I've never been tagged before, but here goes!

Pam tagged me, and I am a rookie! Here are the questions and my answers.

1. Which member of the Royal Family would I be for an afternoon? Hmmm. I think I would pick Fergie! If the Queen Mum were still alive, I'd pick her because she seems to have been a card! But Fergie is the only one who isn't frumpy. (Maybe she isn't even officially in the family any more?)

2. Tall or Short? I am really used to being short, but I'd like to be tall so that Greg couldn't hide things from me by putting them on top of the refrigerator. I'm sure there are secrets up there . . . .

3. Things that have stuck with you: Numerous sayings from my mother including 'fast as greased lightning' and 'scarcer than hens' teeth.' From a musical perspective, it would be "Midnight Train to Georgia." Greg can sing this song and do all the train whistles and stuff that the Pips did on the original recording. It's the closest thing there is to our song. "I'd rather live in his world, than be without him in mine . . . ."

4. The Aurora Borealis. Huh? I think this is like a lunar eclipse. Something you stand around in the dark waiting to see and then are told not to stare at it because it will make you blind!

5. I love the smell of fresh basil. Actually, I like lots of herbs, but basil is my favorite.

6. Tags? I'm not sure I have the hang of this. What am I supposed to do now? Is this something that goes around the world three times and saves the world?

Pedicures . . . and Sightseeing in the 'Burgh!


Melanie came to visit! I really wanted to get my toes done, and Melanie had never had a pedicure before. So I made an appointment for us and we played with the wonderful massaging chairs at the nail spa while our feet were pampered and painted. And it was a very 'girlie' afternoon! (Even though Melanie said she isn't very girlie, I think she did really well.) What do you think of our toes? Melanie's are the lighter ones in the top of the picture; mine are the deeper ones in the bronze flip-flops!





Usually when Melanie comes, we go shopping. But it is so beautiful outside; and I really wanted to do something different. Last night I called the Gateway Clipper and got reservations for Greg, Melanie and I to take a 1-hour sightseeing cruise on the river this evening at 8 p.m. In order to make an evening of it, we took off in time to stop at Famous Dave's for some pulled pork BBQ on the way down. It was good eating and a perfect start to our evening!

We arrived at the dock and got our tickets. Then we spent a little time at Station Square until time to board the "Duchess." The captain told us about many of the sites as we paddled up and down the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio Rivers. There were so many people out enjoying their Saturday night. Here are a few of the sites.

This picture shows part of the shopping area at Station Square. the taller building with the P&LERR on the top used to be the main railway station. Now it is home to one of the most popular restaurants in the city, the Grand Concourse.

The fountain at Point State Park with the lights of PNC Park in the background. The Pirates were down 9-1 when we rolled by. It wasn't looking too promising for the Bucco's.

The end of the Smithfield Street Bridge going into the Golden Triangle from the river with the top of the PPG Place in the background. The Smithfield Street bridge was designed by John Roebling, the same person as the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

Another suspension bridge, this is one of the "Three Sisters" that cross the Allegheny. I believe this is the Roberto Clemente Bridge witht the U.S. Steel Tower in the background (even though it says UPMC on the building now).


Greg, in his usual mode, took our picture one last time to commemorate a great evening in Pittsburgh! CHEESE!

How do you feel about Canadian Geese?

This morning on the way to church, we were driving down Route 19 at one of the busier intersections, and four lanes of traffic stopped dead in the road to allow 12 to 18 of the big honkers to stride sssllllooooowwwwllllyyyy across the road. I am not one to run over any kind of critter with my car; but the Canadian Geese are quite a nuisance. Their slimey deposits around parks and golf courses and other public places are pretty disgusting. And they can get downright aggressive during nesting season if you come near their eggs. Greg had a pair of them chasing him every morning for a while this spring. They decided to make a nursery out of the mulch behind the entrance to his building at work. They were pretty intimidating . . . running and hissing and flapping their wings!

This picture would have been a lot better if Greg would have held my cell phone and taken it out the window on his side; but he was too busy watching traffic or something. Obviously, he is not serious about getting good blogging photos like I am.

So what do you think you would do if you encountered such a problem? Any goose lovers out there?

Oma Sews Green!

Over the weekend, I worked on some of my sewing projects. I have a dress to sew. I cut out two pairs of slacks on Saturday; and Greg bought a sportcoat on E-Bay that was too short in the sleeves (alterations not included). I also have a fleece jacket ready to make for David for fall; but that won't be needed for a little while. So much to sew; so little time.

