I hope you folks have all been able to survive this very difficult year. I wish I could greet each of you in person; second best is for me to cobble together an old-fashioned Christmas letter.   I have been quarantined since mid-March except for a few forays into the outside world. Beth does my grocery shopping and odd chores; once a week I drive over to their house for dinner with her, Mike, and Rachael. We rented a house at Chautauqua in July and moved our cohort there for a week. Despite the pandemic,there were still sufficient amenities available…

Continue reading

The recent passing of Lou Cimarolli has brought back memories of Bridgeville’s glory days in high school football, over seven decades ago. In the 1940s Bridgeville still had its own high school, and the cultural tie between the school and the community was powerful. Pride in the high school was closely linked to pride in our home town. High school rivalries were also community rivalries. The three-way rivalry between Bridgeville, Carnegie, and Clark (Scott Township) was particularly passionate in the Universal Cyclops Steel mill where fans of all three teams worked. Its focus was the wall of on a furnace…

Continue reading

Our current situation with its off-and-on lockdowns and quarantines has certainly produced a vast collection of changes to the way we do things. A common belief among most of us is the old saying “The world will never be the same again”. There is considerable discussion about the long-range consequences of this experience we are all undergoing. We have learned to appreciate the contributions of the health care professionals and folks in the service industries, much as we did with first responders after 9/11. I am sure we all have gained a deeper appreciation of the blessings of friends and…

Continue reading

I was particularly interested in the October meeting of the Bridgeville Planning Commission as recorded on the Bridgeville.org website, and continue to be impressed with the power this medium has for connecting the general public with the workings of local government. The combination of clear, easy-to-read slides and individual microphones for each participant provides the viewer with an excellent capability of observing the meeting as if he/she were there in person. This specific meeting dealt with mitigation of flooding in McLaughlin Run and elimination of the devastation it has caused to the Baldwin Street neighborhood. Mr. John Heyl, representing the borough’s engineering…

Continue reading

I easily become discouraged these days; 2020 will be remembered for Covid-19 and a monumentally adversarial Presidential election, both of which make us wonder if we will ever return to better times. Fortunately for me I have just had an experience that gives me great confidence for the future – the completion of this year’s Senior Design Projects program. I have been involved in this program of the University of Pittsburgh Civil and Environmental Engineering Department for two and a half decades and watched it evolve into an impressive capstone to our students’ academic careers. They are required to participate…

Continue reading

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society celebrated the Halloween season by welcoming back one of its favorite guests, Todd DePastino. His subject, the infamous Salem Witch Trials, was perfect for the occasion. Although my quarantine prevented me from attending in person, it was filmed by Tim McNellie and is available on the “bridgeville.org” website. In February, 1692, two young girls, nine year old Betsy Parris and her eleven year old cousin Abigail Williams, suddenly began to have fits and to exhibit behavior that alarmed their parents. Betsy’s father, Samuel Parris was the minister of Salem Village, a small settlement adjacent to…

Continue reading

When Elizabeth and I emptied out my office at Pitt, I realized that I needed a proper desk here. Although there already is a desk on the side porch, another one on the third floor, and two slant top bureau writing desks in my bedroom, I really wanted something convenient in my living room.  Subconsciously I had converted my dining room table into a desk, with none of the necessary conveniences. The best spot for a desk was against the rear window, between a pair of built-in bookcases, a spot then occupied by a fine Eastlake love seat that my…

Continue reading

I recently decided to update my tabulation of my wealth; after all, it is the end of the third fiscal quarter of this volatile year. Sitting in my favorite chair in my living room and glancing around the room, the first asset I noticed was a painting of Maya, our last Boxer. Maya’s passing triggered a long-suppressed desire in my wife, the desire to try her hand at painting. She collected all of Maya’s photographs we could find, procured a set of acrylic paints, and proceeded to produce a series of very credible portraits of this dog. This led to…

Continue reading

Autumn has certainly been spectacular in our woods this year. The maples led the way; their reds were more brilliant than ever, their yellows more golden. The morning sun lighting a maple whose leaves have just turned is always a thrill. Almost as thrilling is the ground covered with these leaves when they decide to come down. Every time I encounter a spot full of red or golden maple leaves, I swear the temperature goes up four or five degrees. Most days when I am in the woods this time of year I take a group of photographs to send…

Continue reading

I was recently offered the opportunity of being a guest lecturer to our current Senior Design class. I immediately accepted, and chose to base it on the chapter on buildings that I wrote for the book “Engineering Pittsburgh”, published in 2018 by our local American Society of Civil Engineers Section. There were engineers long before the term civil engineering was coined, primarily engaged in supporting military activities. It is not surprising that the first major engineering project in this area was a military one, the construction of Fort Pitt in 1758. Following General John Forbes’ successful campaign that year, Captain Harry…

Continue reading