Laurel Mountain Post :: Holiday 2004

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST A Magazine for the Heart of Westmoreland County

Every Story Begins At Home.

www.LaurelMountainPost.com

HOLIDAY 2004: Cooking • Gardening • Nostalgia • Shopping • Nutrition • Style • Faith • Children • Art • Fiction

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217 Post Road • Somerset, PA 15501 814-443-1510 www.doublekstables.com Guided Trail Rides • Boarding Facilities Horseback Riding Lessons Sleigh Rides • Group Activities

Embrace the warmth of friendship in a gracious home environment.

Contact consultant Briana Tomack at 724-331-3936.

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The Horse Knows the Way . . .

To find great gifts at

Equine Chic this holiday season!

Join us as we celebrate our first year in Ligonier “On the Diamond.”

On November 26 from 3:00-9:00 (Light Up night in Ligonier) come to the Artists’ Reception and meet Martha Murphy & Sharon D’Augostino who share their love of the equine in various mediums.

Get ready for the Kick Off of the Holiday Season.

Start now and don’t let the horse leave you in the snow!

724-238-7003 Susan Ransel McBroom

106 E. Main St. • Ligonier, PA 15658

724.238.4372

www.EquineChic.com

foxwoodsrm@adelphia.net P.O. Box 460 Laughlintown, PA 15655

MOUNTAIN VIEWS Cathi Gerhard Williams

There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays Thanksgiving has always been my husband’s favorite holiday for many reasons. It’s all about being home; there is a lot of football to watch over the long weekend; and the main purpose of the day is to eat, relax, and enjoy the company of your family. In so many ways, it is about appreciating the simplest, most basic things in life that can get overlooked and under-prioritized the rest of the year. He likes to think of it as the calm before the storm that is Christmas.

my college roommate; we drove to the Grand Canyon, and then on to Las Vegas. I always said my first trip would be to Australia (so I could go as far as I could – half way around the world), but I am pretty excited about my two five-hour flights and seeing some awesome places.

So on that quiet, reflective note, I thought I would get ready for the holidays by looking back at some of the more unconventional things I am thankful for receiving in my life this year:

• I talk to my best friend on the phone every day. Thank you to the local and wireless phone companies for their new unlimited calling plans.

• The most important thing is every time I got a good night’s sleep. The older I get, I can’t think of a better gift than that.

• I found a pair of jeans AND a purse that fit just right. No explanation necessary.

• This year I finally broke down and bought some of those plastic lids for cat food cans. My obsessed-with-freshness-and-small-portions cat truly appreciates this one.

• The Scottish band Franz Ferdinand makes my list because my daughter and I now have a CD we can both agree on listening to in the car. We will never find common ground on a radio station.

• I became a soccer mom when my son joined his first team this year. There’s nothing quite like watching five-year-olds run around a field chasing a ball (without particular regard to what direction or goal they are heading toward). And my son’s first goal was a pretty amazing experience.

• First there was the comeback story of quarterback Tommy Maddox, and now there is rookie Ben Roethlisberger. Steelers football is great!

• The price of gas has made me eternally grateful that I traded in my minivan for a little Honda a few years ago.

• Clay Aiken’s Christmas CD came out just in time to set the mood and help me finish up the issue tonight and send it off to the printer. My family loves Clay and rooted for him all through season two of American Idol.

Editor Cathi Gerhard Williams, right, and daughter, Elizabeth (left), who lent a hand with designing this issue.

• The Laurel Mountain Post has been so well received. I took a chance on an idea this year and met so many new and interesting people right at home. I am grateful to everyone who volunteered their time and endless enthusiasm to this project.

The paper has become for us a place to call home.

We have become a family that continues to growth with each issue.

I invite you to meet some of them in this edition.

Our regular columnists have returned, along with some new ones. We have several short feature pieces introducing some unique local artists, writers, business people and personalities. There are lots of local holiday gift ideas spread throughout too. Take the time to get to know these new neighbors and their crafts.

We hope you enjoy the following pages as much as we did putting them together. Keep your letters and emails coming – we appreciate them so much! Thanks for celebrating the holidays with us. See you next year!

• Believe it or not, I took my first trip on an airplane. All by myself. I flew to Phoenix to see

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST The Laurel Mountain Post is a quarterly publication of biffBOOcommunication designed to focus on the people, places and events at the heart of Westmoreland County in western Pennsylvania. We print stories about real people and their daily lives; feature local merchants, craftsmen and professionals; present short pieces of art & literature; and never lose sight of what makes this area a great place to call home.

P.O. Box 227 | Latrobe, PA 15650 | 724-331-3936 | editor@LaurelMountainPost.com

Briana Dwire Tomack, Marketing Director, and her two inspiring sons, Sam and Alex.

