How You Feel After You Go Off the Diving Board for the First Time
Five years old next month, Michael's face sums it up!
Baby Casts Giant Shadow
Late sun. Not really a baby anymore. I was watching her play at the baby pool.
In the Baby Doll Aisle
What were we thinking? We got out of the giant toy store with the item we had on our list but had to add this plastic doll to the cart while we shopped. No real expression of desire until the baby doll aisle— WHOA! Maura became totally animated,pointing, babbling turned to squealing . Loudly. Her mom said we weren’t buying it, so we parked the doll at the front when we checked out. It really didn’t have a nice face! Maura (20 months) didn’t care what it looked like- she wanted them ALL! When she got into the van and was reunited with her doll from home, she was happy. I bought two bottles to feed her doll, the kind you tip and the liquid disappears.
I Want THAT one!
Angel Food Celebration
Ten more days til the birthday but I won’t be in Columbus for the actual date. When Laura was little she called it ‘”cloud cake” Her favorite! The eager helpers, her nieces and nephews. Next frame or two Michael is up on the table helping to blow out the candles but it was so out of focus.
Window light, kitchen light, candlelight. Late in the day.
Swissvale Dari Delite
For Marlene and Donald, 37+ years. I know you ate a cone together at this place! Happy Belated Anniversary.
Pies on a Rack Headed into Schorr’s Bakery, West View PA
It was a really hot day Friday. Standing at the PNC MAC machine, I looked to the left. A rack of pies, an open truck, Margi the owner of old fashioned, classic, timeless Schorr Bakery – “Be Sure At Schorr’s” it says at the top of the card. She was wheeling the rack into the bakery with the pies. No website or link to send you to yet. 433 Perry Highway 412-931-0653. Schorr’s.
Should have looked inside the box to see the cake!
Pot of English Breakfast & Tea Treats
High tea on Friday afternoon in West View. AntiquiTea Tea Room. For the scones, clotted cream and lemon curd in cordial glasses with silver spoons, tiny teapots on top. Afterward we checked out the party room. An elegant way to spend a summer afternoon with good friends.
If you click the link Somewhere in Time music starts to play.
“It’s the Faces” V said, “the Faces…”
Just the detail of the horses today- they don't make toys like they used to. I did not throw them away. There's a book called HOW TO THINK LIKE A HORSE: The Essential Handbook for Why Horses Do What They Do by author Cherry Hill
What I Couldn’t Throw Out
Purchased in 1977 in New York City at Creative Playthings. Rubbery farm animals. Nice to clutch and carry around when you’re almost two. I bought them for baby Mark who’s 34 now. Maybe the paint is unsafe for the grandchildren, plus they have a hole in their stomach so whatever dirt and mold in the basement the past 20 years is living inside them. I put them in the contractor bag to drag to the curb and I swear the cow’s eyes looked at me. I took them out. Photographed them.
Their faces have the loveliest expressions.
“I Dug Up the Iris” by Guest Poet Liane Ellison Norman
Dorothy's iris photographed May 27, 2010 after tea together on her back porch
I Dug Up the Iris
in Dorothy’s garden
to plant in the soaked
soil of mine, memorial
to her each spring
when they’ll open
complicated ruffles
and flourishes, purple
or blue with speckled
throats. They’ll rise
out of rhizomes
sprawling at soil’s
surface like the joints
of my old hands
anchoring the tall
stalks and frilly petals.
This morning
in the brief breath
of cool I dug shallow
trenches for this legacy,
this pantry of pollens
the bees prospect,
insects with lives
beyond what the mere
gardener knows.
Liane Ellison Norman, a Madwoman in the Attic, has published two books of poetry, The Duration of Grief and Keep (www.smokeandmirrorspress.com). She has published poems in 5AM, Kestrel, North American Review, Grasslimb, Rune, Voices from the Attic anthologies and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Her poem “What There’d Been” won the Wisteria Prize in 2006 from Paper Journey Press.
Raspberries and Blueberries Dessert on the Front Porch
Only thing that might have improved this dessert would have been Hagan Daaz or Ben and Jerry's ice cream instead of lowfat Greek yogurt.
Eyeball Cake and the Happiest Birthday
Monday night Steve and I went to dinner at the Elbow Room (Pittsburgh) to celebrate his birthday. I asked him which of his birthdays was his happiest birthday ever. “Last year!” he said. We were out at Mark and Erika’s and the kids helped blow out the candles, eyeballs for the ophthalmologist. Laura had made the cake with the kids’ help decorating it. James made him a shirt with his favorite cat Fred sniffing the flowers. Mark gave him a book about Where They are Buried and Erika found some really nice summer shirts for him. It was a fun party. His best ever! The children really make life fun! Happy Birthday(2009) Steve.
Thai Dancers on Forbes Avenue Squirrel Hill
We went to see I am Love ( I don’t recommend even if Tilda Swinton was good) and coming towards us are two beautiful Thai dancers, flowers falling from their hair. Right on Forbes Avenue – Dancing at Bangkok Balcony.
