Facie’s Ramblings

Back in December, I posted some pics from an afternoon/evening at Phipps Conservatory. I so enjoyed my time there that I went back a week or so later to get a dual membership. Probably the best $75 I have spent on anything. (And it was more like spending $54 since I was able to put the $26 I spent that evening in December towards my membership.) Including that time, I have been to Phipps at least five times, sometimes with others and sometimes alone. I have gone to the winter show, the spring show, to something in between the winter and spring show, and then J and I went today, for the summer flower show. Maybe I will do a post of the spring show, for posterity's sake. But here is the summer show! Here are some pictures of random, pretty flowers and plants  (I have no clue what is what): Purple is my favorite color, so of course this is beautiful Right now there are trains in many rooms. Love how the yellow and pink/red mix Here are some pic...

I had a really great Mother's Day weekend. It started out Friday evening with my enjoying a glass of wine while talking to the neighbors as our kids rode their bikes. I was able to let go and not hover over my kid, as I did last summer, when she first learned to ride a bike. (But I did get up a few times when they went around the corner and were out of our sight for more than a few minutes.). Let's not talk about the Pens loss that evening. Saturday morning, my MIL brought me a nice glass decorative thing. I really don't need more knick-knacks, but it was pretty and thoughtful. Then the hubby and J took her to the airport, while I cleaned the shower (okay, that part was not too fun) and then went shopping for a couple of hours. I am not a fan of shopping, but I had not been clothes shopping in months and this was the first time I have done it without a kid in way longer than that. I ended that trip with three free pretzels from Philly Pretzel Factory, thanks to my winning...

Pittsburgh is not very pedestrian friendly. This, despite the following law: 3542. Right-of-way of pedestrians in crosswalks. (a) General rule. --When traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.   I cannot tell you how many times I have been at a crosswalk and have been ignored by cars zipping by. At one intersection near a park, there is actually a flashing light trumpeting that it is a state law that cars must yield for pedestrians. Still some drivers completely ignore that, and my daughter and I have have found ourselves waiting for long periods of time as well as coming close to being hit because we were not running across the street (I did not realize that part of the law was pedestrians had to sprint so as not to further inconvenience the drivers). Near ...

Well, I see another bunch of weeks have passed since I last posted. So here is a post for what is on my mind this a.m.: religious people who go door to door. As I have blogged about many times, I am Catholic, but I don't have a strong faith (even though for several years I attended daily mass). I doubt things. I question things. I disagree with some things. Someday soon I am going to post about the diocesan campaign to get money out of people. To give you a preview now: I have a pledge card that gives me choices ranging from $40 a month for five years to $400 a month for five years. But I digress, as usual. I believe in letting people worship or not, as they see fit, as long as they are not hurting others. I know some people proudly display and talk or write about their faith. That is not me. Honestly, I sometimes feel uncomfortable when people do that on Facebook. And, as I have said before, I sometimes get annoyed when someone or some news entity posts about something tragi...