The project I chose to work on was . . . none of the above. Several weeks ago there was an article in the Vogue sewing magazine about organic fabrics and some of the places you could get them and what they were generally used for. This peaked my interest. Lo and behold, I got some samples of a black and a tan bamboo fabric from Sawyer Brook very soon after that with one of my orders. The bamboo material was soooo soft and felt so good, I ordered some in the black to make a little summer outfit. I have been really looking forward to this project; and it is something I would want to wear in the summer. So this is what I cut out on Saturday and made yesterday.

The finished outfit is just like pajamas to wear; I absolutely love the feel of it. And it is washable in cool water. I decided on the black fabric because it is a little more dramatic for accessorizing. What do you think? I was impressed!

Honeysuckle Update . . . and Katy Sings!



I know you have all been waiting to hear what I did about my aggressive honeysuckle bush! Well, I decided to do phase 1 pruning because the only tools I really have are a small hand saw and a good set of pruning shears. This morning I reduced both of these animals by about 1/3 with hand tools and got them both back into the Froehle property lines. Mom sent me an article recommending some plants to replace them with for future reference. And this is where we are for the time being.

Since I am talking a little about my garden, I will also throw in a picture of my "corner" that I added last summer when Greg cut down the pine tree by the porch. They hostas and hydrangea that I planted are doing well. The other added benefit is that I had some lilies along the end of the porch that have been there for several years that never really did anything. Now that the pine tree is gone and they got some TLC and watering, the lilies are beautiful! I must have bought these from Breck's, because the colors are lovely. I'm only showing the kind of "copper" colored one here; but there is another one of similar size in a lemon yellow that is just as pretty.

I am starting to think about some fall planting and am looking at my garden magazines for periennials that show color in early summer . . . like May/June. My spring stuff blooms, and then there is a green gap when nothing much is happening until late June. Anybody got anything you particularly like that blooms then? Anyone interested in swapping plants? I have come great hostas and some daylilies in kind of a butterscotch color. I also could thin my brown eyed Susan's.

Finally, it has been a long week without any Katy hugs and Oma kisses here in Pittsburgh this week. Last Saturday I took my very first video (aka 'bideo') of Katy singing "Jesus Loves Me." Aunt Mel was sort of singing along, and Katy has a couple of puzzle pieces in her hands that seem to be a little distracting. However, I still think this video is great. Greg had to help me by editing it because I held my camera vertically instead of horizontally and then couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture. Therefore, this clip is part of last weekend's fun. Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary, Brian and Emily!


This week Brian and Emily celebrate their third anniversary! Opa and I went to visit them for the weekend . . . for two reasons. First, we love to visit with everybody including Aunt Melanie and Katy and David. Second, we were the designated babysitters for Saturday night so that Brian and Emily could go out for the evening and have a nice dinner and spend the evening together.


We arrived mid-day on Friday, and we all went to dinner in the Short North at a micro-brewery called Barley's. The food turned out to be as good as the ale, and we all had a good time talking and passing David around so he wouldn't get bored. We even found some stuff to eat that didn't blow our Weight Watcher points . . . until Melanie ordered the Hunka Hunka chocolate cake for dessert. This was served on a dinner plate with 5 or 6 spoons and a couple of mountains of whipped cream. I think we all used a few of our extra points on THAT one.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day, although Melanie and Emily and Oma (and David) went out to the Macy's in Upper Arlington so that Emily could shop for a new bathing suit with her birthday money. She ended up getting a really pretty bathing suit, and she looks great in it because of all her hard work with WW to get rid of the baby fat left over from David!









Oma made David some new t-shirts and brought some new books about tractors and cranes. It turned out that Katy really like the book about the construction equipment and spent some time watching "bideo's" on Opa's computer of cranes and dump trucks and diggers and rock breakers. We must have read those books two dozen times or more. Oma also brought Katy a new shorts outfit with Dora the Explorer on it, which Katy is proudly displaying here. The outfit was cute; but Katy is cuter.





Brian and Emily did manage to go out Saturday night to Moretti's. Drew and Melanie came over after the kids went to bed; and Oma stayed up with them to watch The Bucket List. I really enjoyed this movie. So many movies are stupid; but this one made me laugh and it made me cry and still feel good at the end. It didn't offend me with bad language and sexual references, either. It is a rare movie that can do this that isn't aimed at the under 13 age group these days. So try it out! Brian and Emily came home full of veggie lasagna and relaxed from driving around doing what they wanted for a few hours . . . and going to Target. No anniversary is complete without a trip to Target!

