By the time you receive this I will be in Truckee, California, enjoying being with my children and grand-children for Christmas. Years ago, when John was living in San Francisco, he and his friends rented a house there each winter so they could ski at Squaw Valley. Eventually he and one of his friends decided to build one themselves, fronting on Donner Lake. It has turned out to be an ideal year-around vacation home. Our family has been the beneficiaries of many happy vacations there, summers as well as at Christmas. Christmas letters are formulaic, either chronological or family tree…

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Twice a year I write a column about the semester’s Senior Design Project program at Pitt’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, culminating it with a statement to the effect that “if these students are typical of the young people graduating from college this year, our future is in good hands”. I am pleased to report that the Fall 2022 class is perpetuating that statement. This year we had thirty-two students divided into eight four-person teams implementing a wide variety of projects, six in the Civil Engineering area and two in Environmental Engineering. In every case the students showcased their technical…

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For its November program meeting the Bridgeville Area Historical Society welcomed back David Aitken to discuss one of Pittsburgh’s greatest disasters – the naphtha explosion in the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Corliss Yard on May 13, 1902. A retired railroader, Mr. Aitken is one of my favorite persons. He made a memorable presentation to the Society five years ago on his book, “The Little Saw Mill Railroad: Its Life and Legacy”. He also is a major volunteer/re-enactor at Old Economy Village. We saw him at the Erntedankfest last month, depicting storekeeper and Society Trustee Romelius Baker. He reported that he was scheduled…

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The tradition of formally expressing one’s thanks for his/her many blessings dates back to the earliest colonial days. It was informally recognized when our new nation was organized, interrupted by President Jefferson who was concerned about the separation of church and state, and officially converted into a national holiday (the last Thursday of November) by President Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War. After a year with five Thursdays in November reduced the “shopping days till Christmas” to twenty-four, pragmatist President Franklin Roosevelt changed the annual date to the fourth Thursday of November, guaranteeing at least six more. Its…

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Eighteen years ago my brother embarked on a project that has significantly enhanced our knowledge of local history. As an impressionable child growing up during World War II, he was keenly aware of the suffering experienced by families of the young men who had lost their lives. In 2004 he volunteered to identify the war dead associated with Bethany Church and to honor them on Memorial Day weekend. This initiated a research project that resulted in a list of about three dozen men, and an annual tradition that they to be honored each year ever since. In the process of…

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Last weekend was a special treat for me, a visit by my daughter Sara. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she manages a Conservation Genetics Laboratory for the Department of the Interior (DOI), primarily focused on wildlife. One of her current projects is participation in a task force developing a long-term strategy for the management of the bison herds on federal land. Today they amount to perhaps twenty thousand animals, including two thousand at Yellowstone. Her concern is largely related to protecting and improving the genetic diversity of the bison. Separately, a number of Native American tribes have initiated…

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I am well aware of the fact that my life has been filled with blessings. High on the list is my love for reading. One of the many advantages of being old and independent is the fact that I can prioritize my time and read as often as I wish. Nonetheless my pile of “must-reads” continues to grow. My first priority is the neighborhood Book Club. We started the year by reading Shakespeare’s classic play “Hamlet”. Every visit to “Hamlet” yields brand new insight into its characters and into the vast collection of human foibles. Gregory Freeman’s “The Forgotten 500”…

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Courtesy of Elizabeth and Mike, I was able to participate in a delightful weekend in the Philadelphia area recently. Their daughter Rachael is in her first year at Bryn Mawr; we were invited for Parents Weekend. Everything combined to make it a memorable trip. Mike picked me up Friday morning and headed into Oakland where we added Beth to our entourage, after her class at Pitt. By midday we were well onto the Turnpike, passing through familiar terrain. My father served as Resident Engineer for the Turnpike Commission in 1938 and 1939, with responsibility for two contracts between New Stanton…

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We German scholars immediately know what to expect when we encounter an unfamiliar word, like “erntedankfest”. After all, “ernte” means harvest, “dank” implies thanks, and “fest” certainly means festival. Obviously “erntedankfest” refers to a festival giving thanks for an abundant harvest. The good folks at Old Economy Village traditionally celebrate such a festival early in October each year. This year my daughter and I were fortunate to be able to attend it. Old Economy Village is a massive museum, covering six acres which contain an impressive collection of buildings and grounds that faithfully record life on this specific site nearly…

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Five months into their highly successful Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition throughout the community, Public Art Bridgeville is sponsoring a second local event, the First Annual Bridgeville Library Sculpture Exhibition, at the Bill & Grace McDivitt Center for Lifelong Learning throughout the month of October, 2022. The show is the result of a partnership of the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors, Public Art Bridgeville, and the Bridgeville Public Library. I was fortunate to receive an invitation to the reception at the Library on Friday, October 7, officially kicking off the exhibition. It turned out to be a very well attended event, with the visitors…

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