Bye, bye love. Hello, loneliness…
Yes, it is the dreaded NFL bye week in Pittsburgh. An entire city of people draped in over-sized jerseys standing with mouth agape and nothing at all to do on a Sunday—and with an extra hour in which to do it. This must be what February feels like. Can’t even go slumming and watch Pitt this week. This would have been a great week for the surging Panthers to grab a few football-starved fans in the city. Who’s the genius who decided that they should both be off on the same weekend? This isn’t yinz father’s Dave Wannstedt team! They are moving up the top 20 with a bullet.
So, as a public service, perhaps we need a list of alternative activities. I’ll make a few suggestions. You can post your own.
1) First, put on a shirt, for Pete’s sake. Maybe consider visiting Sport Clips. Just a suggestion.
2) Go outside! Take a drive or hike through Raccoon State Park and check out the fall colors that remain.
3) Take your kids to Schenley Park and fly a kite.
4) Okay, maybe it’s raining. Go dahntahn and patronize one the restaurants that suffered during the G20.
5) Catch a show. There is scary fare such as Dracula or Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, or go highbrow and check out Verdi’s opera, Falstaff. Yeah, right. That’s going to happen.
6) Go to the Strip District and get started on that Christmas shopping so you don’t have to experience that annual panic on December 15th.
7) Drive 90 minutes out to Ohiopyle and see the two Frank Lloyd Wright houses: Falling Water and Kentuck Knob. We did this last weekend and loved it. Great drive, incredible views, and some good country produce stands along the way.
8) How long has it been since you’ve been to one of the old standards? Go to the zoo/aquarium, the aviary, Phipps Conservatory, Heinz History Center, or the Carnegie Museums.
9) Go to your local Carnegie Library. You never know when it might be gone forever.
10) Or… screw it. Cook up some pirogues, grab a Terrible Towel®, and sit on the couch and watch Brett Favre go to back to Green Bay and get booed. Old habits die hard and let’s face it, it’s not February yet.
Not to be critical, but if you want to blend in with your surroundings in Pgh, yinz need to learn how to spell those delectable dumplings which you reference. (And, NO, I’m not referring to the Mayor.)
“Pierogies”, “pierogs”, “pierogis”, even “pirohis” appear to acceptable spellings in W. PA. Not sure how it is spelled in Chicago, but “pirogues” are flat-bottomed boats typically associated with Louisiana Cajuns, poling around the bayous.
And, no, I haven’t had a decent one since I left Latrobe in ’91….
Enjoy your comments on ‘That’s Church’ and your site. You are correct about being newcomers to the ‘burgh, only being there four years. But people there love you anyway, don’t they.
With all the people moving in and out (and dying–our demographics, you know), living four years in Sarasota would make you a local.
Good catch. I was trying to conjure up the Polish word for “how much starch can we glom on to each other in one little pocket.” I will hereby reprogram my spell check.