According to my calendar, it is only 22 days away. This is beginning to feel like an endless winter…and we escaped to the sunny beaches of South Carolina for two and a half weeks. My sisters and their husbands were with us for the first week at Hilton Head. We shared a lovely three bedroom condo, and we all had a wonderful time. We rode bikes on the beach every day, except the only rainy day when we traveled an hour to visit Savannah, Georgia, a beautiful old city. We ate at Paula Deen’s, Lady and Her Sons restaurant. Delicious food! *If you visit there, do order the buffet. Only one of our party did and the rest of us regretted that we didn’t. The ambiance is not much to talk about but when the food is that good, who cares!? The temps were in the 60’s everyday, balmy weather to what we were accustomed to at home. The second week my husband and I stayed at a smaller condo at Myrtle Beach. I loved being in close proximity to two large book stores. We read books and went to several movies. A very relaxing vacation. We stayed with our cousin in Durham, NC going and coming. Always great to spend time with her! We arrived home on Feb 15th and I’ve shoveled snow every day at least once to keep the sidewalks and doggie paths open.
WATER CRISIS! Bradford made the news this week - thanks to old water main pipes and Mother Nature. We’ve had sub-zero temperatures almost every night for more than a month, with the days not being much warmer. Five million gallons of water spilled up from a split 24 inch pipe six foot underground and created a small lake near the university. At first it was just that part of town without water, by the next day the entire town was without water. The reservoirs had drained as more leaks emerged in other neighborhoods. All restaurants, hotels, schools and the university were closed. It was like a ghost town, with little besides the grocery stores open. Initially it was projected to last for a week or two but now it seems more like days, and perhaps the worst is behind us. Our city water department workers are real heroes to work, regardless of their personal discomfort, until they had a real handle on the problem. Difficult times often bring out the best in people with neighbors helping neighbors. And that’s what Bradford was like this week, we were all in it together. Not surprising, water restrictions remain in place.
We are honored to welcome this delightful author to UPB for Women’s History Month on Tuesday, March 2, 2015. If you live in the Bradford area, please mark your calendar and attend. You won’t be sorry!
Women’s History Month Celebration
An Evening with Barbara Taylor,
Author of “Sing in the Morning,
Cry at Night”
Tuesday, March 3 at 7 pm
Mukaiyama University Room
Frame Westerberg Commons
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
A page-turning debut novel set in Scranton, Pennsylvania
in 1913, during the
height of coal mining, vaudeville, and evangelism.
Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night by Barbara J. Taylor is set in the early 1900s in the
coal mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. This is a powerful debut novel
about hard times, family, and grief and grace in old Pennsylvania coal country.
Barbara Taylor understands the human condition and how dramatically a family
can be ripped apart by grief in one tragic accident. A very fulfilling read
with authentic characters, Taylor mines every hue and shade out of a simple
tale set in a Pennsylvania coal-mining town.
Barbara
J. Taylor was born and raised in Scranton,
PA, and teaches English in the Pocono Mountain School District. She has a
master’s degree in creative writing from Wilkes University. She still resides
in the “Electric City,” two blocks away from where she grew up. Sing
in the Morning, Cry at Night is her first novel. For more information, visit www.barbarajtaylor.com.
Co-sponsored by
the Women’s History Committee and The Friends of Hanley Library
I had time to read several exceptionally good books this month. Here’s a list of a few: The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward. This powerful little book forever changed my attitude about immigration. The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth. A powerful page turner about three generations of midwives in one family. The Long Way Home by Louise Penny. Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. A fun read and like all her books, the depth of the characters kind of sneak up on you. I love all Anne Tyler books!! A Creed for the Third Millennium by Colleen McCullough. A futuristic novel that I stopped reading several times because I didn’t like it. I even placed it in my collection box for Goodwill once. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the plot and characters and I’d return to the novel. It was unsettling and at times far-fetched. Still I don’t regret reading it and it has lodged itself in my memory for the long run.
We went to see several movies, (with lots of popcorn!): Black and White. Theory of Everything. The Imitation Games. Birdman. The Kingsmen. A Most Violent Year. and finally St.Vincent. None were a waste of time. Some were better than others and for once, this year we mostly agreed with the selections made by the Academy Award judges. We are anxiously awaiting Still Alice. Loved that book.
Till next time, keep reading my friends.
Ann