Hi,
Tomorrow is Mexico’s Feast of Our Lady of Solitude, it is the anniversary of the passing away of famed violin maker Antonio Stradivari (1737), New Jersey’s admission to the Union (1787) and it is the United Nation’s Migrant’s Day. Birth anniversaries include baseballer Ty Cobb (886), West Germany former Chancellor Willy Brandt (1913), actor Ossie Davis (1917) and World War II hero Benjamin Davis (1917).
Tomorrow’s a rare opportunity to get a guided tour of both Calvary Methodist Church (the one with the huge Tiffany windows around the corner from me) and Emmanuel Episcopal Church (designed by famed architect HH Richardson who designed our Court House and Jail Downtown). Tickets are just $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Tours are just from noon until 1 and start at Calvary. More info at Public Art Pittsburgh.
Alan works for Super Laundry (where I got my commercial washers and dryers) and comes up for training periodically. He was impressed with Dee’s decorative folds on the toilet paper and wanted to show his skill 🙂 The day before he made a mouse and I didn’t get a picture of that, it also was very cute:
It’s the end of an era, I sold the truck, my mechanic at Blue Wave Auto Spa took the identifying stickers off the truck:
It was a good truck, it served me well here and in Florida. John from Peppis bought it, so it’s still in the neighborhood. 🙂
Why are we becoming such a hateful country? We are a nation of immigrants, I think the discussion we should be having is about how we live up to our ideals, not on whether to admit Syrian immigrants. I heard a program on NPR how a Muslim woman has published a handbook on how to blend in by wearing the Hijab under a baseball cap and another option she poses is to wear it like a turban. It’s part of their faith, why do they have to hide their faith? The discussion should be about the burqa and drivers licenses and American passports. If full facial exposure is our norm and Muslim women want to live in our country and don’t want to expose their face, I’m fine with that. Then they don’t get drivers licenses or American passports. Easy. Mohammad bought Lindo’s basically next door to me from his cousin several years ago. He’s of Pakistani decent. His wife and teenage daughter both wear Hijabs. They are such a nice family, they all work in the restaurant. No one on the street works harder than Mohammad, seven days a week since he bought it. When Razor & RJ broke my hand several years ago, I had just bought and opened a 15# package of bacon and wouldn’t be able to cook a hot breakfast for several weeks. So I took it over to Lindo’s (Mohammad wasn’t working) so I gave it to one of the cooks and said “Give this to Mohammad, tell him it’s from Ed next door.” Around 2 that afternoon, the cook came over and said “Your bacon’s ready, you can pick it up anytime.” He thought I wanted him to cook the bacon for me and did just that. That’s what neighbors do. If my neighbor brakes his leg and doesn’t shovel the snow off his sidewalk. I don’t call the cops, I shove his walk. Mohammad’s on my holiday card list and two years ago I started getting Christmas cards from him. He’s adapting to our society. The Koran & Bible both say you should love your neighbor. As the perverted ISIS misquotes the Koran, so do the Trumps of the Bible. Diversity and tolerance is what makes us what we are. Intolerance is what got black men lynched down South, gays chased down alleyways to get beaten up, Shai shooting Sunnis, etc Particularly, this time of year, lets embrace what we should be.
On that note, I think I will sign off. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year filled with love and peace,
ed