Cathi Gerhard Williams, Editor & Publisher Briana Dwire Tomack, Marketing Director & Business Manager CONTRIBUTORS - HOLIDAY 2004 (Volume I, Issue 2) Yalana Awstraw, Vance Booher, Jim Brewer, Daniel Chicka, Ron Durika, Carol Gerhard, Paula Forte, Jodee Harris-Anke, Melanie Kimmel, Marie Manski, Susan McBroom, Brian E. Panichelle, Jim Prengaman, Joe Prengaman, Ruth Richardson, JB Rossi, Michelle Schultz, Elizabeth Srsic, Nicole Vitale Smith, Scott Sinemus, Drew Williams, Nicky Zappone Special thanks to our advertisers for supporting this community publication!

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 3

Mosso’s Medical Supply Company Ranks In Country’s Top 500 Mosso’s Medical Supply Company has been named by Inc. magazine as one of the top 500 fastest-growing private companies in America! The Special Fall Issue of Inc. 500, ranks Mosso’s at number 271, based on 2003 financial statements. Mosso’s boasts 132.8% Annual Growth, 531% Total Growth, total revenue of $12 million, and 130 employees.

The company was founded in 1989 when Joseph A. Mosso, Jr. courageously did the unexpected—he left a family-owned business to start his own which bears his name and is headquartered in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. One year later, he founded a longterm care pharmacy, i.e. Med Systems. The combined businesses allow Mosso to offer pharmaceuticals and home medical equipment to meet the needs of the aging population of Latrobe and beyond.

Mosso attributes the company’s success to several factors.

• One, the medical community’s trust in Mosso’s when it refers patients for home oxygen, nebulizer medications, and durable medical equipment.

• Two, patients who exercise their right to choose Mosso’s when faced with the need for home medical supplies.

• Three, a team of individuals who, like Mosso, believes that exemplary patient care takes priority over “bottom line.”

Relationship building has paid off.

Patient demand for Mosso’s rings throughout Western Pennsylvania which, demographically, boasts a large population of seniors, second in ranking only to Florida. From its humble beginning, Mosso’s has grown from one store to seven, now featuring retail locations in Greensburg, Mt. Pleasant, Somerset, Monroeville, the North Hills of Pittsburgh, New Castle areas, and , of course, Latrobe. The eighth location, Sharon, is expected to open soon.

Mosso comments that rocket growth brings significant challenges, particularly funding. Mosso credits the company’s ability to expand rapidly 4 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

with financial backing from National City Bank and its Pittsburgh-based corporate banking office, which supported his business plan when locals did not.

Five Hundred seems to be Mosso’s lucky number. In addition to ranking among the top 500 fastest-growing companies in America, Mosso’s recently caught the eye of a Fortune 500 company, Air Products, which, in April of this year, acquired Mosso’s Medical Supply Company.

Air Products Healthcare, a Pennsylvania-based corporation, is a recognized global leader of health care services. Mosso believes that Air Products and Mosso’s are a perfect match.

Both hold that the foundation for any successful homecare business is the relationships developed in the communities served.

The acquisition, says Mosso, “Lends an infrastructure that allows Mosso’s to continue as the region’s low-cost provider of quality caring service in the home, with a focus on: clinical excellence, compliant, hassle-free service, responsiveness, and patient information.” Their commitment to clinical excellence is award winning and recognized nationally. Just this week, Air Products Healthcare, and its divisions, including Mosso’s, were awarded the prestigious “Home Medical Equipment Excellence Award in Respiratory Care.”

Mosso believes that solid footing in the communities it serves combined with the financial backing of a Fortune 500 company make Mosso’s Medical Supply Company the best home medical equipment company in Western Pennsylvania.

Mosso’s Medical Supply Company, now an award-winning division of Air Products, has adopted this mantra: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally.

Patients can be sure: The local act remains; Mosso and the local management team retain active roles in the company, ensuring a seamless transition and exemplary patient care…the type of care which patients, peers, business magazines, and Fortune 500 companies recognize.

Joseph A. Mosso, Jr.

THE GARDEN GUYS Jim & Joe Prengaman

Winter Landscape Tips While winter may leave many of us who enjoy working outside in the garden with a sense of longing for the spring, it can also be a time to relax, remember and enjoy the labor of the previous months. Gone are the hours spent watering, fertilizing, hauling yards of mulch and weeding. After the killing frosts have come and blanketed our annuals and perennials with a morning layer of crystal, they are pulled out or trimmed back with hopes of an early rebirth; but hopefully some planning was spent on the winter landscape which can add some interest during the bleak winter months.

spruces will stand out now that most of the color in the garden has gone. Heathers are one of the few plants that will bloom during the winter. They offer a splash of color in January where no other can be found.

The last several winters have been mild compared to the ones we may remember as children, but this does not mean the snow will not come again.

Now instead of snow days and sledding, we can look forward to hours spent cleaning and scraping ice off of cars and shoveling snow.

Many people only consider a landscape something to look at and enThere are a surprising joy. Parts of it can do number of plants which, more than hide an elecwhile they can not comtric meter or air condipete with the flowers of tioner unit. It can offer spring and summer, can both function and utilstill accent the landity. Many of us have scape. Something that spent hours cleaning needs to be considered and salting our drivebefore planning a winter ways only to return landscape is what type hours later to find a of interest you would like fresh windswept layer of to create. Some plants “Heathers are one of the few plants snow hiding our labor. can offer more function that will bloom during the winter. They A wind break may be the than beauty, and others answer to this problem. can offer food and sheloffer a splash of color in January Hedge rows can keep the ter for animals. As many where no other can be found.” majority of the blowing of us know, the deer may snow away while offering also find our landscape a form and definition in tasty treat from what nathe snowy landscape. Heavy snow loads can eastive plants are available in the woods during the ily damage plants and should be knocked off of heavy snows, and some efforts should be taken to them. Care should be taken not to shovel, plow choose plants they may enjoy less. A good referor blow more snow on to our shrubs and trees. ence list is available at www.deerxlandscape.com An hour or two trimming these shrubs in the spring can keep us safer and warmer during the The leaves from our trees have fallen and we now cold winter months. have the opportunity to see what they have been covering all summer. Several different types and We have found that you can still plant until the deciduous species of trees can offer color and ground has frozen solid. The plants are already contrast with their bark when other colors have in a dormant state and can adjust to new surfaded. Exfoliating White, River or Paper Birch bark roundings very well in the winter and fall. They will be much more noticeable against a backdrop simply awaken in the spring in a new location. of evergreen trees and shrubs. The Red and YelWe once installed a landscape for one of our cuslow twig Dogwood will take its place in the color tomers on Christmas Eve: all of the plants surscheme as the snow blankets our landscape beds. vived and began to thrive in the spring — so don’t Several other plants, such as Holly Barberry and Bittersweet, have colorful red and yellow and orbe afraid to try a late season planting. ange berries that hint at the promise of spring.

If left untrimmed, ornamental grasses continue to offer an airy texture in the garden throughout the winter. Unique evergreens such as the Montgomery and Thompson Spruce have a rich blue color. The Montgomery keeps a compact form while the Thompson grows to a more contorted form. Any of the contorted or weeping pines and

Jim and Joe Prengaman are both graduates of Derry Area High School’s Horticulture program. Jim received an AAS in Greenhouse Production from the Ohio State University and the went on to receive a BS in Horticulture from the Pennsylvania State University. Joe received a BA from the University of Pittsburgh in Secondary Education. They had worked together in both greenhouse producton and landscape and nursery production for different companies before founding Prengaman Landscape Contracting in 1993.

Deer-R esistant Plants Deer-Resistant Spruce Barberry Weigilia Pieris Japonica Boxwood Astilbe Butterfly Bush Foxglove

Coneflower Ferns Potentilla Russian Sage Lamb’s Ear Bee Balm Ornamental grasses

HAPPY HOLID AYS FROM THE LLAUREL AUREL MOUNT AIN POST! HOLIDAYS MOUNTAIN (No.2 from the Farm Series by Melanie Kimmel)

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DERRY REMEMBRANCES Ruth Richardson

Christmas Shopping In Derry Christmas shopping seems to be more of a strain every year. We have more stuff than we know what to do with, and our solution is to give everyone else more stuff. When I think about the letters I used to write to Santa, I recall one that I have kept all these years. It’s dated 1953 and I asked for a walking/ talking doll and a tea set. Times were just simpler.

I also had my own list of Christmas presents I had to buy. I would save my money for months so I could get the perfect gifts for my mom and dad. In those days, all your shopping could be done in downtown Derry. There were two or three streets full of stores offering most everything you can get today at the mall. My mom would take me grocery shopping with her to the A & P on First Avenue and South Chestnut Street (the Dollar General sits in this spot today). I remember the entrance was at an angle to the corner, and had previously housed Jordan’s News Stand. Mom would straighten the little artificial Christmas corsage she had pinned on my lapel and help me cross the slush-covered street. I was to meet her back there in half an hour or so. Before I even got past the Post Office on the first floor of the Cullen Building, I had to stop, as all the kids did (and I think still do) to go up one side of the snowy antique carriage steps, and down the other. As I passed Petraraca’s Men’s and Boys Store, I would stop to gaze into the window. There, under the decorated Christmas tree, was the display of beautiful men’s clothing that I couldn’t afford. I guess I could have gotten my dad a tie, but they didn’t wear ties in the grinding department at Derry Westinghouse where he worked, and he already had several that he wore to church. Nope, a tie was not it. I didn’t know quite what ‘it’ was, but I knew I would know ‘it’ when I saw ‘it’. As I ran past the Brookline Savings and Loan building, (now Ameriserve Bank) my first stop was Tragos’ Candy Kitchen. That’s where daddy always bought his hunting license and they had lots of hunting gear in the back. The ice cream parlor was on the left and the sporting goods section on the right. I wasn’t really sure what he needed. I really loved the smell of the Hoppe’s gun oil he used when he let me help clean his deer rifle, but it just didn’t seem to be a very personal gift, even if I enclosed a package of those little round gauze pads. Onward I would press, up the street in search of my treasures.

