Facie’s Ramblings

Once again I have slacked off with posting. I did write about/sing the praises of RiverQuest, an educational boat ride on the North Shore, so please check that out in my previous post below! Anyway, here is what has been going on in my life since last time. J is done with 5th grade. Hooray. This was a tough year for a number of reasons. She had a lot of HW up until the end; she had only one homework-free weekend the entire year, which I disagree with. She also was no longer friends with the group of friends she had been (their friendships ended at the very end of 4th. Looking on the bright side, we saved some money by missing out on birthday invites, and I did not and will not have to worry about taking time off work to get her to various gatherings held during the week. :-)  I tell J that I went to an even smaller Catholic school and also did not have a lot of friends, but high school and college were different, each better than the previous. Things are still going well at ...

This past fall, I had the wonderful experience of being a chaperone on a field trip to RiverQuest, a non-profit educational organization that operates a river learning center for students, teachers, and the community of southwestern Pennsylvania. During the four-hour boat trip, the students got to examine organisms under microscopes, test water, learn various facts about plant and animal life in the river and environment, and much more. Recently, I looked up RiverQuest on the great big internet, and I discovered (or perhaps just remembered) that the organization offers Saturday cruises. So I decided the family should go. After a long walk around the North Shore on beautiful sunny day, we boarded the RiverQuest boat on the Ohio River, after having purchased our tickets at the nearby Science Center. The one-hour trip did not disappoint. The hubby, who was still slightly under the weather, appreciated time in the sun. And J and I did various learning activities. She was partic...

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...

As of late, some troubling, disturbing, sad, tragic, and altogether unexplainable events have occurred in and around the Burgh. The reaction to these things has leaned more towards the vengeful side; there is a dearth of empathy, if hundreds of Facebook comments are any indication. And I, like so many others, want answers. But I just don't think there are any easy ones. Last week a seemingly "normal" mother drowned two of her kids. This mother lived on the same street as two families I know (one very well). A street I have been on numerous times. A street that has block parties and goes Christmas caroling. Although I did not know this woman, according to my friends, she seemed to be a typical, loving parent, who appeared to be that very way while they were waiting for the school bus the morning it happened. It can be really hard to reconcile what you know with what really is. And for someone like me, who is very non-judgmental and who hopes never to be on a jury, I strugg...