December 2013 – Page 3 – Ruth E. Hendricks

The International Sphaeralogical Society Super-ball® Exhibit via Henry J. Simonds

Here’s a new one on me- the International Sphaeralogical Society Did you ever see a SUPERBALL®??

“Founded in 2011, The International Sphaeralogical Society was created to celebrate the history and dynamism of the Super Ball®. Invented by chemist Norman Stingley in 1965 and sold by the Wham-O Manufacturing Co., the iconic toy has been the subject of fascination and play for almost half a century. The I.S.S. is dedicated to exploring and promoting the allure of this bounciest of balls.”

If you’re in the Pittsburgh area, make a plan to come down sometime during the weekend. If you live far away, just enjoy the photos and check out the International Sphaeralogical Society.

Photos and attachments via Guest Blogger Henry Simonds.

“… here are a few photos of the installation to whet your appetite to come down and see it for yourselves.

There are extended hours today until 4pm and visits can be arranged throughout the week with

Mia at 412-370-6916.

Regular hours Friday 11-7,

Saturday 11-7

and Sunday 9-3.

Saturday December 21st is FAMILY DAY 11-7

All the work is for sale, so you can pick up a last minute gift while you are here.
Some of you mentioned that it was a little hard to find, so I have posted a visual guide on my facebook page from the vantage point of the East End Food Co-op front door.

Also, Check out the link to the new Merchandise page.
The address again is 201 N. Braddock Ave at Meade St. (across from the Co-op in Point Breeze).
I could use all the help I can get to spread the word, so please tell your friends and neighbors to come down.
Thanks again,

Sincerely,
Henry J. Simonds
Co-Founder and Chief Sphaeralogist
The International Sphaeralogical Society

Saturday, December 14, 2013
7pm
—-

International Sphaeralogical Society
Co-Founder and Chief Sphaeralogist

Henry J. Simonds

Invites you to join him for a gallery talk and conversation
at
The Mine Factory
201 N. Braddock Ave.
Point Breeze
(across from the East End Food Co-op)

Come and learn more about the history of the Super-Ball®
and man’s unique relationship with this iconic toy.
Share some wine and beer and hear more about the exhibition and its evolution
as Mr. Simonds shares how the ball has inspired him and
presents contemporary examples of how others have been inspired.

—

https://www.facebook.com/events/512335242207435/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
Www.Sphaeralogy.org
Www.Facebook.com/Sphaeralogy

—-

Weekend Hours:

Friday, December 13, 2013 – 11am-7pm
Saturday, December 14, 11am-7pm
Gallery Talk – 7pm-??
Sunday, December 15, 9am-3pm

December 11, 2013December 12, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Childhood, Guest Blog, PhotographyTags: East End Coop, exhibition, family, fun, International Sphaeralogical Society, Norman Stingley, photography, Pittsburgh PA, play, Sphaeralogical Society, Super-ball®, toy, WHAM-O 8 Comments

Same Scene- Two Views

What I saw when I got to my car after school-
Photographed in the school parking lot.

All I did was change the angle of my phone camera within a few seconds of the first shot.

First

And the second shot
How it looked without the sun coming under the car-the reality

Two photos are un-retouched

December 10, 2013 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: automobile, camera angle, car, icicles, iPhone photography, postaday, school, weather 7 Comments

December 9, 2013 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: Chain Link Fence, city scape, leaves, North Side, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, red trees, snow, snowfall, trees, urban scene, weather 6 Comments

Steelers Game in the Snow

I won the tickets. We parked on the North Side for free and walked to Heinz Field. We didn’t buy anything at the game. Not a hotdog or a foam finger or even a plastic tray of nachos. Nada! A frugal effort to say the least. We slipped and slid to the field on the untreated walks. We got to the game and I had a purse with my camera. NOPE, even if it were empty, it could not enter the stadium.

Had to be see through plastic or a 4.5 x 6″ clutch. YIKES. We walked half way back to the car and Steve put in in the V of a tree in the park. It was to far to walk all the way back. It was leather and I carry my camera in it and couldn’t just pitch it in the giant dumpster provided for such bags. I don’t go to football games and didn’t realize the restrictions on bags. PNC Park never banned my camera/purse.

On to the snow (the very wet snow) and the cold and the damp and the loss. Yep. The loss.

A high scoring, exciting game, though. And disappointing.