Chestnut Street had two-way traffic in those days and there was plenty of it on a Saturday afternoon.

This meant I couldn’t cross to the Yolanda Shoppe.

That didn’t stop me from straining my eyes to look longingly through the falling snowflakes at all the possibilities laid out in both of her festively decorated windows. One window display was for ladies 6 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

items and the other for kids. Kasperik’s Pharmacy also had a selection of fine jewelry and cosmetics, not to mention Whitman’s Samplers, but again, it

was across the street. To my ears, the sounds of the cars added to the Christmas spirit of the brightly decorated downtown. Some of them had their tire chains on and the jingle they made as they hit the pavement reminded me of distant reindeer.

As much as I wanted to peruse these stores and all the other ones that continued down First Avenue, I wasn’t worried - the bonanza of shopping was still sitting right in front of me: the grandaddy of department stores in my 7-year-old head. Any gift I could ever imagine would be found at Murphy’s 5 & 10. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the oiled floors, just like the ones at West Derry School where I was a second grader. As I pushed through the swinging doors, the icy wind made the silver icicles on the Christmas tree in the window flutter. I noticed Carlotta hard at work at the check out counter.

I could also see Santa in the back on a little platform placed in front of the office. Several kids were waiting to sit on his lap but he would not be getting a visit from me today. I had bigger fish to fry.

Ruth Richardson today and December 1956.

Just inside the door was the fragrance department.

The first thing that caught my eye was the fabulous display of the ever enduring, exotic sounding, imported scent of Evening in Paris. The dark purple bottles sat elegantly atop their satin-covered boxes.

Some had a round atomizer pump with a long tassel. Tempted as I was, I didn’t feel the need to be hasty. I still had plenty of time to browse. In the back of the store was the housewares’ department.

My mom was always in the kitchen. She really enjoyed baking and cooking and taking care of us. To me, she was also the most beautiful and elegant woman imaginable; therefore, mundane cooking items as a gift didn’t seem to do the trick. As I passed a rack of aprons, I noticed some ruffles protruding from the rack of printed cotton and gingham ones and stopped to see what was hiding there, tucked in the back. As I pushed the others aside, my eyes were treated to the most beautiful apron made of chiffon and lace. It was a double layer of black with a little pocket stitched at an angle. A ruffle was sewn on each layer giving it a pouffed effect, and there was a red rose embroidered on the pocket. There were two ties of chiffon on each side that created a really big bow in the back. Now THIS was an apron. My mom would look better than Betty Furness and Harriet Nelson put together. One gift down and one to go.

I made my way up the aisle toward men’s clothing, stopping first in the shoe department to check out the new selection of Red Ball Jets and White Bucks.

I found more ties, along with socks, pants, shirts and long underwear. Suddenly I spotted a stack of tee shirts. My dad wore cotton khaki or navy col-

ored pants to work with a white tee shirt. It reminded me of a uniform, and I knew daddy would love more variety in his wardrobe, if he ever took the time to think about it. Now he didn’t have to. I would do it for him with my newly discovered stack of brightly colored shirts. They even had the required pocket for his pack of Camels. My only problem now was what color would be the most striking on my handsome daddy. It didn’t take long to narrow it down to the bright yellow one I finally chose.

Yes, this was the gift I was searching for and I knew it would make all the other guys at Westinghouse want a shirt just like my dad’s.

As soon as Carlotta rang up my purchases, I was on my way back down the street and, in my excitement, crossing the street to the other side by myself. My mom was shocked to see me as she finished checking out her ‘order’. After a short lecture about the possibility of getting hit by a car, she let me pour the Eight O’clock coffee beans into the grinder at the checkout. Meanwhile, Margaret Yaccobucci was busy punching the prices into the cash register. I remember her pulling that long wooden handle that scooped the groceries toward her. This was long before the automated belt. I also seem to remember a stray bra strap slipping down her shoulder as she reached for each item. She would chat with me as I held the coffee bag in place, set the machine to ‘perk’ and watch the coffee grind out into the bag. That smell, to this day, is one of my all time favorites.

I don’t know what my mom really thought of that apron, but she wore it for years to prepare every festive party or holiday dinner we had. I don’t know how practical it was, but she surely did look glamorous in it. I don’t have any such doubts about the bright yellow tee shirt. Daddy wore it to work only once. After that, he told me it was too nice for work and he would wear it at home where it wouldn’t get dirty. After I was grown, he told me the story of the ribbing he took at ‘the shop’ the day he wore that shirt. It was an ongoing joke between us until his death last fall. Every Christmas, he would ask, with a chuckle, if I could find him another beautiful yellow tee shirt.

