Happy Birthday Laura!
Love, Ma


(yes he’s got his cake frosting on his foot)

Happy Birthday Laura!
Love, Ma
Happy 50th Anniversary Marlene and Don!❤️
June 2, 1973
(My DILs parents We share four grandchildren. ❤️
)
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Here’s a photo of McWalker Yarns owner Amy McCall holding the photo I took of her as she opened the store in April 2018. Standing with her is fabulous crochet artist Melissa White (who is also an employee) The photo shows how much the store’s inventory has grown!
McWalker Yarns in Millvale PA is celebrating their fifth anniversary and Local Yarn Store Day. There are special sales and prizes for shoppers this Saturday April 29th. Amy says in her latest newsletter “To celebrate this special occasion, I asked Toni at Raggz Fiber Art to create an exclusive assigned-pooling colorway for us to be named “The Yarn Shop at the End of the Rainbow.” Wow, has she outdone herself! We have, for now, a limited number of skeins of this amazing colorway in fingering weight. These will go on sale on Saturday (4/29) at the anniversary party (and are destined not to last”
A solid community of fiber enthusiasts has flourished, even during pandemic times. It was during these long months that McWalker began mail order sales, curbside pick-up and hosted Zoom meetings several times a Week. There were classes and make-alongs, friendships formed, even during isolation.
Here’s the post created upon the store’s April 2018 opening Millvale Welcomes McWalker Yarns
also the First Anniversary post is here
Congratulations to Amy on bringing her dream into reality. A dream where we share in the yarny goodness and positive vibes. When entering the store there’s a welcoming spirit. It’s a wonderful local yarn store.
There is a town in Pennsylvania called North East. Yes, that’s the name of the town, not just a direction. About 150 miles north of Pittsburgh, near Erie, it turns out it’s the northernmost town in PA.
My friend Roberta went to the North East Farmer’s Market and saw a vendor with yarn! There were chairs behind the display table and knitters sitting and knitting. She told them about her friend the knitter (me) and that I’d even been on a knitting cruise to Norway with Arne and Carlos . (If you’re unfamiliar with this creative duo who live in a Norway, you can click their name to learn about their creative designs.)
Sunday night Roberta came over to my front porch to celebrate my birthday. We shared Taiwanese takeout she had brought with her, Blackberries on vanilla ice cream and pizzelles were dessert.
Then I opened a surprise birthday gift she brought. It’s so cool she chose such lovely yarn for me and although she’s not a knitter, she knows I have a passion for it.
Yes, she knew I’d love the yarn from the Three Tulips Yarn Company “…dream up magical colorways in tiny, individual batches so that your project will be truly unique. We love yarn and believe that each stitch should be a joy to create.”
You can meet the team at Three Tulips Yarn Company here
Here is what she gave me
Hand-dyed Micro Batch Yarn by Three Tulips Yarn Company I think to make a Hat on the left /Socks on the right.
Look who gave me the gift of a birthday song video.
Sam Barsky and his Artistic Sweaters came to Yarns by Design in Oakmont PA in 2019 summer and I blogged it. Click on his link to see the list of sweaters he’s knit. Here are a few of his artistic designs.
An April 2018 New York Times Article by Laura M Holson It’s Sweater Weather Forever states:
“Samuel Barsky has gained a measure of fame online for posting photographs of himself in front of famous landmarks with his handmade sweaters.”
Thanks Sam. What a great surprise.
Sam Barsky gave me the gift of a birthday song while wearing a birthday cake sweater. Click to see his video we have a mutual friend. A prolific knitter, Naomi, whom I “met” on McWalker Yarns Knitting Zoom .
T-Shirts of his designs are available in his website.
By the way both stores will be hosting the Steel Valley Yarn Crawl July 29- August 7, 2022 click more information
Happy birthday to me. It’s a fun birthdate. July Fourth.
Grateful to be in Columbus, celebrating my milestone birthday. And it’s a big one!
I made it through my seventieth year.
Charlie is seven today! And it’s halfway to Christmas. Oh my! Happy 7th Birthday Charlie!
It’s exciting to be here in person to celebrate together this year.
A few friends of his friends will come for cupcakes after lunch.
Ruth from Jack( blog follower and good friend)
Father of Flag Day” honors have been given to William T. Kerr, who was credited with founding the American Flag Day Association in 1888 while still a schoolboy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Reblog from ten years ago
Tuesday afternoon I met a friend for dinner. We used to teach in the same school but are in different schools across the city now. It was good to catch up. When we walked into the restaurant,La Tavola Italiana, I could not believe what I saw in front of me! A St. Joseph Feast spread from the day before. Later Carmela came out to speak with us about how we were enjoying our dinners and she was taking photos with her iPad to send to her family. She uses the iPad to keep the restaurant calendar for parties and other aspects of her business.
I asked if she made the St. Joseph Cavazunes filled with the chick peas and she said, “NO, they are Calabrese.” She is Sicilian and she makes Zeppoles.
I said that I’d photographed all the bread and would send her the photos but would she like to pose with all her handiwork and she did! I didn’t notice she put the iPad down onto the cloth in front until I saw it on the computer. She was gracious to allow me to photograph her. NEXT year we have to go to actual feast! It sounded like a terrific party.
And speaking of party? Click to hear Chicago John’s Italian Song Selection
and a Recipe for A St, Joseph Feast Day Strata from Bartolini Kitchens
Yesterday, March 19th, was St.Joseph Day. My sister bought two special pastries at Pasticerria Rocco on Bleecker Street. On the left is Sfingi On the right is Zeppole, baked to honor the occasion. “St. Joseph’s Pastries or Zeppole di San Giuseppe are traditional cream filled pastries from Campagna region of Italy.” -Click for recipe from Italian Recipe Book.
Today my friend J(of Pittsburgh, not Omaha) and I went to the Tin Front Cafe for lunch. We heard about the St. Joseph the Worker statue having been removed from the nearby church. Judith Tener told us where to find him in a parking lot and so after lunch we wound around one- way streets and asked a few people for directions but eventually we climbed up hills and back and found this beautiful statue waiting for us. He was striking. There were the huge stone barrels pouring molten steel out onto the world. Flames carved in stone. See detail below on image three.
A big crane erected this statue (which was blessed in Italy by Pope VI) on St. Michael the Archangel Church in 1966 in Homestead. Many Slovaks helped build this church.
When the church closed, the diocese took the statue down in 2010.
People missed looking at St. Joseph high above the buildings, overlooking Homestead and the Monongahela River.
A memorial to the hard workers of the mills in this town. He was loaded on a flatbed and taken to St Anne’s now 3 combined parishes to form St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish. Read the names of the people etched in bricks- Vehec, Tarasevich, Godleski, Milchalk, Straka, Pavlik, Sklencar, Sayko to name a few.
The statue was designed by sculptor Frank Vittor (b. 1888 in Italy) who also made the Honus Wagner Statue now at PNC Park. His story on the link if you click on his name tells how he came to work with Stanford White and then a week later White was murdered…but that is not the main idea of today’s post and I am getting off track. It was just incredibly interesting. Vittor taught at Cooper Union in NYC and also at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University)
Here are two views of the giant St Joseph the Worker statue. And a detail shot, too.
There are plans in the works to get him relocated in a place of honor but will keep you posted when this happens.
There is an historical marker honoring sculptor Frank Vittor by the Columbus Statue in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh