Northern suburbs well represented at inauguration

David Holcomb, of Ben Avon, marched in the inaugural parade as part of a 200-member American Workers Contingent.

"There was something great about walking past the reviewing stand and waving at the Bidens and the Obamas and having them wave back," he said.
"I thought the stand would be elevated and at a distance, but they were all right down close to the street ... and it was really touching."

Mr. Holcomb is production manager at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama and participated as a member of United Scenic Artists union, Local 829.

Traveling by bus from the Pentagon staging area to the start of the parade route took him and his fellow marchers through part of a crowd that filled the length of the National Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

"There is this one little street that goes through the middle of the mall, and we were crossing it just as Obama was taking the oath of office. We looked out and there were thousands and thousands and thousands of people gathered for the event and it was breathtaking."

Mr. Holcomb also was impressed by the instant comradeship among the marchers in his group. "I went down there not knowing a soul and met up with a wonderful group of people who were all there for the same reasons: to share in the moment and the history and the excitement."

Full article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

I guess it’s pepper season

Last week's vegetable box had more peppers than we could eat, and this weeks has even more. I like peppers, so we will do our best. But I could use a little pepper identification help. The one on the right is obviously a bell pepper. We got some of those last week. The one second from the left is a banana pepper, which we also got last week, and it has some good heat to it. How do I tell what the heck the other 4 are?

Time to search out some more pepper recipes. Oh well that's half the fun of the vegetable box: making new things. So far this summer, along with a variety of grilled veggies, we have made the following which were new for us:

• Kohlrabi – we liked it roasted best
• Beets & Beet greens
• Garlic Scape – lovely tossed with pasta, veggies and a light lemon sauce.
• Stuffed Cabbage

All in all, the Veggie box is fun, and good for us. We are enjoying it. Now what are those peppers?

Stegosaurus in da ‘burbs?

Yep, that's our very own Stegosaurus, stalking our front garden. I am kind of ashamed to admit that a part of our front garden is this weedy and/or bare. But well, we've been concentrating on other things this summer. We think he makes a nice addition to an otherwise bare spot, formerly inhabited by a very pokey bush that we never liked anyway.

You see in the summer these High School students come to our school for a 6-week intensive "taste of freshman year in a drama conservatory" program. They take classes, do homework, and have fun as well I hear. One of my colleagues has a project that he does in his stagecraft class where they assemble oversize dinosaur skeleton models. You've seen em before. They're usually 1-2 feet tall, made out of balsa wood. In this case they are made out of ¾" pressure-treated plywood, which has been cut out on our CNC Router. They tend to be a little taller than the balsa wood models. Anyway, it's a great project, which builds construction, collaboration, and even nascent critical path awareness. Plus we get to show off the cool CNC Router, and begin to give a feeling for what can be done with it.

This year we had several orphaned dinos at the end of the program - high school student from far away, big dinosaur, mounting airline baggage fees, you get the picture. Anyway, as we were finishing off the summer program, one of the Stegosaurs needed a home, and we were happy to oblige.

Also See Tanbi's own blog post about the Dino project: I CAN HAS DYNASAAR - 2008

Eating (very) Locally in MA

So, you may recall from earlier posts that Mrs. Bob and I are trying the "eating local" thing. Here we are visiting my ancestral home in the Berkshires. For a change (recently) we happen to be here, when the blueberry crop is in. On Wednesday, between rainstorms, we all went out and picked berries. We got about 3 quarts before everyone was to tired to reach the berries that were still ripe. These are the smaller tart blueberries that grow wild, as opposed to the big mushy ones that are more readily available in most grocery stores.

We had so many; I was inspired to make a blueberry pie. I don't believe I have EVER made a blueberry pie, though I have certainly enjoyed my fair share in my life. We didn't have a readily available Fannie Farmer cookbook, so I did the next best thing. I jumped on-line, and found this blog cum recipe. I followed the recipes generally. For the crust, I used a whole stick of butter flavored Crisco and 2.5 cups of flour. It came out great. For the filling I used a little more than a quart of blueberries, cause I had a deep pan. I also only used 2/3 of the requested sugar, and a little more than a tablespoon of lemon (maybe 2). The pie came out deliciously slightly tart, which balanced with the buttery taste of the crust beautifully. I braved making a lattice crust, which was fun, if a little thick and slightly indelicate.

You can see in the photos that I was enjoying a little of the post-dinner Pinot Noir, while making the pie. You can also see that I plated the pie with a couple slices each of some wonderful cheeses from Rubiner's in Great Barrington. The lechevrot was my favorite of the two cheeses the previous night, served on a baguette. However, the Bonnema State Boerenkaas paired better with the pie. In either case who ever heard of a cheesemonger? Great Barrington may well have become more hoity toity than before, but I am certainly enjoying the results of that.

What to do when it rains in western Massachusetts

We've been in the Berkshires for two days now, and apart from the rains it's been lovely. With two children under 10 in the small house, we have been looking for other cabin-fever beating activities. Today several of us drove to my mother's house to pick up some things we needed. While we were in that neck of the woods, we brought the kids to the Magic Wings butterfly conservatory in South Deerfield, MA.

There were a TON of butterflies. We had a fun time being both indoors and not cooped up in the house, and trying to photograph the butterflies. The camera had a hard time focusing on them, and they had a habit of flitting about. Following are the best I could do.

Vacation Stop #2 – Plimoth Plantation

Did you miss stop number 1? Oh yeah, we packed the family into the car for the 11 hour ride from Pittsburgh to Woods Hole. We didn't take any pictures there, because we have been so many times, there was not too much new to shoot. We were too busy enjoying the ocean and our friends to bother with taking photographs. You'll have to be content with my profile photo which was taken last year in Woods Hole.

So what was stop #2 already? Plimoth Plantation. It's a living museum, with an English settlement a la 1627, and a Native American village of the same vintage, both with re-enactors. I haven't been to there since I was 8 years old or younger, but it all came rushing back to me like it was yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and the progeny and spouse enjoyed it greatly, as did the Woods Hole friends who joined us, even though their 4-year old was a little jaded by the whole affair. Big fun and we were off to the ancestral homeland in the Berkshires. Enjoy the Plimoth pics, and I'll post more soon.

You are supposed to READ the owners manual?

Mrs. Bob has a Chrysler PT Cruiser. It's cute, but after 3 years, the bloom is off the rose. It's not the best car either of us has ever owned. But it's not the worst either, I suppose.

Well, today we switched cars, because she needed my larger vehicle for something. I go out to get in her car…turn the key… it starts up…runs for a few seconds..dies. It does this several times, and then won't even turn over. I am fuming at this point, because I am supposed to be at work pretty soon. Grrr. She comes home from a morning appointment, picks me up and drives me to work, thereby wasting some of her morning.

Flash back a month or so, when this happened to me last time. Mrs. Bob and our daughter went away for the weekend with my car, leaving me with hers. I drove it to Home Depot Saturday morning to pick up some supplies, and the same exact thing happened to me there. That day I ended up walking the 3 miles up and over the very high hill back to the house, carrying my tool bag.

Don't we get home tonight, and I try it again…same thing. Mrs. Bob jumps in the car to try it, though I am sure nothing will happen. Whadaya know, it starts right up. We look at each other incredulously. I give her my key. She tries it and replicates my experience. Back and forth with her key and mine, starting and not starting. We go in the house, shaking our heads in disbelief. I grab the Owner's Manual on the way in, and here's what it says:

Hmph. Who'd have expected that in a krappy, cheap, PT cruiser? Anyone want a PT Cruiser key? The one on the left is available.