(Th)ree and (F)ree Rivers Arts Fest

Summer in Pittsburgh unofficially begins with kickoff of the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival.

For 10 days each June, hundreds of art and jewelry vendors, stages with free music of names big and small, and activities for kids are all offered in the heart of downtown, at Point State Park. Mark and I go every year without fail. (And FYI, the band pictured above is called Machete Kisumontao. A friend of Mark's is in it.)

I think the people watching there itself is worthwhile. The Pittsburgh spirit, particularly in the main grassy area where center stage is located, is constantly pulsing with life and spontaneity.

Several years ago I took a summer photography class and we spent a whole evening taking photos at Arts Fest. I remember getting so many adorable photos of families, little girls and boys hula hooping, and other fun shenanigans. I've come prepared with my camera ever since.

One instance I wish I could have captured with my camera this weekend: A little boy trying to catch raindrops with his tongue. It was a very cute, short-lived moment.

However, this cute little doggie begging for food makes up for it:

Of course, there's some great art to be seen, too.

While I didn't buy any glass mosaic work at the Jenn's Jems booth, pictured above, I learned the store also offer classes. A four-hour class costs $40 and includes everything but a frame, which seems pretty reasonable to me. It might be something I'll take advantage of in the future.

The only piece I did buy was this Mr. Rogers digital print, which I love because 1.) Mr. Rogers is an awesome Pittsburgh-area native, and 2.) It looks very pop art inspired, like a lot of Andy Warhol's work, who happens to be another world-famous Pittsburgh native.

And most importantly, 3.) Mark and I have been seeing this piece for the last two or three years at the festival, and we finally broke down and bought it this time.

At $35, the price was OK, but it's fairly big, I think 13 by 19 inches. That was our hang up last year, but whatever. I'm sure we'll find a place for it.

The artist, Red Robot Creative, also does similar portraits of other American icons.

One other booth I really enjoyed was Abandoned Pittsburgh, because I love looking at photos of rust belt decay. However, most of the things I see online are from Cleveland and Detroit, not so much Pittsburgh these days, so it was nice to just enjoy looking at more local stuff.

For local readers, the festival continues until June 15th.

What kind of art catches your eye?

One Man's Trash

Sunday was one of those days where things simply weren't going as planned.

Mark and I had intended on going to the Pirates game. However, the bees/hornets/wasps/evil black and yellow things with wings at our house had other ideas. We're pretty sure they made a nest in the shutter outside our bedroom window. They've been getting inside through the window somehow, or through the air conditioning unit. So... we've had 10 plus bees get into our bedroom for the past week. Three more came in just before we were about to leave. We stood our ground and conquered. For now.

I called the landlord about it last week, but the maintenance man hasn't come over yet. :(

Anyway, the bee situation held us back awhile. By the time we got to the city, the Pirates were in the second inning, so Mark just scalped the tickets and we explored the city a bit.

While we were there, we went to Avalon, my favorite secondhand shop in the city, but had no luck finding anything. We decided to go for a walk, and I passed a garbage bag sitting on the sidewalk full of clothes in my size. They were marked free and clean. Hoping there weren't any discarded body parts in the bag, I swooped it over my shoulder and brought it to my car to inspect through it a little more thoroughly.

Seriously. Don't judge me. It isn't like this happens every time I decide to go for a stroll.

The items were in great shape and clean. Probably cleaner than things I've found in thrift stores.

In addition to the things pictured above, there were some old dress shirts, sweaters, and dress pants, but they were in smaller sizes, so I'll probably just donate them. While some of these things aren't necessarily my style, particularly the pink knit shirt and the purple skinny jeans, the price was right. I might experiment with altering them a bit, with dyes, or just mixing them up in my wardrobe. We'll see.

The black dress, however, is perfection. I might just have to wear it as a tunic, though. It looks like it'll be very short on.

Are there any clothes you've inherited under unusual circumstances?