A really special performance

Wired for Sound at the Allegheny Health & Wellness Pavilion

     As any quartet singer or performer will tell you every once in a while magic happens during a performance. That performance where everyone is on their game, the sound is amazing, the jokes are met with laughter and applause and the audience is really into the performance.  That happened today for my quartet Wired for Sound. We were performing for a seniors group at the Lodge in Scott Township Park in Carnegie, PA. The little lodge was packed with people and when we arrived they were primed and ready for some entertainment. 

     From the very first chord we sang I could tell it was going to be good. Now don't get me wrong, and I don't want to sound cocky, but we've been at this for about 17 years in this combination so we are not new to this. But today was special, every chord was ringing like crazy and it seemed as though we were all trying really hard to make it perfect. We continued to sing our holiday selections for the enthusiastic group and the more we sang, the more they seemed to enjoy it. Even the jokes were met with tons of laughter and even applause. It was so rewarding and I kept thinking, I wish we would have recorded this performance.  After our last song we were met with a standing ovation, something every performer strives for, WOW!

     Afterwards many of the folks came up to us and told us how much they enjoyed it. It was awesome to hear everyone's compliments. One guy even asked if we would travel to Deep Creek Maryland to perform for the Yacht Club there. Oh yeah, we'll travel! This one will be hard to match but we have at least three more opportunities coming up on the 16th at Amel's Restaurant in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, the 18th at Jim's work at the Allegheny Health & Wellness Pavilion in Wexford (they invited us back after we just performed for them this past Thursday), and our final performance is on the 19th at the South Hills Country Club. I love the holidays and it's so un to share it with good friends making wonderful harmony.

Time to bake those cookies
 

Cherry Pistachio Pinwheel Cookies

Cherry Pistachio Pinwheel Cookies

Dried Cherries, Pistachios and Brown Sugar makes the filling for these colorful and delicious cookies.

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate cookie

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

A very popular combination of a rich chocolate cookie filled with creamy peanut butter. It's sure to be a favorite.

It's been a long weekend and I am bushed so I'm heading to bed. Thanks for reading my blog. When I get some more free time I will get back to some old memories and other fun stuff.
Ron

The Plumer Avenue Gang 

     Ok, we weren't actually a gang but there were a lot of us on the back side of Plumer Avenue (pronounced like Plumber).  Plumer is a dead end and I lived on the dead end side of it didn't so there wasn't a lot of traffic and the neighbors (for the most part) were fine if you ended up playing in their yard as long as you didn't ruin anything. The Plumer Avenue gang included Scott Kelly, P.J. Downs, Chris Smiley, Todd Fischer, Dave McBride, Dan Farrell, Scott Harvey, Gerry Hermann, Bobby & Deneen Newman, Pam Weigand and JoAnn Schwogel. There were also a bunch of kids a little younger than us as well.     

     Although there were organized sports when I was growing up (of course) I can honestly not remember missing many kids from the gang during the summer months. We were always busy doing all kinds of things including football, using the Slip N Slide, throwing Frisbee, riding bikes, playing with my Hot Wheels, going swimming at the community pool or sometimes at our neighbor's house.  Sometimes we would keep ourselves busy for hours clearing out a spot to camp out or just to hang out in the woods. But when night fell it was Freeze Tag or Release. we would play for what seemed like hours and had so much fun and when we played we played in the entire neighborhood. Other than the occasional lamp post outside a house it was pretty dark around the houses. One night I was being chased around the side of this one house and I jumped over what I thought was a little wall and got my foot caught in a little decorative metal fence at the top of the wall. You know the kind, about 12" tall. My foot got caught, I fell forward and smacked my face and chest on a six foot wall. I found myself hanging upside down with the wind knocked out of me, which played to my advantage since I couldn’t make a sound and because of that, I never did get caught!  

     When we weren't running around we would hang out and other than going to each others homes we usually would just hang out in the woods or on the corner. Wanting a place to hang out that actually had a place to sit I decided to ask my parents if I could use a part of the old shed behind our house which had a lot of rooms. My dad used the right side for his tractor and other lawn equipment and the rest of it had been used for homing pigeons that my grandfather raised (before I was born) and then as a bunny haven for many years. They said I could use it but it would need a lot of cleaning. I also used some old paint that I found in our basement and we painted the inside walls. It was our new clubhouse and we had so much fun in there.  