Baubles & Bags Upscale Accessories for Women Baubles & Bags, a joint enterprise of Sheila Caramella and Jo Ann Lightcap, offers a unique selection of upscale accessories for women. Sheila has been an interior designer for more than twentyfour years. Jo Ann is the founder and former owner of The Kitchen Shelf.

Selling from private homes and non-retail locations, they offer fashion/costume jewelry of high quality and style. Their goal is to bring to the Westmoreland County area new choices of personal accessories which are not available in local department or specialty stores. One of their vendors, Angela Caputi, was actually found on a trip to Italy. From her studio in Florence, she makes dramatic imaginative statement pieces of resin. Another popular design team from Modital makes “travel jewelry”. Their pieces look and feel like the real thing, but are actually made with Swarovski crystals instead of diamonds and heavily plated vermeil instead of 18k gold.

New designers this year include: Victoria Varga from Maine. She uses Sterling silver, gold leaf, onyx and jasper to create young, contemporary designs of wonderful originality. Martin Schettini from New York creates necklaces and earrings of hammered

matte silver. His pieces are open and light, with circles and oval shapes dominating.

Patricia Locke, a well-known Chicago designer, remains one of Baubles & Bags’ popular jewelers. She uses silver and bronze as her basic materials, them adds vibrantly colored stones to create unique designs both abstract and representative.

Their bags come from a variety of sources. Pono bags are made from the finest button material, looking like the most iridescent mother-of-pearl. Michael Nash’s bags are finely crafted from luxurious fabrics and semi-precious stones. And Moo Roo’s glamorous designs are seen on red carpets on the arms of stellar celebrities like Sharon Stone and Halle Berry.

Flowing feathers, glittering stones and shimmering fabrics make quite a statement on all of Moo Roo’s bags.

Baubles & Bags will be selling at Mountain View Inn’s Hunt Room on December 4th and 5th. From 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4th, and from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 5th.

They welcome inquiries about private parties for groups of twenty or more. Readers may contact Baubles & Bags at shecara@msn.com.

LEFT: Resin Necklace by Angela Caputi; RIGHT: Moo Roo Bag (Babubles & Bags)

Over the years, I have given some pretty terrific Christmas gifts to people I love, but, somehow, I can’t seem to recall exactly what they were. Funny, how the details of these two purchases from the bustling Derry Shopping District of the 1950’s have stayed with me. They didn’t cost very much and were really nothing special. But I bet, if you had asked my mom and dad to list some of their most memorable gifts, these two would have been somewhere on that list.

Where were the best bargains in Derry in December 1955?

Ruth (Parrish) Richardson has been a Derry resident her entire life and is a graduate of Derry Area High School.

Passionate about maintaining the values and traditions of small town America, she has been an active voice in Derry, including Derry Board of Recreation (DAPP), and the PAL program within Derry school system.Write to Ruth at ruthelaine@LaurelMountainPost.com.

“[the Laurel Mountain Post] is the perfect companion for those who have lived here, those who just got here, and for those of us who haven’t quite taken the time to look around.”

Derek Baughman – Latrobe, PPA A

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FOCUS ON CHILDREN Nicole Vitale Smith, M.S.W.

Encourage Your Child’s Growth “My father is a golfer- He lets me be his tee.

He puts the ball upon my nose And hits it right off me.

He says that I can share the joy Of every ball he hits.

Oh, ain’t it grand to have a dad Who spends time with his kids.”

– Shel Silverstein The above poem is entitled “Quality Time” and although the author is a favorite of mine, I would not advise using your child as a tee!! As a parent and having worked in the Early Childhood and Mental Health fields, I do recommend spending time w/ your children; it is the most valuable gift you will ever give them. Stanley Greenspan, a renowned child psychiatrist, advocates for ‘floor time’. He believes that this unstructured time is essential for your child’s well-being and building a warm, trusting relationship with him. He explains that the best way to spend this time (he suggests at least thirty minutes each day) is literally, on the floor, following your child’s interests.

In my previous article, I described the developmental areas and milestones, and stated that the first few years of a child’s development are critical. The basis of this article is that children learn through play and as a parent, you are your child’ first teacher! To help your child maximize his development, your interaction is significant. Talk to her, read, run, sing, dance, and laugh! Contact with other adults and children is also very important.

Expose your child to books, music, art, nature, sports, animals, a variety of food, different textures (water, sand, rice, clay, etc). While fancy toys and trips to the zoo or museum may be nice to have or do, everyday items and simple activities can be educational for you and your child. Try to remember the favorite games, special activities, and traditions you did with your parents and grandparents. Have fun!!!

A portion of the following activities were provided

by Connect, a great resource for families in Pennsylvania. (Information about child development and services/ programs for children can be obtained by contacting Connect at 1-800-692-7288).

