further adventures

[ontology]

(You know that I am tired and hungry and want the computer to just go away, please, when I post the same entry on Xanga and LiveJournal. Augh. I have been doing far too much of this lately.)

So, yeah, we went to Pittsburgh yesterday, and I--reckon I'm still a bit overwhelmed. I know that if I tried to type up the day, I'd end up going on about what happened, and leaving out what it was. I'm beginning to worry about my worth as a nonfiction writer, because this seems to be the extent of my ramblings: I will tell you what happens, but I will leave out what it felt like, what it meant, because I can't even get those to come out wordlike. I will also leave out anything that is terribly, frighteningly emotional, particularly if it is complicated, unless it is of such dire importance that I can't not write about it. Part of it might be the enforced impromptu nature of my blog entries--I have to compose them here and now, at a very specific point in time, and I have to have them done; I haven't got time to work on them. If I had my own computer, maybe I'd be able to write about things properly, or maybe I'm just using it as an excuse.

Sigh. Right. I don't even know what I'm saying. Yesterday was weird and sort of surreal, and I think you'd do better off reading Mum's post than mine.

My main impressions were the sterility of the hospital--it seemed so impersonal, once you got into the actual hospitally bits, although the lobbies and whatnot were rather nice but reminded me more of the airport than anything else. (This is possibly because my main impression of Pittsburgh remains my over-familiarity with its airport, on account of being stuck there for about a day's worth of hours when all that mess happened with my planes to Mississippi. They have a v. nice food court, and they recompense you nicely--two hundred dollar hotel rooms!!--when your flights break down a lot. Also, the hotel they send you to has an excellent continental breakfast.) 

Leandra is so sweet and very alert--she opened her eyes widely enough for us to see the whites and looked around with abject curiosity. Mum pumped milk for her, and brought all the milk that she's been pumping and freezing for the past week, so today Leandra should be drinking her mummy's milk instead of hospital formula. I sat in the corner and read when I wasn't touching Leandra (her hair feels like threads of silk) or taking photographs--and we got to hear her cry. When the nurse took her out of the isolette to weigh her, she fussed a bit; she sounded muffled, and also vexed. She looks a tiny bit bigger (she's regained her birth weight and then some, and grown a quarter of an inch, they told us), and her skin feels less fragile, less like tissue paper. 

And we were in the city--I didn't get to that! The city! I don't think I even like Pittsburgh much; as cities go, it seems particularly dreary and grey, but we drove over bridges and highways looking across at buildings and buildings and buildings gritty with decades of living, old, crumbly buildings with vines eating up all the corners, funny-shaped mosques and temples and churches and things, crammed between skyscrapers, and later, driving home at night, all the buildings lit up like lines of watchful eyes, gleaming brightly in the dusk. We stopped in Panera Bread, because we love Panera and miss it incredibly, and whenever we are in a real city we find one and buy up all of the cinnamon bagels (we usually have to, because we almost always get there late in the day when they haven't even got a dozen left), and today there was a great heaping sample basket full of sourdough and rye breads, which were both fantastically delicious, and now there are bagels in our freezer. (We also supped at Wendy's. Their chicken fillet burger, or whatever it was, is quite excellent for fast-food, but the fries don't seem to have been salted at all.) 

 I am rather ragingly hungry and starting to lose track of general sanity in writing. Er. Going to scrounge for dinner now.

Comments

[midenianscholar.livejournal.com]

Hospitals are always like that. Whenever I go I look in the rooms we pass, at the people we see. It's very sad where there's a baby, or a child--especially when they're all alone. I always want to go give them a hug or something. But maybe it's sort of like...everyone's lives are in slow motion, stopped, or too fast--that's a bit like an airport. There's an air of dread, and expectancy, and a little of hope.

Oi. I feel like I'm tripping around.

Anyway. Panera is always love. And I'm really glad you got to see the baby. :)

[trolliepop.livejournal.com]

♥

[safebox.livejournal.com]

Leandra sounds adorable - and what a beautiful name, I don't think I mentioned that before!

[ressie-noldo.livejournal.com]

♥ ♥ ♥ As always, much, much love. To everyone, and I don't care if it will weird your parents out. :D

Also, I was watching David Tennant's Doctor Who video diary (er. yes. shut up, you know you would too. It's somewhere on YouTube.) and spotted this (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/noldorin/vlcsnap-15248427.png) shot, and thought that you really ought to see it, because it is David Tennant being surrounded by books and what could be cuter, really? (I believe that's his flat.)

*really creepy fangirl*

[midenianscholar.livejournal.com]

BTW, Katherine and I have set up a blog for our post-Revolutionary War girl letters, which may be amusing to read. inkspottedpaper Right now we're focusing on catching up to our present-day letter writing.

[un-titled-love.livejournal.com]

I don't really know what to say, but I wanted to comment anyway. I'm sorry to hear from the other lj that Leandra won't be coming back when you all were thinking she would; I can't even imagine how hard that must be.

Just saying that I'm still thinking of and praying for you and your family in this even though I may not be online consistently enough to say so.

♥

[faeriemaiden.livejournal.com]

♥ Thankee muchly. I haven't posted in two days on account of the computer being busy when I am not, so I missed saying 'OMG LEANDRA'S COMING HOME', and now I don't get to say it, so...yeah. (Whipping up a batch of peanut butter cookies is marvellous for the soul, though. ^-^)