Today we went to church at Heritage and then had lunch at Fazoli's. Emily used to work at Fazoli's in Dayton during college; and Jen and Katie S. also have fond memories of prep work and drive through headsets. The breadsticks are still great, too. Great Grandpa Garl can vouch for that!

My only regret is that Emily was not in the room for this picture. No studio can possibly beat this for a family shot, do you think?

A Real "Horse Story"

About a year ago (maybe longer), my sister-in-law, Bonnie. renewed a life-long interest in horses by taking riding lessons at a stable near her home. She took lessons for a while, and eventually 'leased' or took some kind of temporary ownership of a horse named Storm that she particularly enjoyed riding and caring for. Before long, the stable owner decided to offer Storm for sale. When Bonnie started to consider someone else taking her favorite horse, she convinced my brother, Neil, that she should buy Storm. Hence, Storm became the first horse we have ever had in our immediate family . . . at least since my grandparents were young and owned horses for primary transportation. :-) It is at least noteworthy that our cousins, Scott and Nannette, have horses on their farm, and their girls ride competitively. But these are "cousin" horses at best, right? So Storm is a first in many ways. And Bonnie has since moved her charge to a barn within walking distance of their home where she can easily take care of most of his needs and ride him frequently.

Of course, riding on trails and other terrain is part of the fun of owning a horse, so Bonnie and Neil eventually became the proud owners of a horse trailer so they can transport Storm whenever necessary. The horse trailer has become a fixture next to Neil's pole barn when not in use. And rumor has it that Storm is getting used to the trailer even though he wasn't too crazy about the thing to begin with.

Well, evidently these trailers are pretty heavy! The Jimmy was evidently straining with the weight of the trailer . . . and a horse has to weigh quite a bit, too. So recently, the equestrian collection expanded to include a pickup! The pickup will also come in handy for all those home improvement projects like hauling stone or building supplies or borrowing tools from Dad, who seems to have collected a few over the years. But I have to admit that truck ownership kind of runs in the family; and it wouldn't be unusual for one to pop up here and there even without a horse to justify it.

One of these days I am going to actually check in over at the barn and MEET this gallant steed. I'm sure he is quite a charmer. In the meantime, all I know is that little Gabe said "neigh, neigh" right after he said Mama and Dada. And I think his Nana had something to do with that. :-)

Maybe Bonnie will chime in here and fill in some of the details about her pride and joy! Are there any other horse people out there?

"Furries" are Fun!



As you may know, I work in downtown Pittsburgh right across from the Convention Center. This guarantees an endless stream of convention-goers in the plaza of our building; the Federated Investors Tower adjoins the Westin Hotel where many conventions set up their headquarters.



Last week I walked across the 9th Street bridge to attend a meeting on the North Side, and I noticed some unusual looking people around the convention center as I came back along the riverwalk to the office. There were two "women" who seemed to be dressed like cats posing for a photographer along the river's edge. They had masks and ears . . . and long, fuzzy tails. Yes, as in animal tails. At first I didn't think much about it because there are a number of sound stages in Pittsburgh where movies are shot. We occasionally have street closures and such for production companies; and there are at least 5 or 6 movie companies around Pittsburgh at various times. We have several large sound lots that are inexpensive (comparatively), and we have hills and rivers and railroads and heavy industry and lots of settings for producers to pick from. But, I digress . . . . Back to the furries.



The cats and the photographer were soon forgotten until I went back into my building. Along the concourse, there are a bunch of fast food restaurants and a sort of food court area. As I passed through the court, there were more people with animal parts and "interesting" make-up casually eating pizza and chatting with other unique characters. The picture at right is taken at the foot of the escalator where the convention center adjoins the hotel. This critter is coming through the glass doors between the hotel and our office tower . . . and 'he' is right beside said pizza restaurant. (I rest my case.)


Being the savvy sophisticate that I am, I acted like it was perfectly normal to see these critters at the office and headed for the safety of the elevators. When I got beyond the guard station, I asked a fellow employee what was going on. She said, "Oh, it's just the 'Furries!' They come every year."



NO KIDDING? This happens every year? Since when? But, sure enough; she was right. These people call themselves anthropomorphics or "Furries"; and they come to Pittsburgh every year for their convention. You've got to check this out and play the video. Most of the footage here is right in my office building.



I really feel overdressed in a business suit among these people. From Wall Street to . . . Sesame Street?