• Sing and do motions to ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’, ‘I’m a Little Teapot’, ‘Thumbkin’, ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’, ‘Hokey Pokey’, Itsy-Bitsy Spider.’

• Use number words often- two fire trucks, three bowls, etc.

• Get some exercise and play ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’, ‘Ring around the Rosy.’

• Act out a fairy tale or nursery rhyme.

8 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

• Teach your baby ‘Pat-a-Cake’; add sound effects to favorite rhymes- “Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard to feed her poor dog, ‘ruff, ruff, a bone.”.

• Play “I Spy” to learn/ practice colors. Sit at a window & talk about what you see.

• Cut a large square of contact paper and tape it to the wall- let your toddler put objects on the sticky paper (feathers, flowers, fabric).

• Make binoculars out of empty toilet paper or paper towel tubes.

• Clap to music. Listen for sounds and ask your child to identify it without looking at the object- a door shutting, water running, and a bell ringing.

“While fancy toys and trips to the zoo or museum may be nice to have or do, everyday items and simple activities can be educational for you and your child.”

• Put soap on your child’ back while bathing & draw different shapes, letters, numbers with your finger. Ask her to name what you draw.

• Help your child make a thank you card or wrapping paper w/ stickers, crayons, and finger-paints.

• Look for “pictures” in the clouds. Play ‘Red Light- Green Light’.

• Make a scrapbook of categories, such as animals, things you ride, etc.

• Use socks or paper bags to make puppets of the characters from a favorite book.

• Make tents and forts with blankets and pillows.

Play ‘dress up’- use clothes and props to help her act out different roles.

• Have a picnic inside on a rainy day, invite friends. In the winter, make 2 snowballs and bring them inside. Put one in the freezer and one in a dish on the table. In an hour, talk about what happened to each of them.

• Give your baby different sized containers- boxes, bowls, pitchers, measuring cups, and cartons. Use them to stack, to fill/pour. Bang on pots & pans.

• Tell a silly joke to your preschooler. Let him tell you one!

• Help your child glue small pictures of your favorite things (animals, balls, dolls) on Popsicle sticks for bookmarks.

• Use the word not in statements. For example, “I’m going to have juice, not milk”. “This is an apple, not an orange”.

• Make up your own song. Dance to music form different radio stations (country, rock, classical, jazz, and pop). Dance while holding your baby.

• Place different objects in a shoebox or bag and ask your preschooler to feel and identify them. Also, ask him to find the objects you describe, such as a soft ball.

• Count your baby’s toes and sing ‘This Little Piggy’. Teach imitation games like ‘So Big’ and ‘Peek-a-Boo’.

• Have your preschooler help you sort laundry.

Ask him to help set the table or unpack groceries.

Give him other simple chores.

• Make an obstacle course with boxes or furniture for your toddler- he can climb in, on, over, under and through.

• Teach your child animal sounds by singing “Old McDonald”. Show him how to move like an elephant, monkey, or rabbit. Let him imitate you.

• Give your child a high five for a job well done.

Praise all efforts.

• Look at old photographs & see what your child remembers. Talk about the photo.

• Touch your baby’s body parts as you name them and name objects such as comb, spoon, cup as you use them with your baby. With a toddler, describe the function of the body parts- “Smell the flowers! We smell with our nose.” “I’m washing your ears. You hear with them.”

• Draw pictures of a happy, sad, surprised, and scared faces. Talk with your child about the times she has these feelings. Draw a silly picture- a car with square wheels. A dog riding a bicycle.

• Jump into a pile of leaves in your backyard.

Play catch.

• Play “Simon Says”. Play “Follow-the-leader” and learn prepositions- ‘Go under the table, around the chair, through the door.

• Cut apples, sandwiches, and cookies into halves. Ask your child to put the matching halves back together.

• Let your child select an outfit based on the weather.

When children play, they learn. Help them reach their potential by letting them (safely) explore. Remember that communication is vital. As they are constantly changing, each child develops skills at their own pace, and each child is unique. As Dr. Greenspan recommends, get on the floor with your child, follow his lead, and support his interests.

Follow the poem’s message and spend time with your child. Enjoy being together! You are building a wonderful, lasting relationship and you will be amazed how your child grows!

Nicole is a 1988 Derry Area High School graduate. She attended the Uiversity of Pittsburgh and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work. She received her Master of Social Work degree in 1997 from Temple University.

She has worked in the following areas: Early Intervention (developmental disabilities), Adolescent Mental Health, Hospice, and Youth Work (England). Currently, Nicole is taking a break from her career as a Licensed Social Worker to be a full-time mom to her two boys, ages 4 and 18 months.

THE CORNER STORY Drew Williams

“Second Chance Snow” from the forthcoming novel Goodbye, Waverley About ten minutes into English class, the radiators started to rumble. It wasn’t uncommon to hear odd noises belching out of the ancient radiators at Immaculate Heart Elementary School, but this sound was like a roar, as if the radiators were about to explode. Even the unflappable Sister Roberta turned away from the blackboard where she was parsing a sentence about racoons, and glared at the radiator at the back of the room. But unlike the twenty-six thirteen-year-olds in her eighth-grade class who could be instantly silenced by her icy stare, the radiator kept up its racket.

