Ballot Bins- A Creative Anti-Litter Effort in Pittsburgh

I saw my first Ballot Bin today on Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood. Here’s an article in The City Paper about this method to reduce cigarette butt litter in the city. Fighting litter is an ongoing battle. By the number of cigarette butts deposited in the bin, I’d say the Ballot Bin seems to be working.

Non-residents of Pittsburgh may not be familiar with the language of Pittsburghese so click here to familiarize yourself with the dialect. Or Wikipedia has a definition of Western Pennsylvania English with examples of lifelong speakers. Or scroll below photo to see these two words definitions. The questions can be changed on the bins. I’ll keep my eye out for some more examples of this anti-litter campaign.

Guess a tagger saw the Ballot Bin as a blank slate to deface

yinz –The term stems from the word you ones yinz (or yunz), a second-person plural pronoun brought to the area by early Scottish-Irish immigrants.

jagoff- an inept person, an idiot, a jerk

Our Walks Have to be Longer

My friend and I went walking the other morning. There’s is no way our steps were sufficient to counteract the calories -given she brought over a box of Oliver’s Donuts. Jen likes to support her local businesses. Remember her last pastries, I posted ?

I photographed the donuts in two lights, sunshine and shade. Their Signature donut is the Huckleberry. The middle ones are summer seasonal Lemon Lavender. She took the rest to her daughter’s work.

A rich chocolate ganache (Death by Chocolate) and a vanilla with sprinkles in the back. Fancy! I ate half of a Huckleberry (we split it) and a spoonful of the ganache. Death by Chocolate is not kidding! I was happy with my choices. Coffee was a perfect pairing

“ Our sour cream cake donuts have a dense, moist interior with a crispy outside. We always use Pittsburgh-region grown & milled organic flour. We make our donuts fresh throughout the day.”

In sunshine on the front porch
In the shade, still on the front porch

No Batteries No Screens Pure Fun! at Dragonfly Castle Toys

Dragonfly Castle Toys‘  motto is No batteries, no screens, pure fun.  

I went shopping at the toy store on Friday before I went to Clarissa Boutique.  

The proprietor Nan told me her store is in one of the oldest buildings in the city of Pittsburgh.  Built in the 1840’s.  She and her husband, along with an architect, have done a ton of work to make it a beautiful place.

It’s located at 4747  Butler Street in Lawrenceville hours listed below. And you can shop online.  

I was happy to find Rhodia notebooks and stationery from Florence in addition to potholder loops, a moon puzzle and some surprise stocking stuffers for future gift giving for the grandchildren. There’s something for every age, including adults.

Supporting small local business is a good thing.

 

Wed- Fri : 11:30 am – 7:00 pm
Sat :  . . . . .10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sun :  . . . . . 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Mon – Tue:   Closed

Clarissa Boutique and Parker Buttons Moved to Butler Street

I drove to the South Side to buy buttons for a sweater. I discovered that Clarissa Boutique and Parker Button moved to 4603 Butler Street in Lawrenceville. “Your Exclusive Bridal & Wedding Accessory Destination!

Jean and Gretchen welcomed me and remembered the blog post from 2011- Button Button Whose Got the Button?

Ten years ago, Laura got her bridal veil from the boutique for her wedding. It is a lovely store.

Need a landmark to locate them? They are located next door to the French Bakery La Gourmandine.

How about that Capodimonte lamp? A perfect home for the family heirloom of Gretchen’s family with the romantic porcelain couple in the beautiful bridal boutique.

Laura wearing the veil created by Clarissa Boutique November 12, 2011

Allegheny Cemetery Walk

Today was  the day to get moving. The skies threatened rain so it would have been so easy to cancel and stay home. I even emailed to ask” is the walk happening rain or shine?”  Turns out they are committed and walk in the rain.

I decided I’d better go walk after telling everyone I was going to take a walk through this historic Allegheny Cemetery sponsored and led by Fitness Instructor Nancy of the Stephen Foster Community (senior) Center.

Now there were two speed walkers who left the other four of us in the dust. Experienced walkers for sure.  How I made it 3.5 miles is amazing. It’s happening again next Tuesday, too. Hmmmmmm

The Speed walkers like pinpoints as they pulled away from the pack. 

There were three Fox dens you can see on this little hillside. The seasoned walkers have seen their heads peeking out of the holes.

Cemetery workers cleaning up all decor and wreaths as of March 1st.

My second unicyclist sighting in a week. 

A poignant sculpture at a child’s grave