Several times each year my daughter Sara takes a break from her busy routine and comes here to visit me. This year her visit coincided with a trip to Seattle by Beth and her family, and the opportunity for us to baby-sit their dog, Gunnar. It’s been well over seven years since I have had a dog; Gunnar was a welcome visitor. Recent DNA tests have reported that he is part Walker Tree Hound, part Great Dane, and part Pit Bull; I still think he is mostly Blue Tick Hound. I have been declared too feeble to take Gunnar for a walk, but Sara made up for it with long walks each day, supplemented by romps in my fenced-in back yard.
Sara and I have a long telephone conversation each weekend, which helps keep me current on the accomplishments of her children; nonetheless, in-person updates are much more effective. Ian is in the fourth year of a five-year program in Theater Arts at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His current excitement is being part of a local production of one of my favorite plays, “Inherit the Wind”. We are trying to work out a visit to Colorado in early May so I can see it and a major choral concert in which his sister Claire will participate. She is part of a twelve person girls’ choral group at Rocky Mountain High in Fort Collins.
Her big sister, Nora, is a Freshman at Oregon State University in Corvallis, studying environmental sciences. Actually, she is still sorting out which department in that field she prefers. I still remember her mother when she was at this stage and hadn’t yet settled on Biology in general and Wild Life Ecology in particular. Today she is a world class expert on the application of genetic technology in the long-term management of wild life. One of her current projects is involvement in the Department of Interior Bison Initiative wherein four government agencies have bonded together to produce a long-term plan for managing the twenty thousand bison on federal land and ensuring they have a diverse, yet pure gene pool.
One afternoon we went to the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center to check out the new Starbucks there. Construction of this large, unusually shaped building has attracted a lot of attention in the last year, particularly focused on the fact that it is reported to have sufficient solar panels on its roof to generate all the electricity it needs. Sure enough, we found a plethora of panels on it. On the southeast face, covering the drive-through area, is a sloping roof on which I counted 99 panels, each six feet long and three feet wide. On the opposite side of the building was a flat structure perhaps three times as big. I estimate there were enough more there to bring the total to about four hundred panels.
Based on actual information I have on solar panels in this region, the average electricity produced over a calendar year is about two watts per square foot of solar panel. That being the case, the panels on this building should produce about fourteen kilowatts, more than enough to satisfy the energy requirements of this facility. At twenty cents a kilowatt hour, that should generate a savings of about $24,500 a year. My lunch? I ended up with a thawed-out croissant filled with bacon and cheese. Should have gone to La Bella Bean!
Speaking of which, I am pleased to report that Bridgeville’s favorite bench, adjacent to La Bella Bean, has new occupants. Public Art Bridgeville is in the process of installing this year’s complement of outdoor sculptures. The bench that previously served a young man reading a Bridgeville paper, followed the next year by another youngster whittling, is now the home of two mature, prim ladies, also products of the Steward Johnson atelier. We will devote a future column to the entire set of sculptures once they are completely sited.
On Sunday we went to Heinz Hall for a Pittsburgh Symphony concert that was a double-barreled treat. We knew ahead of time that James Ehnes would be the guest soloist – he is one of my favorite violinists. We then learned that Associate Conductor Jacob Joyce was a last minute substitute for guest conductor Dalia Stasevska, who withdrew due to illness. We are quite familiar with Jacob Joyce, as he conducted the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra while my grand-daughter Rachael was a key member. A thirty-one-year old product of the New England Conservatory, he is in his third year in Pittsburgh, apparently on the verge of a promotion to become musical director of some major symphony orchestra.
Joyce took advantage of this opportunity to add another impressive page to his resume. In addition to impressively supporting Ehnes in his performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade After Plato’s ‘Symposium’”, his conducting of Sibelius’ “Fifth Symphony” was outstanding. An outsider lacking knowledge of the circumstances would certainly have suspected that he and this wonderful orchestra had performed together for many years. And, we were not disappointed in Ehnes either. He navigated the intricacies of the (modern) Bernstein work masterfully, then demonstrated his wide variety of virtuosity and the power of his 1715 Stradivarius with an extended encore of a Bach Sonata. I certainly am grateful that I can still attend Symphony concerts.
Most evenings we went out to dinner; included was a visit to my favorite restaurant, Paul Massimino’s “All American Bistro”, at Pine Bridge Mall. No problem persuading Sara to go there; she is a big fan of their Pork Piccata. I prefer the Blackened Spots.
I have lived alone contentedly for nearly eight years now, but I must admit I got a little emotional when I said goodbye to Sara at the airport and when Beth and Mike stopped by to pick up Gunnar. I’ll get over it.