My work in November

During the month of November I am working at the Puckety Presbyterian Church here in Lower Burrell. The congregation recently elected the Rev. Kirk Orr as pastor, and I will be providing pastoral care services before he moves up here and starts.

In addition to preaching every Sunday in November and doing some pastoral visitation, I will moderate one meeting of the church's session.

From the pastor's study I look across the church parking lot to the Burrell High School.



It feels good to be back into a weekly work schedule connected to a congregation. In supply preaching my responsibilities have been limited to preparing a sermon and leading worship.

File under : Lower Burrell, Presbyterian Church, worship

Storm approaching

This picture was taken minutes before heavy rains and winds arrived.

File under : Lower Burrell, picture

Fire, Beatles, and worship

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.





When I came home from work on Friday I could see that something strange was happening in the playground near the parking lot. When I checked it out I could see that smoke was rising from a number of wood chips around the swings. Strong winds with shifting directions were making the individual chips glow.

I had not seen something like this before. The coals were scattered over an area, but possibly had been ignited at the same time. I had seen lightning activity in another part of the sky as I drove home, but these separate glowing coals had totally unburned areas between them.

Fortunately, within about twnety minutes of my taking these pictures the whole area was drenched by a heavy rain.



I went to see the performance of the Cast of Beatlemania at the Greensburg Community Days. These guys do a good show that brings back a lot of memories.



Sunday it was my privilege to be the guest preacher at the Apollo United Presbyterian Church. They are a very friendly congregation, and give a warm welcome to visitors.



I was fascinated by seeing this stained glass window depicting Christ knocking on the closed door, with the window rotated open to let cool air (and light) into the room. There's a sermon illustration in there somewhere.

File under : Apollo, Greensburg, Lower Burrell, art, music, wierd, worship

Moon and clowns

These are a couple of the pictures I took recently.



The moon seen through a tree outside my apartment last night.



Quite a group of donated clown figurines being sold at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in New Kensington.

File under : Habitat, Lower Burrell, New Kensington, moon, picture

Snowed in

I used to live in upstate NY, so I will admit that for several years I have scoffed at what the Pittsburgh "severe weather centers" have called snowstorms. I have seen worse than this weekend's storm, but this one does merit being called a snowstorm.

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window of my third floor apartment, I was surprised to see a foot of snow piled up against the window. This thin pile of snow is more a testimony to how much the snow was blowing last night.

We have about 22 inches in this area, and a few more inches coming.

They were just beginning to plow the parking lot an hour ago.

My car is covered with deep snow, and I think it's not worth trying to clear it off until it would be reasonable to think of going anywhere.

Later this afternoon I should be able to get my car ready to drive up to Kittanning in the morning to preach at the West Glade Run Presbyterian Church.

File under : Lower Burrell, pictures

Steel City Pizza has moved to Tarentum

Tonight I was in Tarentum for a wedding rehearsal, and in addition to the pleasure of working with a wonderful couple and their delightful friends, I discovered that a great pizza spot from Lower Burrell has reopened across the river.

Back in April I had noticed that the lights were out in the building on Leechburg Road where Steel City used to be located. Then the sign in front of the building was changed to say "Building for lease." I wasn't the only one to be discouraged by the apparent closure.

But tonight I learned that Steel City Pizza has moved -- into a restaurant location very familiar to me in Tarentum -- the former location of Lee's Chinese Restaurant, 415 E. 4th Ave.

When I started telling friends that I had discovered where Steel City had moved, I realized what a popular spot it had been for a lot of people. I called the restaurant to get answers to the questions people were asking.

Do they still have those wonderful bread sticks for those who eat in the dining room? Yes.

Do they still deliver to Lower Burrell? Yes, they will deliver to Lower Burrell, New Kensington, and Tarentum. The new phone number for the location in Tarentum is (724) 224-7499.

File under : Lower Burrell, New Kensington, Tarentum, food

Nice weather for birds

I am suspending judgment on whether this storm will turn out to be all that the forecasters have predicted. I can tell that there is poor visibility, but I didn't expect to see this cardinal in the apple tree outside my window on such a gray day.

File under : Lower Burrell, picture

The election at last

I just got back from voting today, and was impressed by the turnout.

I am still getting used to the practice in Pennsylvania of allowing people campaigning for their candidates to work so close to the polling places. When I lived in New York and Connecticut there was always a much larger zone that was off-limits to this activity. But when I go to vote here I feel like I am running the gauntlet of campaigners all the way up the sidewalk, even to the door of City Hall.

As I look back on the last month, I don't know how many times I heard people lament that the election was not over yet. This sense of weariness with the election leaves me concerned that our two-party system (a legalized duopoly here in Pennsylvania) is failing to present the electorate with a choice of candidates who actually energize the public to participate in our democratic systems. I hope that the turnout I saw today is evidence that the choices offered really did motivate people to get out and vote.

File under : Lower Burrell, politics

Grand Opening for Aresto Comics

On Monday, August 4, a new business opened its doors in Lower Burrell.

Aresto Comics, having existed for a number of years as an eBay store, now also has a physical location at 2785 Leechburg Road Suite C, Lower Burrell, where customers can come and browse and receive personal service.

The small store is neat and well-lit. The owner, Tom Aresto, offers a subscription service, and will have special evening hours on Wednesdays, the days when the new issues come out.

When I visited for the grand opening, I admitted that I had not really followed comic books since my childhood, but that in recent years I had seen that the quality of the printing and artwork had improved enormously. Tom pointed out that the quality of the writing has also improved. That explains to me why so many of the recent movies that I have enjoyed have been based on comics or graphic novels I had not seen.

It is an interesting store. Its location on the well-travelled Leechburg Road is an easy walk from my home. I'll probably be checking out new developments around the store as they happen.

File under: : Lower Burrell, art, book, business