I Left My Heart in Piaggine

If you’ve read my blurb on this blog’s About Us page, you know that I went to Italy on vacation in August 2007. It was one of the highlights of my life. I travelled with my Aunt. She was actually the one who had the idea in the first place. Through her genealogical research about [...]

Don’t try this at home. Or do, and write a book about it.

As I was flying into New York City a couple of weeks ago, I thought about all the interesting experiments going on there at any given time.  Truly, the thought first occurred to me after seeing Julie and Julia -  all these quirky New Yorkers doing something for a year and then blogging or writing [...]

Dumb Luck

Like most Pittsburghers, I’ve been following the news about the recent opening of the Rivers Casino on the North Side.  If the first day profits are any indication, many of you went on opening day too– $14 million was wagered on the first day, with a gross profit of $1.29 million!  For a lot of [...]

What I didn’t read.

I just recently signed up for a class that has a required text. Unfortunately, that means I had to return a number of library books unread – gasp! Yes, it pains me.  So I’m going to tell you what they were so that at least one of us will get to read them.  Imagine me [...]

Our spirituality book club has been reincarnated and born again

At our last meeting, we decided to change the Pathfinders Spirituality Book Club schedule to a series format—we will meet in September, October and November, rather than every other month. We also voted on the titles to read next.  And so, our Fall 2009 schedule is:
September 9: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon [...]

Cold Thoughts on a Hot Day

Editor’s Note:  Thank you for reading along this week as the Eleventh Stack team highlighted the many different ways you can help the Carnegie Library during these challenging times, and the many reasons you might want to. 
We close our week of library advocacy with a guest post from Kathie, whose book picks and info [...]

Bonsai

I’ve recently become quite interested in the art of growing miniature trees in trays, otherwise known as bonsai. After acquiring my first specimen, a little juniper tree, I decided I’d better do some reading to learn how to make my new friend thrive. The big thing I’ve learned so far is this: Bonsai is not [...]

In pursuit of brevity

I love to play charades, Pictionary, Cranium, basically any game where you have to try to guess what another person is trying to “say.”  Unfortunately, I sometimes feel like my life is one of those games.  Either the word I’m looking for won’t come to my head, or I lose track of what I’m saying [...]

a whole lotta nothing

I am eternally grateful to Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth, for introducing me to the idea that I am not the constant stream of chatter that goes through my mind, but instead the observer of it. Tolle suggests focusing on what he calls “the inner body,” feeling your [...]

Oh, the technology!

If you’ve been reading along with the Eleventh Stack team for any length of time, you’re probably pretty comfortable — or at least a little less nervous — about getting some of your news and information from blogs. Lately, though, it seems like there’s a new social technology coming down the pike every few nanoseconds, [...]