Sister Roberta huffed once then went back to the board, but after a minute of metal against metal, she couldn’t take the noise any longer. She told us to “read silently” from our books then stormed out of the room. Some of the kids buried their noses in their books, but most of us took the time to mess around. I turned to the girl in the row next to me, Carrie Harper.

“What do you think’s going on?”

Carrie shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Who knows? Maybe if we’re lucky the school is burning down.” Carrie stuck her hand beneath the left sleeve of her uniform shirt and extracted two sticks of Wrigley’s gum. “Here,” she said, handing me a piece.

“Chew on this.”

I took the gum and nodded. Ever since my mother died in September, Carrie and I have become pretty close. Not in the boyfriend/girlfriend kind of way, but in a different way. Like we both got recruited into a club that neither of us wanted to join. She was still mad at the world because her mother had been killed in a car accident two years ago. My mother had died of cancer, and I didn’t know who I was mad at. I was just mad.

The nuns didn’t like Carrie because she wore perfume and makeup, and had a tendency to backtalk them. Carrie told me the real reason the sisters hated her was because after her mother died, they tried to talk her into entering the convent. She thanked them for their concern but told the sisters that joining a religious order would interfere with her plans of becoming a high-priced hooker.

Most of the kids in class thought she was weird because she liked to dye her hair a different color every month, and she listened to bands like the Sex Pistols. I also thought there was something odd about Carrie, but that just made her more interesting. She was also the only other kid in class who had lost one of her parents, so the two of us sort of just gravitated toward each other.

About the time the Wrigley’s was starting to lose its flavor, the door to the classroom flung open and Sister Roberta came shuffling in.

“Gather up your things,” she ordered. “School will be closing early today— a water pipe has burst

in the boiler room.”

“All right,” Carrie whispered, barely able to conceal her excitement. “You want to come over?” she asked, twisting her body slightly in my direction.

As Sister Roberta droned on about homework, I glanced at my watch and did some quick calculations. It was a few minutes after one, and my father wouldn’t be home until three thirty. If I went straight home, I would have to be alone for about two hours.

“Sure,” I told Carrie.

She patted my arm and offered me a slight but knowing smile. ***** We walked the five blocks to Carrie’s house in silence. It was funny, but the more I hung out with Carrie, the less we seemed to talk to each other.

Sometimes we would spend entire afternoons in her basement drinking Dr. Pepper and watching soap operas and never say a thing. Once, Carrie said we had a friendship based on a mutual desire to be miserable together. I had no idea what she was talking about, but Carrie’s a lot smarter than I am, so I agreed.

As we made our way to Carrie’s house, the snow started to fall. This was the second snow of the winter, but unlike the dusting we got a few days ago, the flakes that were falling this time were large and wet. It wouldn’t take long before the streets would be blanketed in a thick layer of white. It was

a real snow, the kind of snow that was perfect for making snowballs and turning back alleys into sled runs. I pictured my flexible flyer stashed in the back of the garage behind my bicycle, but as I turned my face into the winter wind, I didn’t feel the excitement the first real snow always brought before. It just felt cold.

I paused and allowed the snow to sting my cheeks and forehead, then I lowered my face and

pushed the image of my sled out of my mind. Carrie didn’t notice that I had stopped, so I had to jog to catch up to her.

Carrie lives in a two-story, brick-faced house with faded, tan, aluminum siding. It’s no different than most of the other houses that line either side of her street. In fact, it’s no different than my house except that our siding is faded blue. When we got to her house, Carrie bypassed the front door and headed to the side entrance. She told me I had to leave by three because her father would be home around four, and she had to have his dinner ready by the time he got there.

“It takes you an hour to cook dinner?” I asked as she opened the side door that lead into the basement.

Carries stomped the flakes off her feet and frowned. “What can I say? Im a slow cook.” She made a motion for me to go into the basement before she headed toward the kitchen.

Carrie has, what my father calls, a semifinished basement. The walls are covered with cheep redwood paneling, and an old couch sits in front of an even older console television. A few feet behind the couch, the washer and dryer stand buried beneath mounds of laundry. There’s always a slightly funky smell to Carrie’s basement, like a cross between sweat and an open sewer. But I don’t mind. My basement smells like a wet dog even though we’ve never had a pet.

As I came down the steps, I saw four big cardboard boxes bulging with Christmas decorations lined up next to the couch. I really didn’t want to look at them. Usually by this time in December, my father would have strung the outside lights around the house and set the plywood Santa and His Elf in the middle of the front yard. It was also around this time my family would go tree shopping. And every year it was the same. My father would threaten to buy an artificial tree because the smell of a real Christmas tree gave him a headache, and my mother would threaten to divorce him by New Year’s Day if she didn’t get a six foot spruce. My mother always won that argument. It wasn’t Christmas in my house unless there was a real tree in our living room, and my father had a headache.

