Jonathan took this photo a few years ago during the Great Winter which spawned Snowmaggedon. We both have a fondness for Logans Ferry Presbyterian Church. For one thing, it anchors one side of our New Kensington neighborhood, Parnassus.  The building is 127 years old, and the very ground on which it sits is the site of the Revolutionary War-era Fort Crawford. The Fort Crawford memorial is to the church’s right. To the church’s left (behind the snowbank in this photo) is the cemetery for The United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington. One day Jonathan and I were exploring the cemetery when we accidentally found the graves of the original owners of our own old house. (The Queen Anne Victorian that would later become our home was built shortly after this church was built. The house stayed in one family for decades, and the son of the original owner carved his name in our attic when he was a boy. We were a bit stunned the day that we unintentionally stumbled upon their family plot, which in this photo is buried under snow near the tree seen in this photo.)

I decided to blog about this photo because I saw an article today in the Tribune-Review / Valley News Dispatch about the church and the extensive repairs that it needs. This article titled, “As church structure fails, congregation bears load” by Jodi Weigand struck a chord with me. It details the challenges and expenses involved with saving an important vestige of Parnassus’ Gilded Era. According to the article, the congregation is facing a second move to their fellowship hall during repairs. The members are grappling with how to repair structural and roof damage, keep their stained glass window intact, and raise funds to pay for the whole thing. As old house owners, Jonathan and I have encountered hurdles in our own renovation efforts.  We once sealed off our living room for a year while we (and Jonathan’s parents) stripped wallpaper off of plaster and paint off of woodwork in the evenings, and one humid summer we ate all of our dinners in our bedroom because it was the only room in the house with air conditioning. We took great care to protect our own stained glass window and carefully budgeted to afford our projects. However, our repairs have been insignificant compared to those necessary at this church.  I salute this congregation for its hard word in preserving this New Kensington landmark.

{ 1 comment }




 

“There’s a carousel in Pittsburgh.”

This was the opening line of Sahara Smith‘s song “Mermaid,” which she performed tonight in Schenley Plaza right behind this very carousel. Ms. Smith headlined tonight for WYEP‘s Live and Direct CD Release Party. Last summer, Jonathan and I attended several of the free public concerts that WYEP sponsors in Schenley Plaza, and we were excited to start this summer off in similar fashion.

I snapped this photo moments before Ms. Smith took the stage tonight, unaware at that time that I would be able to tie it to any of her lyrics. I love amusement park rides. My favorite time of the day at any carnival, fair, theme park, etc, has always been that point in time when the ride lights up before daylight retreats.

{ 2 comments }




Easter Vigil

by Jenny 18 April 2012 New Kensington

This photo is a little bit blurry, so I didn’t originally intend to post it here to the blog.  However, I received some questions after I posted it to Facebook, so I decided to explain it all here. This photo is from the Easter Vigil Mass at Mount Saint Peter. As I pressed the shutter, [...]

Read the full article →

In Celebration of Earth Hour

by Jenny 31 March 2012 Outdoors

I found out about Earth Hour a few years ago from a neighbor. This falls on the evening of March 31  - so, it’s tonight! From what I understand, those who are interested are asked to switch off their lights for an hour. The office high rise in which I work observes it, and from [...]

Read the full article →

More Woodworking: A New Router Table Fence

by Jonathan 4 March 2012 House and Home
Thumbnail image for More Woodworking: A New Router Table Fence

Hello everyone! I had a little more time in the shop this weekend, so I tackled another project that has been waiting for time: My router fence. The old fence was a little, um, simplistic: I built this table a long while ago. It was one of the first projects I built in the shop [...]

Read the full article →

A New (Old) Clothes Drying Rack

by Jonathan 26 February 2012 House and Home
Thumbnail image for A New (Old) Clothes Drying Rack

About a month ago, I got my new Saw Stop tablesaw all set up and running, and got busy on my first new project in a while. Jenny had asked for some new clothes drying racks, as the small one she had was getting pretty beat-up, and wasn’t really capable of drying larger items. A [...]

Read the full article →

Safety Saw and Woodworking Projects

by Jonathan 26 February 2012 House and Home
Thumbnail image for Safety Saw and Woodworking Projects

Several years ago, I started to put money away with the intention of buying a new tablesaw. I knew it was going to be a big purchase, and I wanted to make sure I took the time to evaluate what I was going to get. I had a good tablesaw that belonged to my Uncle [...]

Read the full article →

Love, Chocolate, and Childhood Memories

by Jenny 25 February 2012 Outdoors

I hope that all of you readers in cyberspace had a nice February and a love-filled Valentines’ Day. Jonathan and I did. We had just sat down to dinner on February 14 when we both received text messages that we were going to get a new little nephew that very night. Congratulations to Jon’s sister [...]

Read the full article →

An Orchid for Your Thoughts (Just Another Day in Paradise)

by Jenny 5 February 2012 Photography

Our annual membership to Phipps Conservatory is one of our best bargains ever. Jonathan purchased our first membership several years ago when he bought a new camera and wanted to try it out at the Spring Flower Show. When Jon still worked in Oakland, I would sometimes meet him after work so that we could [...]

Read the full article →

This Old Haunted House (A Look Back at My Halloween Adventures: Part II)

by Jenny 27 January 2012 History

One October, my sister Elizabeth and I took a candlelit ghost tour in Gettysburg.  Our guide started by passing around several black-and-white photos that included clusters of light spots – orbs. The orbs were somehow supposed to “prove” that otherworldly spirits were in the pictures. The large group of us tourists were then marched along [...]

Read the full article →