http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/ All Lifestyle en-us Copyright 2012, post-gazette.com. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 16:09:25 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208306-51-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml The visitors have been coming at a steady trickle, reverent, bemused, squinting at the crabbed handwriting in the anguished letters from his American tour ("They will never leave me alone ... I shake hands every day ... with five or six hundred people"), the missives on mesmerism, philanthropy, storytelling, Christmas books and his own manic energy. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 13:47:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208080-51-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Three hundred and fifty years ago, using the wrong pronouns in Massachusetts could land you in hot water. If you were a Quaker living in a Massachusetts Bay settlement circa 1660, your transgressive language would have made you a target for the governing Puritans. Quakers rejected the hierarchical pronoun system that required ye, you and your to be used as a sign of deference to superiors. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 11:20:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207910-140-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml With Valentine's Day right around the corner, people everywhere are preparing to ignite, rekindle or fan the flames of love. While chocolate, jewelry and roses are popular ways to say "I love you," other species are also feeling amorous and preparing to perform their own courtship rituals. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 11:18:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208319-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml The august Morgan Library in midtown Manhattan houses the second largest collection of manuscripts and letters after the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, including the original manuscript of "A Christmas Carol," one of only a handful of Dickens' original works located outside Britain, said Declan Kiely, the Robert H. Taylor Curator of Manuscripts at the library. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 11:09:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207911-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Outdoor enthusiasts who traverse the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail are hiking, skiing and snowmobiling for joy. They are celebrating the Jan. 28 completion of a new bridge that spans the Pennsylvania Turnpike and rejoins the 70-mile trail stretching along Laurel Mountain from the Youghiogheny River at Ohiopyle to the Conemaugh Gorge near Johnstown. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207912-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) marks its 15th anniversary Feb. 17-20. Coordinated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and several partners, the GBBC is a great opportunity for anyone to become a weekend "citizen scientist." The GBBC enlists birders of all skill levels in an effort to keep common birds common. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207913-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml When Mother Nature can't provide stable skating ice, try Mt. Lebanon Park. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207914-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Saturdays: Family Nature Hour. Powdermill Nature Reserve, Rector. Nature stories, outdoor exploration of trails. Free, 1 p.m. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207915-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Elyse Eshelman, 16, Shaler Area High School Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207916-140.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Tons of coal Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207932-37.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml It was an offer I couldn't turn down: An invitation to share a house here with three longtime ski companions and an opportunity to conduct some "product evaluation" at three snow- and sun-blessed New Mexico resorts. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1207979-140-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Managing wildlife is a tricky business. It's tough enough for trained biologists to come up with management plans the public supports, but when the non-hunting public gets involved, look out. In May 2010, three elk escaped from a private captive facility owned by George Richter of Aleppo, Greene County. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208344-37-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Correction Appended Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208345-37-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml AS a child, Allegra McEvedy spent holidays being carted to temples and ruins with her father, a historian. "Where my friends were all lying on beaches in the Mediterranean, I was clambering over ruins in Turkey. I'd seen every outpost of the Roman Empire by the time I was 16," she said. When her parents suggested the children keep travel diaries, she began a lifelong fascination with collecting recipes. "My sister would faithfully reproduce the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul," she said. "Mine was all about what w Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208346-37-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Correction Appended Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208347-37-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml GRATEFUL for rain on a Caribbean vacation? You bet I was. And you might have been, too, had you just escaped from a mob of bronzed bodies dancing under the stars in whipped-up, blissed-out unison to a 1980s disco hit. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12036/1208348-37-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WE were driving through the back alleys of Ouidah, a sultry former slave port in the West African nation of Benin, when we spotted him: a figure in robes and leather gloves. His face was hidden by a burlap hood studded with beads and cowrie shells. A teenage boy carrying a wooden stick was leading him past peach-colored houses shaded by coconut palms and mango trees. Sun, 5 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208071-30.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Finalists have been chosen for the 2011-12 Renovation Inspiration Contest. Judges from the Post-Gazette and Community Design Center of Pittsburgh chose 11 projects and will begin site visits. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 11:39:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1207989-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml How would you like to live in one of Downtown's most photographed buildings? The Bruno Building at 347 Liberty Ave., better known as the one with the big statues out front, has appeared in newspapers, magazines, ads and countless tourists' pictures. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 11:37:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1207998-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml A "webinar" to discuss community trees in Pennsylvania will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday at https://meeting.psu.edu/pacommunityforestry. Christine Ticehurst, TreeVitalize program administrator, will lead the discussion on increasing tree canopy cover in cities and communities. In recent years, studies have shown that built communities across Pennsylvania have lost tree canopy cover. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208000-47-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml It is hard to imagine flowers blooming outdoors in February, but the Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) delights gardeners with its charming pure white blooms that emerge from the plant even when frost and snow lie on the ground. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208072-62-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Linus had a rough start in life. He was one of 20 fighting dogs that lived in cramped cages or on short chains attached to posts in Union County, Fla. Last April, the dogs were freed when police, acting on an anonymous tip, broke up the dog-fighting ring, seizing dogs and other property and arresting the dog fighters. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208073-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml If you had to describe the new Tropical Forest India display at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in one word, it would be "colorful," says assistant curator of horticulture Ben Dunigan. In fact, during his visit to India to prepare the exhibit, Mr. Dunigan found most American gardens pretty pale in comparison. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208074-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Take a good look at the chairs in your house before you go to "The Art of Seating." You may see them in a whole new light afterward. The exhibition, which opens today at Westmoreland Museum of American Art, features 43 chairs from the Jacobsen American Chair Collection made between the beginning of the 19th century and 2010. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208076-62-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Adorable is the best way to describe the stray kitten brought to our office last week by good clients who found her in the neighborhood. She was calm, friendly -- and paralyzed. She had deep wounds of unknown origin along her back. Radiographs showed rib fractures, most likely from a bite wound, and she possibly had spinal cord damage. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208215-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Like many product designers, Judy White spent years creating collections that were ultimately sold under other people's names -- most notably, for Calvin Klein, where she designed and introduced the tabletop and giftware collections. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208216-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Every piece the designer Joe Colombo created for the furniture manufacturer Kartell from 1964 to 1971, as well as sketches and photos from the Joe Colombo archive in Milan, is currently on display at R 20th Century. "He was one of the great geniuses of his time," said Zesty Meyers, an owner of the gallery. "And he's still relatively unknown." Sat, 4 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12034/1207875-47-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml THESE are words that no self-respecting husband likes to write: My wife sold me out to the Home Depot guy. Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12034/1207876-47-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Peter Syrett, an architect, and Chris Youssef, an interior designer, believe that building materials should be labeled, just like cereal boxes and soup cans, so consumers can avoid ingredients that might be harmful. With the backing of their employer, the global architecture firm Perkins + Will, they have created a database linking common forms of flooring, lumber, wiring, pipes and other construction materials to government warnings about the substances contained in them. Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12034/1207877-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Visitors to the NoLIta store Haus Interior may be surprised by what they find there over the next few weeks. Beginning Friday, the store's usual home accessories will be replaced by Wood Shop, a temporary concept store created by David Stark, who has developed pop-up shops for Target and West Elm. "The idea is that everything in the shop is either made of or inspired by the materials, tools and imagery of the iconic woodworker's atelier," Mr. Stark said. Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12034/1207878-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml The handmade house, doughty and particular, is being celebrated in three books, a publishing event that feels like an anodyne in these troubled housing times. "Handmade Houses: A Century of Earth Friendly Home Design" (Rizzoli; $45), by Richard Olsen, a former editor at Architectural Digest, is a breezy history of the genre, tracing its roots from Henry Thoreau to Carl Jung, and from Helen and Scott Nearing, whose subsistence-living experiment in Vermont in the mid-'50s prefigured the '70s-era back-to-the-l Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207346-94-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Ah, a Valentine's Day celebration of an online relationship -- a romantic card, a dozen roses and three little words: "I need money." What? Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207382-51.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml From its headquarters in the Hill District, The Pittsburgh Courier evolved from a small start-up publication to the largest and most influential African-American newspaper of the past 100 years. The paper was founded in 1910 by Edward N. Harleston to give African-Americans an outlet to voice their opinions on issues most important to them. Businessman and lawyer Robert L. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207661-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml AUSTIN, Tex. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207662-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml A HOME IN THE 19th-CENTURY FARMHOUSE STYLE IN ARUBA Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207663-30-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml NEW ORLEANS Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207664-47-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml PUT a new tool in the hands of some people, guys especially, and they become giddy at the prospect of all the jobs they can now do. For me, it means one more thing to feel stupid about, and one less excuse to blow off a project that surely could wait another week. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207665-47-0.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml WAPITI VALLEY, Wyo. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207666-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml Q. Should I remove the family photos hanging on my wall before listing my apartment? Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12033/1207667-47.stm?cmpid=lifestyle.xml SIX years ago, when Chris Hacker became chief design officer at Johnson & Johnson and began plotting to modernize the look of Band-Aids and baby shampoo, a friend sent him a hot water bottle with a symbol of a cross on its red-and-white knitted cover. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500