There is no explanation as to why I photograph these items. Last year it was the Inflatable Turkeys and then a new one today- Frankenstein. I hear they are expensive. I guess I just don’t understand how they have caught on. Surely the grandchildren would love a yard full of inflatables. They remind me of those plastic clown punching bags you’d bop in the nose and it would fall over and right itself, still smiling. They seem to be getting larger!
You see images of these stacks often. This one from the parking lot by the movie theatre. All that is left of the US Steel Homestead Works- a dozen smokeless stacks.
You feel fortunate when you receive an invitation to dine in someone’s home. It doesn’t happen that often these days. Sharing a meal and conversation is the best. But when your new neighbors entertain their parents who are visiting Pittsburgh from Spain and the mother cooks for the meal, you are really lucky. The menu was fish balls! Albondigas de Pescado ( I hope I spelled it correctly). Delicious! Rice and green salad, a crusty bread, Spanish wine, followed by pie with whipped cream. Oh my. You wish your grade school Spanish was more than two sentences. And a house next door that has sat empty for at least five years, no lights on all this time, has new life and new friends and it feels good to be home.
Saturday night, Steve and I’d eaten dinner and I was working on some photo project and he said, Do you want to go to the Italian Festival? So we did. The neighborhood of Bloomfield hosts Little Italy Days (the 9th year according to the banner behind the band) Wish I had the playlist to post.Let’s just say I knew them all. “I Saw Her Standing There.” (’60’s music as well) . The band played straight with not even a breath between numbers and they closed the evening with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”. Finesse Band website for more info. Turns out they have opened for Earth Wind and Fire and Chicago. Anyway, after a few numbers the young dancers made there way to the space up by the main stage but they started out behind the barricade down the street. Their energy and enthusiasm added a lot to the crowd’s enjoyment.
I was knitting a shawl in the Spokane airport after a nice vacation with my brother and sister. A lovely couple from Indiana sat next to me as we waited for planes and we struck up a conversation. They had just visited their grandchildren and their daughter and son-in-law were opening a business in Lolo Montana. A coffee business- And proud Dad gave me a card. Which of course I didn’t find until a month later. And so I ordered a couple of pounds of beans for Erika as it is her birthday coming up and she enjoys fresh coffee. I got the nicest note and a box with coffee beans for me from amy@hunterbay.com , thanking me for my gift purchase. Her parents had told her about meeting me in the airport. So today the blog is a thank you to Amy for her thoughtful gift of delicious coffee from Montana. Click here for website. Have you heard of Moose Drool, Trout Slayer, Smoke Jumper and Praying Monk?
O say can you see……My friends’ daughter Deaidra and the Pressley Ridge Signers signed the Star Spangled Banner before the Pirates(11) vs Cardinals(6) game Wednesday night. The attendance sparse- a little over 11,000 but there were thunderstorms earlier so might have deterred people from coming out. It was a great night!
If you read the blog comments you might have read Bernie’s name. He passed in his sleep on Saturday night, his sister wrote to tell me, asked me to let David know. Bern was my brother David’s best friend growing up in Morris Plains NJ in the ’60’s. Bonnie said we brought a lot of smiles to him lately as he did us. We are going to miss his sense of humor and generous heart. He especially liked the Sept 3rd post so I am posting a butterfly for Bern today as final arrangements are made in Kalamazoo.
Love and Sympathy to the Gruizinga family, Ruthie
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