Carnegie Museum and Frostop
Yesterday, Toni and I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Museum of Fine Arts. Despite both of us aching in our personal arthritides from the extensive walking, we very much enjoyed the visit and were very impressed with the reconfiguration of the dinosaur exhibits, which have departed from the age old and unscientific establishment we saw for years. The T-Rex display was stunning.
From the perspective of a conservationist, the taxidermy displays are sad but so very important as many of these are the only representations will we see of power nature has created. The ever stunning lion attack on the dervish always grips me each time I enter that hall. The preservation of a dodo and a passenger pigeon hit me of the loss mankind has created and threatens to do so again and again.
Of course, my favorite area is an area of castings from Greek, Roman, Gothic, and Renaissance sculpture and architecture. The originals are in more prominent museums throughout the world, but without the ability to travel, I was gifted with the opportunity to tour these stunning works while in Pittsburgh.
We ended with touring the hall of fine arts. Most of the Medieval pieces in Pittsburgh are German and Flemish.
Today, we spent our vacation day in the car for over ten hours driving to and from Huntington, West Virginia. Why? To adopt an adult Maine Coon. Upon arriving in Huntington, we grabbed a bite to eat and some cold frosty root beer at the Frostop, the same style of root beer stand as we once had in Ford City when I was a little boy. ...back to the cat... we picked him up and took him home. He was so uncomfortable the entire way home, panting from the bumps and noise. Winding the windows up helped calm him, but this left him warm as the air conditioning is currently undercharged. Once we got him home, the big monster hid under our bed but just loved being petted. ...our little girl, however, went into an absolute hissy fit. Our solution is for Ollie to stay upstairs with Toni for tonight, and for me to be sleeping on the couch to make myself accessible to the little miss easily upset. This is going to be a long haul getting her to accept him, but it will be worth it once she does. Her calming down will be good for him as the big boy is so easily dominated. "Gentle Giant" is an apt term for the fellow.
Okay, off to "bed" (on the couch) with me.