Category Archives: hometown

30 Day Challenge – Day 12

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Where your family is from

map of italy

Both sides of my family originate in Italy. Please don’t ask me where in Italy, because I don’t know…maybe one of my relatives will see this and tell me. 😉

My great-grandparents settled in Brockway, PA…then my dad’s parents in Ridgway, and my mom’s in St. Marys. I grew up in St. Marys.* (Ridgway is about 10 miles from St. Marys.)

PA Map

*No, there isn’t an apostrophe in St. Marys, PA. I don’t know why.

St. Marys is known for being the home of Straub Beer:

And Decker’s Chapel, which I used to think held some kind of record for being the tiniest chapel, but it doesn’t:

decker's chapel

Inspiring story

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I graduated from high school with this guy…and back in the days when I was a reporter, I interviewed him for a story. The story got picked up by the AP, and they used the photo that I took with it. I got a little check for the photo.

To sum up, Craig Dietz–a Pittsburgh attorney who was born without arms or legs–competed in a triathalon.

You’ll have to click here to see the story.

Good news for my hometown

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(I thought I published this post days ago, but apparently I only saved it as a draft…)

Last night, my brother called me to ask me if I remembered a Lawrence Donachy from high school. I told him that the name sounded vaguely familiar, but not really, no,

I asked him why, and he told me that he had read in the Pittsburgh paper that Donachy had been arrested for the 1999 murder of Irene Challingsworth.

Nine years ago.

The case kind of rocked my little hometown…there’s not a whole lot of violent crime there. When you did hear about murders, they were usually murder-suicide crimes of passion, usually neatly tied up with very little investigation needed.

Irene Challingsworth owned a beauty shop in her home. Someone broke into her home, presumably sexually assaulted her, and stabbed her three times in the neck.

At the time, I was a reporter for the DuBois Courier-Express. I escaped having to report on the murder itself–perhaps I was already tied up with something else?–and the paper sent another more seasoned reporter to get the story.

I was, though, the person who had to keep following up on the story…who had to keep asking the police if there was any new information, who had to attend press conferences and report that no, there was nothing new to report.

I, like many in my town, assumed this case would go unsolved, but I am very happy that it has been resolved.

Long weekend update

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I had off Friday AND Monday, but I think I would be more rested if I had been at work! Here’s how my weekend went:

Friday

Planned to go to yoga Friday morning. Did not go. Tried to go get a mani/pedi and discovered that the salon I usually go to has closed. (there was a “for rent” sign in the window and everything…) Ran some errands. Sat at the chiropractor’s office for WAY too long. Shopped for some things we needed for the new place. Went to follow-up contact appointment and bought two boxes of contacts. Waited for Rand to get home. Left for St. Marys.

Trip to St. Marys was incredibly annoying…traffic on 219 into Springville backed up.

Arrived in St. Marys just in time for 7 pm showing of The Music Man at the high school, where my cousin Scott had the lead. He was fantastic (as was the rest of the production). Stayed up too late chatting and snacking with family.

Saturday

Woke up. Helped mom make blueberry muffins. Got dressed and ready for second bridal shower (more details on this to come). Had a lovely time at bridal shower, and got lots of excellent goodies. Visited grandparents. Got ready to drive back to Buffalo. Stopped at Blasedell Pizza in Springville on the way back.

Watched some TV (The Cable Guy, which I had never seen, had shown on cable) and moved some more stuff from the apartment.

Sunday

Slept in. Visited with my brother and SIL, who were on their way to Niagara Falls/Niagara on the Lake to celebrate their anniversary. They got to see the new place, and we went out for lunch at Anderson’s.

Lots more moving/unpacking, interspersed with bits of TV and a dinner break.

Monday

Slept in again. Went to Wegmans to pick up some cleaning supplies. Forgot oven cleaner, which was the main reason why I went. Went back to Wegmans. Headed over to apartment to finish packing/begin cleaning.

Toyed with the idea of paying someone to clean. Decided to suck it up and clean ourselves.

Emptied and cleaned most of the apartment (still left: kitchen floor, living room). Took lunch and dinner breaks. Rand watched 300 (I watched on and off, while hunting around the house looking for things I am missing…), and we headed back over to the apartment to go through the storage area in the basement. Moved or threw away most of that stuff.

Bed.

We should easily finish cleaning and moving today. There’s not much left to do. But man, do I wish I had another day or two to unwind!

Whew. I should get back to work. Look for some photos and a wedding blog update soon! (46 days until the wedding–ACK!)

Congratulations!

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Congrats to my friends Jennifer and Mike, who just welcomed baby Lucas Michael into the family!

IMG_2240

Clinton visits St. Marys

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No, not Hillary.

Bill.