We left before we could see the dismal end, the “almost greatest play ever” they said on the radio as we scraped the windshield and warmed up the car. Came home for soup and tea and a hot shower and I was STILL cold! But we had fun as best we could given the circumstances ie. weather.

Here we are in front of Heinz Field. Don’t ask why we are not wearing our gloves. I have no idea!

Thanks random Steelers fan for photographing us! Nice.

Can you see Fort Pitt Bridge arch on the right? The city skyline was totally obliterated by fog and snow when we first arrived. If you stare you can see ghosts of the buildings.

Some fans stayed home. Watched it on television in a warm living room by the fire.

Ladling Hot Chocolate

Blowing the snow off the lines at Half-time

Snow on the drums

Snow on Condiments

Crazy Hat

TV camera crew in the snow (taken with the iPhone)

Santa on his cell phone.

Discarded Terrible Towel. Sacrilege! (Sorry to post this photo, Myron- RIP)

What the city looked like later

Mr. Art Rooney Statue in the Snow

Immaculate Reception- Marlene and Donald, (Erika’s Parents) were there to see it!

Serious Tailgaters Equipment

More serious tailgaters personal equipment in a pick-up

Tailgater equipment

Tailgater Aftermath- You know I am always fascinated by the garbage.

The tree holding my purse until after the game when we retrieved it.

Pittsburgh Steel Man , Yoda and Bandito let me take their picture

December 9, 2013December 9, 2013 by Ruth Categories: In the snow, PhotographyTags: Christmas Tree, football, football game, Heinz Field, hot chocolate, ketchup, Miami Dolphins, NFL game, photography, Pittsburgh PA, Pittsburgh Steelers, postaday, snow, sports, taligaters, weather, Yoda 11 Comments

This Book ©1958 Cost $1.75 and Says a Lot About Friendship!

A Friend is Someone Who Likes You. (by Joan Walsh Anglund)

Can’t show you the sweet images inside as they’re copyrighted but it’s all about how lovely it is to have a friend.

I took the book to school in 1961 and the teacher, Miss Grace E. Wagner, inscribed it after I shared it.

A good friend is to be cherished.

You may not see your friend all the time, live far away, but when you’re together it is as if all the time between melts and you pick up where you left off.

Your good friend “gets you”, accepts you, and loves you, no matter what. And you love them right back!

Life events, milestones, heartaches, joys, loss and laughter. Sometimes all in the same moment. These are shared, celebrated or in the case of grief you keep one another in your hearts. Carefully. Remembering. With gratitude. And much love.

for my longtime friend – I love you. Happy Birthday!

“And the greatest of these is love………….”

December 8, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Childhood, Photography, Tribute to a FriendTags: A Friend is Someone Who Likes You, birthday, childhood, elementary school, friend, friendship, Grace E. Wagner, Joan Walsh Anglund, memories, photography, postaday, school 10 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand

The challenge said to find shots that weren’t just BIG but “made your jaws drop”. Hmmmm. A “wow moment”? Not simple to find.

I thought of slides of Fingal’s Cave in the Hebrides from a trip with my parents but that would mean digging in a distant closet. I went in a rowboat without a life preserver but they said the water was so cold you wouldn’t make it anyway.

Then I found the photos from a Washington trip to Dry Falls which isn’t the Grand Canyon but still astounding- well, it is when you are standing there drinking it all in. The postcard shot I managed doesn’t capture the awe of the scene. Or the grandness. Maybe tomorrow. The Western vistas just don’t accompany the one below.

Thinking of a grand moment in life, flipping through fading albums of photos made from actual FILM, I found the one to answer the grand challenge for me. A picture of a picture, true and how about that turquoise woven web lawn chair?

Mark now 37 Matthew 33 and Laura just 30 last August. Photographed in Grafenwoehr Germany on our third floor balcony.

If I had to retitle it, I would call it “love”.

December 6, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: childhood, children, family, Germany, Grand, photography, siblings, weekly photo challenge 37 Comments

What’s Your Guilty Pleasure Comfort Food? One of a series…..

Okay, it’s not good for you. I know it! Beanie Weenies.

Here’s the recipe. Cut a package of hot dogs like coins.

Throw in pan and turn up the gas flame.

Open can of beans

and pour over sizzling “meat”.

Simmer and serve.