     To add to our places to hang out my dad built us a tree house that was also the source of a lot of good times. I still swear that one night while we were sleeping there was a bear that tried to climb up the tree and get us. That might have been made up in our heads however I do remember playing spin the bottle with some of the girls in the neighborhood, that I’m sure of.  I think that was probably my first kiss from a girl. As all kids will do I did my share of dumb things while growing up -- including putting berries in my ears and an eraser up my nose. No particular reason, just did it!  I told my best friend Dave about the berries in the ears and although we weren't friends back then if I mention this he does a really nice visual mockery of me. 

     I loved growing up on Plumer Avenue and have such great memories of my days with all my friends on Plumer Avenue.

Here we go!

     The holiday season is officially under way Yesterday my barbershop quartet Wired For Sound (Tim Speicher, Me, Jim Mazza & Dave Patton) sang for the new Allegheny Heath & Wellness Pavilion in Wexford, PA. Jim actually works there. We had a great time singing holiday favorites for all of the patients and workers.  

     Tonight our Carolers (Joyce Hamilton, my wife Lynda, my son David and my best friend Dave Patton) will be singing during the Cookie Tour in Irwin, PA and I will be at LaRoche College as Santa for their Light Up Night! Saturday will be crazy for both Santa and the Carolers. Catch the carolers at Settlers Ridge Mall from 12-2PM & 4-6PM then at the Light Up Festivities for Greentree Boro at 6:30PM.

Santa with several friends including the Pirate Parrot at LaRoche College 2013

I will do my best to get a blog out as often as possible but with a crazy schedule it won't be daily. Thanks for reading.

Ron
  

I'm running away, I'll be back tonight.  

Aunt Ruth & Uncle Al's House was to the left of what is now Miller Hall

     When my brother and I were young we spent a lot of time at the local park that was

just a quick walk through the woods down over the hill from our house.  I spent a lot of time at that ACORD Park. My dad was on the board and my mom worked at the concession stand from time to time. Ruth and Al Miller were the caretakers of the park were good friends of our family and my brother and I (and many other kids from the neighborhood) called them Uncle Al and Aunt Ruth. Their house was at the foot of the hill and a perfect place to stop and catch your breath before heading up the very large hill. Aunt Ruth always had something cooking and I fondly remember her stew.  This was also a place that Rich and I would go when we wanted to get away from home because we were angry etc.  We’d run over the hill and Aunt Ruth would be there to welcome us in and talk to us about why we were upset.  I still think she’d call my parents to let them know where we were.  It was so nice to have a safe place to go and be until we cooled down and she was always there and offering us whatever was cooking on the stove. 

The Pavilion (was the Dance Hall)

     I also remember how Aunt Ruth would take us into the large hall that was attached to their home where she would meet racoons at the window. This building sat on a hill above the lower level of the park so where the tree met the window was pretty high up and the racoons would be nesting high in the tree. She would go to the window, call them and they would come and get a treat from her. They were so gentle and sweet. One time the momma racoon had a bunch of babies and we got to not only see them but pet them too. It was so neat. Al worked so hard and kept that park so beautiful. You would ALWAYS see him riding his tractor or his truck keeping busy from dawn until dusk. I was so sad when they passed away and I dearly miss them. They were a special part of my youth.

Mayernick Hall replaced Grimstead Hall

     Like I said, this park was a big part of my life. We had my mom's 40th birthday there and I remember watching my mom and dad dance in the Dance Hall, they were like Fred & Ginger on the dance floor. When I was a senior in high school we actually had a haunted house in one of the old buildings behind the Dance Hall that they hadn't used in years. We had a great time and raised a lot of money for our class.  The park has really changed through the years with some of the old buildings being replaced with new modern ones which actually makes me sad. My High School alumni even had one of our class reunions in one of those new buildings. It's beautiful but I really miss the charm of the old building it replaced. At least I have wonderful memories.

Lemon & Lime Cookies

Meyer Lemon Cardamom Crinkle Cookies

     

These Meyer Lemon & Cardamom cookies offer an exotic flavor with a gentle crispy exterior and cake like inside.

Key Lime Meltaway Shortbreads

These Key Lime Meltaway Shortbread cookies offer a nice punch of fresh lime flavor with key lime juice in the cookie and then key lime juice and lime zest in the frosting. This is a nice refreshing change to the typical holiday cookies and will probably remind you of summer.

Tragedy strikes in our neighborhood

I woke up this morning to find out that a family of six in our school district lost their home earlier this morning in a massive fire. The Rogers family (mom and dad and four kids) were able to escape the flames but they lost their two Golden Retrievers as well as everything else in the house. Lane (the only boy) is a classmate of my son David's.

Please keep the Rogers family in your prayers and if you are able to help them financially please consider the GO FUND ME account that has been started for the family 

http://www.gofundme.com/i6incw

Thanks for reading and have a great hump day

Ron