Sunday Afternoon in Squirrel Hill
What’s in Your Fridge?
What’s in your fridge? This is Ellen R.’s fridge. She bakes delicious cheesecakes. When the cream cheese goes on sale, she stocks up. Her husband was preparing for guests to watch a big game if I remember it right. I thought I would photograph fridge interiors and exteriors, a kind of portrait. It was a short term project. I photographed my own fridge inside and out and decided it wasn’t too interesting to look at like Ellen’s. ( This is her secondary fridge, not the main one in the kitchen! ) I thought the contents an interesting mix.
There used to be a column in a magazine, what three things can you always find in your refrigerator?
The Woodwinds- Waiting for Planes to Return Home (2 views)
Confratute at UCONN completed and we went to catch our plane to Cleveland, in route to Pittsburgh. At the Bradley Airport, Hartford CT, a circle of students (who had just completed ARIA International Summer Academy at Mt. Holyoke college) caught my ear, first! Then my eye. Clearly skilled! I asked if I could photograph them for the blog even though our plane was starting to board. A lovely unexpected performance. Sitting in airports can be tedious but not today. Thinking about how live music enhances emotion. Touches us. Turns out I had just missed their rendition of Star Wars. Bummer. They were all headed different directions. Teachers would check the comment box, “uses time wisely”.
Check out the bass clarinet! WOW.
Cooking Five Omelettes at One Time
UCONN-Rome dining hall Grillmeister cooking five omelettes simultaneously, while the fillings heat up under the small paper plates we’d each handed him with our filling choices. His cooking skill was something to watch. We had waited all week to get in the omelette line and today was the day. Well worth the short wait. Back to oatmeal tomorrow before we leave.
You should have seen him twirl the spatula!
Y.M.C.A. on the Patio Dancing
Village People played by the DJ got people dancing on the patio
Airborne Skateboarder at UCONN
Coming back from the Co-op Bookstore, I saw three young men testing their skills on some stairs. I watched a few jumps and then asked permission to photograph and post. Landing on a concrete sidewalk, even on the board, did not look inviting to me but they kept at it to improve technique. Very cool to watch up close. 
Today’s post marks the one year blogiversary for my blog.
I went back and realized on my first post I did not insert a photograph!
DJ & Dancing Through the Decades at the Confratute
You can't see the white platform shoes but they rounded out the look.
Patio Party at Confratute, UCONN
What I Saw on Way to Gifted & Talented Education Confratute
Hartford Airport Signage
“Best Breakfast in Town” T-shirt & a Stack of Eggs
DeLuca’s on Penn Ave in the Strip District. Varied reviews online and some folks don’t think it worth the wait on a Saturday morning. We did! I had two eggs over easy and Italian toast to dip, some homefries. Everything arrived hot and tasty. Best part was conversation over traditional breakfast in an energetic Pittsburghy atmosphere. Walked across the street to Pennsylvania Macaroni Company and then a chocolate covered macaroon from Enrico’s Biscotti. My friend Tess suggested I photograph the stack of eggs and I asked at the register if it would be okay. Then Tess said, “get the back of the shirt, too.” Good idea. You could spend the day in the Strip with the camera. Lots to see. Thanks Tess.(and Thom, too!)
How about this stack of eggs?
Bowl of Cherries on the Front Porch
Summer heat as intense as the winter’s snow. Rain this afternoon. Sitting on the front porch and listening and watching it rain without getting wet. Used a new white pasta bowl V gave me for my bday. The ripe sweet fruit. The hammock where the naps are especially restful. Love summer! See a small oil by Picasso with a bowl of cherries click here.
The ripe cherries are really juicy and sweet this year.
Cupcake Tree and 1-2-3-4 Cake Recipe
My friend Joanne in Omaha shipped a box of cupcake items to Columbus so I could create a 4th of July/Birthday Cupcake Display Tree and marthastewart.com directions/photo of flag cupcake.
Cupcakes are all the rage around the city these days. You can bake them at home but not today in the heatwave.
1-2-3-4 Cake Recipe from Swans Down Cake Flour Box and Grandmothers who came before- Anna used Red White & Blue Sprinkles and red licorice lace Joanne sent.
1 cup butter+ 2 cups sugar + 3 cups cake flour + 4 eggs +1 cup milk 3 t baking powder and 1/2 t salt and 1 t vanilla I used buttermilk so added a tsp of baking soda (made 36 cupcakes- 1/4 C batter per)
Basic Buttercream Icing- 1 C butter+ 4 C 10X sugar + vanilla +2 T milk
Cathedral of Learning Festival of Lights
From the Archives Oct 2008. Pre-blog era. Artist Lucette de Rugy created Artlumiere. See how she transforms the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning into a a shining tower of lights and patterns. It was stunning. Always practicing night photography. Capturing available light.
Some car headlights give a clue as to how long the shutter was open.
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