Buttered toast on the side optional.

Yep, it’s dark outside, every day getting shorter and shorter and the winter looms. (actually today felt like Spring so let me think of a different excuse)

It’s easy. You have it in the house and don’t have to go to the store.

And you have a taste for something simple that isn’t good for you. It’s on your mind.

My friend said you can go through a lot, getting to what you wanted in the first place.

Make it, eat it, be aware it isn’t a healthy choice.

My vegan, veg, Paleo, Primal, non-processed food, gourmet bloggers, and real- food conscious friends and family will have to avert their eyes today.

I think it is the lighting from the range hood that gives it the unreal color cast. I hope.

Almost ready. Don’t read any labels. Enjoy.

Put your knitting aside. Try to not spill supper onto fleece robe and plaid pajamas.

December 5, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: beanie weenies recipe, comfort food, cooking, eating, family, food, guilty pleasure, home, knitting, postaday, recipe, supper, winter 13 Comments

Not the Lottery But Fun to Receive Call Saying You’re a Winner!

Bought two raffle tickets LAST JANUARY to support one of my student’s effort to fund her People to People Ambassador trip to Australia. They’ve been on my fridge, held by a magnet, for MONTHS!

Thanksgiving night an unknown number appeared on my cell phone. Was everything all right?

Yes, won two tickets to Sunday’s home Steelers Game. It was unexpected and fun to get the phone call, saying, ” You won!”

(Now if I’m going to win the Mega Millions Lottery around here, I’ll have to actually purchase a lottery ticket one of these days)

Steelers Tickets and the original raffle tix which have been on my fridge door for months!

December 4, 2013 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: Australia, football, high school, lottery, luck, People to People, postaday, raffle, sports, Steelers Football, student, Thanksgiving Day, travel 12 Comments

JFK Gravesite Photos via My Son Mark

These photos of the children at the JFK gravesite were on a hard drive but my son Mark found them tonight. They were to accompany the JFK post on November 22nd. He said to me on the phone, when I was considering whether to post them or not, “Mom, it’s still fifty years”.

I have some of my first photos from February 1964 of the JFK grave as I traveled there from New Jersey to Washington DC with my parents when there was a little white picket fence and snow. I’ll have to dig in a box in the bottom of an upstairs closet to find those

Mark said all four of the kids were especially quiet and pensive as they stood by the graves. Here are the photos he took.

Earlier in November I read an article by Michael E. Ruane in the Washington Post –

At JFK’s funeral 50 years ago, a bugler’s broken note spoke for a grieving nation

Arlington House, The Robert E Lee Memorial as taken from the JFK gravesite below

December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Guest BlogTags: Arlington House, Arlington National Cemetery, bugle, cemetery, family, grandchildren, history, JFK, JFK assassination, John F Kennedy Grave, photography, postaday, Robert E Lee Memorial, taps, Washington Post 6 Comments

A Quart of Vegetable Soup

A good friend brought a quart of vegetable soup and some homemade bread for tonight’s supper.

Especially welcome as I just got home after being in Ohio for the Thanksgiving break and no chance to go to the store yet.

Simmered the soup and sliced the bread and enjoyed the delicious meal. Thought of how fortunate I am to have good friends.

My friend J in Omaha trades a quart of homemade soup each week with her friend A.

I won’t return the mason jar empty!

December 2, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Cooking and Eating, PhotographyTags: bread, food, friendship, homemade vegetable soup, kitchen, photo of the day, postaday, stove, supper 12 Comments

Month: December 2013

The International Sphaeralogical Society Super-ball® Exhibit via Henry J. Simonds

Photos and attachments via Guest Blogger Henry Simonds.

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Same Scene- Two Views

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Steelers Game in the Snow

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This Book ©1958 Cost $1.75 and Says a Lot About Friendship!

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Grand

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What’s Your Guilty Pleasure Comfort Food? One of a series…..

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Not the Lottery But Fun to Receive Call Saying You’re a Winner!

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JFK Gravesite Photos via My Son Mark

Earlier in November I read an article by Michael E. Ruane in the Washington Post –

At JFK’s funeral 50 years ago, a bugler’s broken note spoke for a grieving nation

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A Quart of Vegetable Soup

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Photos and attachments via Guest Blogger Henry Simonds.

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Earlier in November I read an article by Michael E. Ruane in the Washington Post –

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