A few weeks ago I had dinner in the little farm house (photo above) located in the lovely green rolling hills North of Pittsburg – all because of Realneo.     I hadn’t seen my friend for about 40 years when an email came in a few months back.  

 Freddie had worked for decades as a reporter in Italy, but I only knew this through notices I read in the college news.    It turned out that Freddie was researching an article and hit on a piece I had posted to Realneo – and that inspired an email contact.

We arranged to meet at Freddie’s mother’s farm house (where they used to pasture sheep and which has been in the family for generations).   Freddie had married an Italian – and you could actually taste that in the ravioli.   Dinner was spectacular – a little cayenne pepper, olive oil – and red wine. 

But I wasn’t able to enjoy the reminiscing, food and ambiance very long – BANG – I got up from the candlelit table and bounded out the door.   I had to drive off to CAK (cantonakron) for a cheap (Cleveland Hopkins – like the City of Cleveland -  is a couple of billion in bonded debt – so they will never be competitive)  flight out at 6:00am the next morning.  

PS  Did Frank Lloyd Wright get the idea for the cantilevered design of Fallingwater from the very unusual cantilevered barns in this area?  Ohiopyle – where Fallingwater is located - is South of Pittsburgh, and I was North of Pittsburgh, but when I saw the barn – the first thing that I thought of was Wright.  But maybe I’m wrong.  I’ll post a photo of the barn in a few days.