I think my mom was going to go. I will update later. 😉

Home sweet home

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BufBloPoFo Topic for Day 9: Share your own insider’s perspective on your hometown. Most of you, like me, are Talkin’ Proud, so share your expertise. What’s your favorite way to spend a Buffalo summer day? Which old timey Buffalo movie theatre is to most old timey? What’s your most vivid Buffalo memory (any Buffalonian worth his or her road salt knows where they were when the pigskin went wide right.) Your favorite Buffalo restaurant? (If you say Wild Wings, you’re dead to me.)

If you aren’t a Buffalonian, what should we know about your hometown?

Well, as many of you are aware, I am *not* a native Buffalonian, but I have made it my home for the past eight years and don’t see that changing in the near future. So I shall answer this question in two parts.

Part 1: Things I dig about Buffalo (and WNY)

Summer in Buffalo rocks. Shakespeare in Delaware Park. Countless festivals involving bad-for-you (but oh-so-good) food. Thursday at the Square.

I love Buffalo’s proximity to Toronto and Niagara Falls.

I love the fact that you can get such a variety of amazing food without having to go too far for it. Within 15 minutes of my apartment, I can get fantastic Greek, Korean, Indian, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese food…not to mention great pizza and wings!

Asking me to choose a favorite Buffalo restaurant…sigh. How can I possibly choose? Here are a few favorites, both within city limits and not: Gabriel’s Gate. Towne. Pano’s. India Gate/Taste of India. The Village Grille. Korea House. Morning Glory Cafe. Cole’s.

I love Wegmans. I love being able to get pretty much anywhere in 20 minutes. I love sitting by Glen Falls in the spring. But more than anything else, I like all the people I’ve met here!

Part 2: My hometown

Grew up in St. Marys, PA, a small town in northwestern Pennsylvania. What should you know about it? It isn’t near anything. It’s not near Erie, it’s not near Pittsburgh, it’s not near Philadelphia. The closest known commodity is State College (home of Penn State University), and that’s like an hour and a half away.

It was settled by German Catholics. It has a brewery and a convent. It consolidated with a surrounding township to gain the dubious distinction of ‘city’. And even though I’ve made Buffalo my adopted home, St. Marys will always be home.

People are ridiculous

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It might be a mistake for me to post this, but here I go anyway…

I just logged in to get the following message on myspace:

u know we have a family here and i dont really appeciate single women contacting my husband (name omitted) and kids father-GET A LIFE AND UR OWN MAN

I would like to respond, but I think that would be an even bigger mistake than posting this here. The husband and father in question is a guy I went to high school with.  (I *gasp* went to a dance with him once. When we were sophomores. Oh, and there was some harmless flirting senior year when we both had significant others away at college.)

At any rate, I’ve been out of high school for sixteen years. I don’t need this crap.

OMG we friended each other on myspace! And even sent a message! I must want to sleep with him!
For the record, sweetie, if you’ve wandered over here…I *have* a life, AND my own man, tyvm. I have zero interest in stealing yours away.

Good lord.

Thursday Thoughts: Bellsnickel

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December 6 is St. Nicholas Day. In my hometown, we celebrated a similar tradition, but instead of St. Nicholas, we were visited by Belsnickel. Here’s a brief mention I found on Wikipedia:

Belsnickel (or Belschnickel) is a Pennsylvania Dutch mythical being who visits children at Christmas time. If they have not been good, they will find coal and/or switches in their stockings. The Belsnickel was a scary creature not well loved except by parents wanting to keep their children in line.

Belsnickel is also similar to Krampus in Austria and Germany.

I did grow up in a very German part of Pennsylvania, and my area of the state had adapted a version of this story. Our Belsnickel wasn’t exactly scary, though…we thought of him as a jolly elf of sorts. On the night of Dec. 5, we’d leave our shoes out, and Belsnickel would leave a small gift (candy or little toys) for you if you’d been good.

I received small gifts from Belsnickel well into my adulthood. 😉 (Here’s one previous mention on the blog…I had spelled it Bellsnickle, and I’ve been noticing a lot of google searches leading people here! Hope you find what you’re looking for…)

There’s some more information under the “Companions of St. Nicholas” entry in Wikipedia.

Tuesday Tidbits

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Hrm. I’m having a hard time finding note-worthy things I want to blog about. So today’s gonna be the all-Sasquatch edition of Tuesday Tidbits.

This whole bigfoot sighting was near enough to my hometown that the locals were all abuzz with the news. A local hunter had put up a stationery motion-triggered camera and picked up…well, something.

Here’s the article from the Bradford Era.

Here’s a video from MSNBC:

And another from WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh:

The story also made the AP wire, as seen here.

And it’s gotten mentions on various blogs and message boards. Here’s one.

What do I think? Dunno, really. It is pretty bizarre, and I’m not sure I’m buying the “it’s a bear” line from the PA Game Commission.

What do *you* think? 😉