disturbed

Poor John.  He's busy at work at a deadline project and there is no way that he can get all the work done.  They have put this sign on his cubicle:

When he came in to work this morning, it had been slightly altered ...

McConnell's Mill, probably for the last time

We went up to McConnell's Mill today for a walk.  It's a nice day, partly cloudy, not too hot.  I was reminded of that first trip we took to this park when Jubilee and I first arrived in western Pennsylvania 2 years ago.  We didn't even have a place to live yet, but we had found this magical root and rock wonderland that cuts deep into Pennsylvania's farmland.  We have periodically returned to this park for a revival of spirit.

It was quite crowded today - a bicycle thing going on as well as a whole fleet of motorcycles passing through - so we didn't stay long.  I suspect this might have been our last visit.  It was a good find.

When was the first time you saw a Charging Station?

We saw this Charging Station a few weeks ago at the Whole Foods in Wexford PA.  I said to John, we should take a picture (only I didn't have a camera with me.  I forgot about the phone camera).  That was the first time I had ever seen a charging station.  The idea is that you can park your electric car at Whole Foods and have it charge while you shop.  Or, you can see that you're running low on your car's charge and think, oh, I can go over to Whole Food and charge it.

Do you suppose these will catch on?  As we migrate more toward electric cars, will stores offer charging stations as a draw for customers?  Will we be seeing these everywhere, like gas stations?

It seemed to be a site worth marking so today while I was at Whole Foods (picking up some grass fed beef for hamburgers tonight) I took a couple of pictures.  I haven't seen another one anywhere else.  I don't think that they have one at our local Whole Foods in Florida.

after the rain

 This is a favorite little bridge on one of our favorite routes.  The water in the creek is low enough that I can walk out into it and see the bridge and creek from another view ...

wildflower update

 We have been watching these little berries ripen.  Some of them are almost ready for eating.  Every night we make fruit sorbets with our new Vitamix blender.  I wonder how these berries would work?

 For some reason, I never saw the apples on the mayapples this year.  Already they are fading away.

Three River Arts Festival (or PGH's train!)

We went to PGH today to the 3 River Arts Festival.  Rather than drive right to the festival and try to find parking there, we went to the Rivers Casino on the the North Side and took the newly opened train under the Genesee River and over to Points Park for the Festival.  Public transportation makes me very happy.  And riding on this branch of the transit will be free for 3 years!  We started at Allegheny Station, which is right at the one of the ball parks and the Carnegie Science Center ...

 Only 2 stops away and here we are in downtown Pittsburgh ...

 ... at the 3 River Arts Festival ...

 Lots of things to look at.  So much so that I get overwhelmed, and don't buy a thing ...

... but I was very impressed with this gallery of weed photography!  (I'm going to put together something like this with my own weeds, I think.)

 Some recycling art, like this "catch of the day" made from soda cans.

 and other stuff ...

 I found the building reflections impressive ...

 ... and this fake lady ...

 We broke away from the festival and had lunch at Jimmy John's across the street ...

 ... we went in despite the sign ...

 ... Looked around for some live music ... and thought we were hearing a Bluegrass Band, "Well Strung" ...

 but they said that they were just the "Roadies" who were setting up for "Well Strung".  They were good.

... another fake man ...

 ... the Calligraphy Guild of PGH doing free names ...

 ...  and then this fun little parade came along.  I think that they must be the Public Safety Crew or something ...

 ... back down the subway ...

 ... everything is brand new ...

 ... and back to the Casino where we were parked ...

 ... we walked through the huge, very air-conditioned (and very many people smoking), and almost packed casino.  There was a poker tournament going on, and a high stakes room where trays of (free?) drinks were being served. 

 So many people absorbed in the slot machines ...

... dunno, but I don't get it ...

Anyway, we felt like we had been to the city and seen many sites!

Recycled Dreams

From a shop on the Soap Derby street in Ambridge PA ...

 John almost bought this for me ...

And then this building, that attests to the rich and diverse ethnic character of this area ...