My Daily Travels

I am enjoying the peaceful calm that this morning has brought. We celebrated the Christmas holiday with our family yesterday, so today it is just John and me. I have spaghetti sauce and meatballs simmering on the stove that I will later pour over pasta, toss, and pack in a storage bowl with a side... Sign in to see full entry.

Good morning and Merry Christmas Eve. It is a sunny and unseasonably warm day this December 24th in Pittsburgh. My immediate family will be having our annual Christmas gift exchange and dinner this afternoon due to work obligations on Christmas Day. This year we changed up our menu a bit by making a... Sign in to see full entry.

Clear and brightly colored toy candy is a true Pennsylvania Dutch classic that are made by hand. The Christmas candy tradition dates back to around 1750, when German immigrants settled in Philadelphia. With the city serving as a major hub for the sugar trade, candy-making flourished there early on.... Sign in to see full entry.

Yesterday was the first day of winter. Obviously, these guys didn't get the message. It seems strange to find seagulls in Pennsylvania, but here they are hanging out on the Allegheny River, living their best lives. Sign in to see full entry.

It isn't very often that John and I go out for breakfast since we neither one eats a heavy meal before noon, but the breakfast buffet at one of our favorite local restaurants was recommended to us a few days ago, so we decided to check it out. It is Christmastime after all, the season to treat... Sign in to see full entry.

It's hard to believe that today is my mother's 77th birthday, considering that she is not the average seventy something. She retired just a few months ago from her job in human resources but remains productive. She still sews like the master seamstress that she was in her twenties, throws parties,... Sign in to see full entry.

High winds, flurries, rain, and a severe drop in the temperatures has turned today into the complete opposite of yesterday's high temperature of 61 degrees and sunny. So far this morning, I have retrieved our dumpster, saved my gnome from drowning in the bird bath and helped John straighten out our... Sign in to see full entry.

As a person who reads every day, there just aren't enough books for me. In Iceland, books are exchanged as Christmas Eve presents, then you spend the rest of the night in bed reading them and eating chocolate. The tradition is part of a season called Jolabokaflod, or “The Christmas Book Flood,”... Sign in to see full entry.

There are no shortages of abandoned coal mines in and around Pittsburgh. Located near Yukon, Pennsylvania, the Magee Mine opened in 1908 and by 1910 the company employed 443 workers. Mules and horses were used to haul coal from the mine which produced 429,000 tons of coal in those two years. The... Sign in to see full entry.

An absolutely stunning sky appeared yesterday out of nowhere. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before. It's a vision I will take over snowflakes falling from the sky on any day. Sign in to see full entry.