Fresh Donuts

Whenever we head in and out of town via the West End, we see this house-turned-doughnut shop. It looks like a business that functioned years ago and has sat untouched. It looks like a dump. Except that this place is still going and receives plenty of rush hour business as people head to town for work. What attracts me (actual doughnuts aside) is the crappy cool homemade sign on the pink sided exterior.


The paint is cracked and peeling, the building is dirty, yet there is something about the lingering vibrance of this sign's design, simple as it may be. It called to me. One weekend morning we decided to finally check this place out. Behind the failing paint, dirt, and rust, we found a thriving family business with friendly service and a variety of fresh donuts. Hooray for homemade.

updates, updates...

...because I know you've been wondering. There are a few past blog items on which I wanted to provide some updates, in no particular order.

- I discovered that the giraffes at the Pittsburgh zoo died, I believe earlier this year, from old age. Very sad, but they lived long lives. Two yearlings will be joining the zoo this summer. Wondering what happens to zoo animals when they die? I was. After picturing a giraffe-sized grave being dug into the ground in Highland Park, I googled and found that the animals are most commonly cremated, sometimes after tissue and/or blood samples have been taken. Guess that makes more sense, huh?

- I shared a photo a while back showing storm drain markings popping up around my neighborhood. I've since learned that they are the Eagle Scout project for a local teen. I think his name is Josh and he'll be stenciling all of our drains. Way to go, Josh...I dig the fish.

- I also had a little vent relating to finding non-super low-rise jeans. I'm happy to report that I was able to end my search at Eddie Bauer where I found well-fitting jeans at a reasonable price and...the best ever handicapped/stroller accessible fitting room. Finn does not like to hang out in little rooms while I play dress-up, but he does like to look into mirrors with me. This fitting room was huge and had a full wall mirror, so I could park the stroller next to me facing the mirror and had plenty of room to move around. Perfect. I don't frequent the mall, but this is a huge plus if ever I have to goes clothes shopping with the tot in tow.

And...I must now edit this to add that I just ate the lone berry. Mmmm.

Lone Berry

Hard to believe it is Friday already. Finn and I are planning to head down to the arts festival this afternoon - I almost missed it because these past two weeks have been somewhat busy. I didn't realize until this week that a relative of mine has a booth at the artists' market this year, so we'll have to stop by to say hello. I haven't seen this relative in a number of years, despite the fact that he's the only relative of mine that actually lives in the area. In any case, it will be nice to see him and see how his family is doing.

We did slow down this morning to take a stroll outside. This is one of the things we spotted:

This image makes me both happy and sad. Happy because I have a bright red berry on my raspberry bush and sad because there is only one. My hopes for a large harvest are...non-existent. I don't think I have enough sunlight for them to really do well, but I really love black raspberries and have many fond childhood memories involving them, so I had to at least try to grow them. I think this is year three. Last year I had only a small handful of ripe berries. That means no new pie or jelly memories will be grown at my house, but at least I get some "eating fresh from the berry bush" memories. Finn is too young to eat berries this summer, but maybe by next year there will be enough for me to share... maybe.

Foto Friday - Little Gold Digger

Here it is Friday already and I had more to post about this week, but just didn't have the time. Since I was photo-less last Friday (due to no fault of my own), I am quite prepared today.



This little slice of cuteness is my youngest nephew, Ethan, who happens to be wearing the suit that his older brother wore as ring bearer in my wedding a couple years ago. Of course I had to capture this display. It's totally innocent... he's just doing a little personal grooming.

Foto Friday - Mom

Since Mother's Day is this weekend, I thought I'd pull out a photo of Mom for today's post. This one is about 10 years old and the scan may not look too great, but I thought of this shot earlier in the week when I was posting about quilting. These days she looks a bit different and the curtains in the room may have changed, but you can still find her here working on the latest quilt. I'm anxious to see what's in the frame when I visit this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers, mas, moms, mommies, and mamas!

Foto Friday

Admittedly, last week's pic wasn't really pretty and was perhaps even stupid (as R suggested in not so many words). Soooo...here is something nice to look at.

My quince is in bloom and it is lovely.

Foto Friday - Save the Fishies!

Happy Friday! It's been a fairly good week. The weather turned out to be quite nice...only one day that we didn't go out for a walk. I've started to incorporate a nice sized hill in my walk (with Finn in the stroller) to balance out all of my dietary indulgences. It's fine for now, but I'm not sure if I'll be so willing to do it when it's 80 plus degrees out.



I saw this painted a couple places along my neighborhood walk. It reads "Dump No Waste Drains To River." I don't think I've ever noticed them before, but who knows, maybe they've been there all along. Maybe some of my readers who have lived near the three rivers all their lives can tell me if this is standard and I'm still just a newbie around here. Amanda...this is your old 'hood...have you seen these? In any case, I think they're cool. Whose idea was it to make it so cute with the fish? I imagine when Finn is older, it can be an opener to a childhood environmental discussion. That would be after we ditch the SUV for a Prius. Ooh, this parenting stuff is going to be tricky.

Have a nice weekend, folks!

Foto Friday

I've decided to institure Foto Fridays. Each Friday I will feature...you guessed it... a photograph! Just any photograph that I've taken that I'd like to share.



I love this picture because Finn is working his little tongue, which he did all the time during his first few months of life. And he looks so innocent, which is how babies should look, right?