“Down by the Riverside”
This is what the Allegheny River looked like today, on one of the coldest days of this century. I had Jonathan stop at Firemen’s Park in Arnold when we were out so that I could take this photo. We have had weeks of freezing weather, including several straight days of subzero temperatures. I figured that this was a rare chance to see the river frozen. Directly behind this bench were squirrel tracks leading from one tree to another. That must have been one cold squirrel.
We also walked down the hill to the boat launch, but we didn’t stay there for long, because my fingers got so cold that I wanted to cry. I have always had a problem with keeping my fingers warm. Once when I was a kid, two of my sisters and I were at a mall with my aunt, and we went into a store where my aunt’s friend worked. The store had these really cheap, flimsy gloves for sale at the front register. The friend said to my aunt, “You should buy these gloves for your nieces. Wouldn’t you like that, girls?” My ticked-off aunt bought the gloves for her three young nieces. Worst gloves that I ever owned. Well, the gloves that I wore today were nothing like that. My current gloves are actually pretty decent, and I never took them off as we stood by the riverside. Still, once my hands decided that they were done, I pretty much ran back up the hill to get to our truck.
I’m pretty fond of this river. I live in a neighborhood that sits on its banks. I cross it four times on most weekdays to get to my job in downtown Pittsburgh: twice in the morning, and twice in the afternoon. Part of my commute also runs parallel to it. One day, I accidentally got on the wrong bus, and I only figured it out when I realized that the river was on the wrong side of the bus. (Like you’ve never done anything stupid.)
I don’t know if George Washington was as fond of the Allegheny as I am, since he almost drowned in it once. When it was cold and icy. If you are doing research on Washington and you have never been to our neck of the woods, take a good look at this picture that I just posted of what the Allegheny might have looked like that time that he fell into it.
As I mentioned a few months ago, Rachel Carson crossed it each day to travel from her home in Springdale to her high school in my neighborhood of Parnassus in New Kensington.
Tonight Jonathan and I listed to WYEP play “Down by the Riverside” as a tribute to Pete Seeger, and I decided to use this as the title for my blog entry. Pete Seeger didn’t write the song, but I bet that he had his own favorite river.
