One of the pleasures of travelling is cable news. I saw a guy who had gathered 26,461 pennies over 50 years! The obesity number has doubled over the past two decades (hey, they moved the definition.) The sniper note says "I am God" and another guy chaged his name to "I am who I am." Nobody else drew the connection, but I figure they could solve this right away.

In the paper, a story about Bingo at Walmarts. Some nanny person doesn't like the seniors playing games they set up themselves, with no money involved. Since we think my mother-in-law is bored since she no longer has a huge family to care for, and no longer lives in the olde neighborhood, we were especially interested in this story.

I got spam from "Eros Anwar." Neat name, anyway.

I wanted to visit Fallingwater when we were here four years ago, so this time I set up an appointment yesterday and off we went. It's about two hours from Pittsburgh, and we left in plenty of time to get lost. Therefore, we arrived at 10:30 for a noon appointment. We had hopes of getting into an earlier tour, and in fact did get on at 11:30. Without an appointment, we'd have had to wait at least 90 minutes, so it worked out for us.

There's a kiosk there, with a gift store, and restaurant, little museum, day care, and the "flushless system" toilets. That struck me as a fancy name for a pit toilet. In the gift shop I found a book written by someone whose name is almost that of Gerhard's ex-wife, but it was not her on second glance. Then we went into the museum, where I took note of the layering of the earth at Bear Run. (I never found a geology of Pennsylvania book, this trip.) The Washingtons had a claim to Pittsburgh. George was 22 when he was at the area. He went up the Potomac then portaged to the Monongahela.

Fallingwater was built for the owner of Kaufmann's department stores in Pittsburgh. There had been a summer resort for the employees there first, but after the stock market crash, that was discontinued. In 1934 Kaufmann asked Wright to design the house. Wright also proposed an apartment house on Mt. Washington for Kaufmann in 1953. (Apparently this was never built.) Wright was inspired by the Kindergarten toys of Friedrich Froebel; "form becoming feeling." He envisioned modest homes for everyday living.

Mrs. Kaufmann asked for outside stairs from the plunge pool to bedrooms to keep from dripping in the living room. Most of Wright's houses have structural or use failures. He was very good on the artistic vision but didn't have the engineering aspect of architecture internalized as well. Mrs. Kaufmann also questioned carpeting and floor lamps and formal armchairs.

In the house we saw the one barrel chair. The Kaufmanns found them uncomfortable and went with a much less tippy tripod chair. With the stone floors, slightly uneven, this was a great idea. The hearth is made of bedrock. Wright had planned to level it to the floor but the family wanted it higher, keeping the original shape. The kettle is too thick to mull cider, unfortunately.

Wright's elements in this house, besides the cantilevers and horizontal emphasis, and the red colors, are the windows with no frames to spoil the view, indirect lighting, narrow dark hallways, skylights, and desks with complementary shelves. I could live in this house! I sent a postcard to the neighbors saying we were going to make a few changes and expressing the hope that they wouldn't mind living under the waterfall.

When this house was built, the average house price in Pittsburgh was $5000. Wright was allowed $35K which was to include a $8K commission. He had a slight cost overrun, and the end price was $155K. Wright didn't come often to supervise. We found that surprising.

The guest house is up a ramp, and is part of the house visually. I was very impressed with the whole thing.

The Kaufmann's son inherited, and in 1955 he gave Fallingwater to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The house sat from 1955 to 1997 without any architectural checking. There have been over 100 documented leaks. It's being shored up at the moment. The metal is deteriorating. They plan to have the reconstruction (including plastic varnishing) completed next year. Bear Run nowadays is more potable than it was in the 1930s. It had been used for industrial runoff.

We saw some cheeky chipmunks while we were there, and after the house tour we went to Bear Run Nature Reserve. We saw a bunch of mushrooms which Rich referred to as lawn thumbtacks. We could hear a woodpecker but never saw it. No turkeys, no deer. Some butterflies, but mostly it was disappointing. Perhaps it will be better in the summer.

We drove back by way of the National Pike, US 40. We passed Ft. Necessity. When I visited Rich's family in 1964, his father drove us here. I was surprised at how small it was. Today we didn't go, since it would cost money and more time. "A charming field for an encounter" said Lt. Col. George Washington (quite a rank for a 22-yr-old!) said in May of 1754. The battle was July 3, 1754, and he lost.

We did stop to look at Braddock's grave. The "trace" was 12' wide, and took 13 cannon, 100 wagons, a herd of cattle. "This wheel worn chasm is a venerable monument to a past age, the last span through a mountain fastness that linked the East with the West."

June 25, 1755, Braddock was 60. He took a 2400 man army up against 200 French and 600 Indians. He suffered 900 casualties and a vast defeat. (Yet, they learned nothing about the red coats!) He died July 13. They buried him on the road and drove the cattle and soldiers over it so the Indians couldn't find the grave and desecrate the body. Nowadays there's a big monument, and they moved his body.

We saw a sign: "Truckers -- Dangerous Mountain ahead." I picture the mountain chasing the truckers. Near Uniontown it's the George C. Marshall Parkway. Rich hadn't realized the General was also the author of the Marshall Plan. Then we managed to miss our turn and go 11 miles out of our way to Connellsville again. We retraced and continued home on the National Pike, mostly so we could see the turn to Republic where Rich's Babcha used to live. (With the great little bouncy bridge over the creek.) And so back to Coraopolis in time for dinner.

Teaching math through the ages.

Leftover from Monday. (Hey, I am in a motel, I have limited Internet access, I find something and put it into the notes. So it's a couple of days late. So sue me. Gotta get here next time!)