly reminded of how much warmer it is in NY and NJ by my MSN browser, which still thinks I'm in Fort Lee and WNYC, which I listen to on the computer. Very demoralizing. Today is sunny at least, but very cold, twenty degrees. I want to go downtown to see the skating rink at PPG Plaza. The reflections in the all-glass building should be something special. If it warms up a little and stays sunny, I'll go. Since my house is now pretty well settled I've been looking for places to go. There is actually a lot I could do, a drawing show at the Frick, the Warhol Museum, which I have yet to visit and many other things. I just have to work up the ambition to go out in the cold. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
4:36 pm	More about turkeys Sari told me that Carnegie Mellon University has a flock of turkeys living on the grounds. They are CMU mascots. Those are probably the turkeys I saw last week. (Comment on this)
4:28 pm	I have a great neighbor Sari and I spent some time this morning working on her computer. She's a technophobe; my specialty being teaching technophobes, we had a good time. Then we took her two dogs, great chocolate labs, and went for a walk in Frick Park. What a great place! It was wonderful, mostly wild and not manicured, and this is probably the least beautiful time of year to walk there. Today was gray and chilly, not terrible, not nice. The park is near enough to my home to walk there. I look forward to doing this all through the year. And Sari will loan me a dog any time I ask. (Comment on this)
Monday, November 28th, 2005
1:38 pm	Another blog I spent a lot of time over the weekend looking at other places that host blogs. I want a blog that will allow me to post lots of pictures. Since I bought that camera I want to be able to post my pictures. When I decide where to go next I'll post it here. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 25th, 2005
10:57 pm	Pittsburgh geography I found out that the area I got lost in on Wednesday is called Panther Hollow and the turkeys probably live there. I have to find out more about Panther Hollow; it's fascinating to find something like that in the heart of the city. Chicago used to have a large undeveloped area near the Chicago River where it met Lake Michigan. The land was owned by the Illinois Central Railroad and was undeveloped until the 1970's when they started building very expensive high rises on air rights. No undeveloped land anymore, but being flat it's much easier to deal with. (Comment on this)
10:41 pm	Finally I am a legal Pittsburgher. My car passed the inspection and emissions test; I got my Pennsylvania title, the PA places are on the car and that's all I am required by law to do. Fortunately they don't have medical or dental inspections when you cross state borders. That's all on your own watch. My house is getting pretty well set up. I still haven't quite figured out the living room but the dining room and my bedroom are both good. The kitchen will never be wonderful. Appliances are OK but counters and cabinets should be updated. Since I don't own the place I'll just have to live with it. I don't do much cooking anyway. My workroom is still bad but no longer totally chaotic. I was able to set up the sewing machine and alter the bed skirt, which is part of my new French bordello bedroom look. I bought this stuff for my pleasure, NOT with the hope of finding a man to appreciate it. I'd like to think it was an aberration, a temporary lapse in taste, but the truth is I love all kinds of flashy, colorful stuff. The Matisse show at the Met, highlighting his use of wonderfully colored fabrics in his paintings was an inspiration to me. I'm trying to show off all the colorful fabrics I've collected over the years. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 24th, 2005
10:17 am	Pittsburgh wildlife Being a long time Chicagoan where life is lived on a grid I still want to believe that making four right turns will get you back to your starting point. It wasn't true in New Jersey and it's even less likely to work here in Pittsburgh. Chicago is flat. Pittsburgh probably has more hills than San Francisco. So I get lost, more often in New Jersey than here because the signage (or lack thereof) was worse there. I think I made every wrong turn it was possible to make in New Jersey. So I got lost yesterday. I found myself in a largely undeveloped valley (ravine, gulch, I don't know what they call it here). There were streets and some houses and steep, undeveloped hillsides. This was somewhere between Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh. Needless to say I was a little stressed. Suddenly I saw turkeys, about six of them, walking along the sidewalk. They were huge, black and looked like they belonged there. They seemed to know where they were going. I was astounded. Charna told me Darcy was trying to catch a turkey the other day at Chatham college. Where did these turkeys come from? They didn't look wild. When I was working in Westchester I would occasionally see wild turkeys along the Saw Mill. They were much smaller and didn't look so arrogant. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005
10:27 pm	Collage class Tonight was the third meeting of my collage class. I have been making an altered book. At first there was not much art in it, but as I have worked on it each week I am bringing more art and more of myself to it. I am beginning to feel like an artist again. While I was living in New Jersey there seemed to be no time and certainly no space in which to be an artist. My altered book is really an ongoing collage. Each week I find more things to do with it. Great fun. I have been taking some pictures with my new digital camera. Today I finally got them downloaded to the computer. One day I'll start showing them to you. (Comment on this)