But this year my father hadn’t retrieved any of our overstuffed boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic, and I don’t think he’s going to.

When I got to the bottom of the steps I put my backpack on top of the nearest box and flipped on the t.v. before plopping down on the couch. The television wasn’t connected to cable, so the only stations we could watch were two local affiliates and the all-prayer station, Channel 12. Besides Second Chance Snow continued on Page 24 LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 9

THE LIGONIER CHEF Scott Sinemus

Quick & Easy Finger Foods for Holiday Parties Well for better or for worse the holidays are fast approaching. With everyone’s hectic lives and extended families larger than they’ve ever been, the amount of entertaining for the holidays, whether it is as guest or host can put a strain on anyone’s time. Here are a few pointers that have helped me when the invitation comes, or worse yet, phone call asking, “what would you like to bring…” for some reason most people’s minds go completely blank as soon as they finish hearing that statement.

Take a deep breath & cross your fingers as you reply, “is anyone bringing an hors d’oeuvre?” If the answer is yes, don’t despair — immediately follow up with, “how about dessert then?” Here are a few reasons why: • Reason #1: Hors d’ oeuvre are the ‘first impression’ people get when considering how much fun the affair they’re attending is going to be. Make a great impression and it will be a great way to meet people, as they’ll all invariably be asking, “who made this?” You’ve already made a positive first impression, and haven’t even met them yet.

• Reason #2: If anyone remembers anything about even the most lavish & grand affairs it’s probably the dessert. So it’s a great way to get remembered, and even invited back.

• Reason #3: Both are relatively simple to prepare. And depending on what you choose may even be made ahead of time.

Regarding Hors d’ oeuvre: Simple to prepare doesn’t mean buzzing thru the deli department and snagging some of the pepperoni & cheese trays either. Instead, check out some of the imported cheeses. Not necessarily the $15+ per lb. cheese either. Pick a domestic goat cheese, but instead of unwrapping it and tossing it on a tray, shape it into a pear, add a fresh herb stem on top and put a clove in the bottom to finish off the look… then put it on the tray. Rolling it into several small balls and coating with ground pistachios, then arranging it like a bunch of grapes is also very attractive. Incidentally, Boursin cheese is another great option for shaping. Instead of just laying a wedge of Brie on the platter, cut off the back of the rind and sit it up on its end for height & interest.

For the traditionalists, try several varieties of cheddar and instead of just slicing it or cubing it, cut it into ‘batons’ (1 ½”x ½”x ½”) sticks. Stagger them along the edge of your platter, make a Jenga tower for the kids with them, fill the tower with berries. Essentially just think out of the box for a change. Garnish with edible flowers, herbs, add dried meats & smoked sausages. It shouldn’t take you much longer than the amount of time you spend in the check out line. If you do have the time, here’s a great finger food:

Dried Beef Beggars Purses with Boursin Cheese 2 pks Carl Budding dried beef 1 box of Boursin Cheese (Poivre {pepper} or regular) 1 bunch chives ~ at least 6-8”long Place slices of beef flat on cutting board, spoon approx ½ -1 teaspoon of cheese in the middle of each slice. Gather up the outside edges of the beef, and pinch just above the cheese. Then lay the parcel on the chive where you’ve pinched, wrap the chive around the beef and tie in a bow (if your chives are long enough), otherwise just a knot is fine. Trim off the extra chive, and then place on the platter ‘squishing’ them down just a bit so they sit flat. These purses have a wow factor of 10 and a difficulty factor of 1, go for it!

10 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

Regarding Dessert: Showing up to a party with a Croquembouche shrouded in spun sugar or perhaps a Yule log with meringue mushrooms is certainly going to make people literally sit up and take notice. If there is one thing, even if it’s just in a paper wrapper at the checkout that makes everyone happy… it has to be chocolate.

Working with chocolate to make home made candies can be somewhat tricky, there are rules that need to be followed, from grade of chocolate used, to temperature it’s melted. No one enjoys a candy bar that’s covered in white streaks because it wasn’t tempered correctly, or had several drastic temperature changes after it was made. The quintessential chocolate recipe however is Ganache. It could be the ‘Chameleon’ of confections! And in its most basic form there are only 2 ingredients: cream & chocolate. It can be used as poured icing, whipped icing, filling for truffles, even sculpted into flowers.

Ganache Equal Parts Heavy Cream and Chocolate (chips or less than ½”pieces) Over medium heat bring cream to a simmer in a heavy bottomed (non Aluminum) pan, stirring frequently, but not constantly with a wooden spoon. Add all of the chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat, stirring occasionally until it’s cooled to room temperature, then chill uncovered overnight. That’s it… you’ve just made Ganache!

Now you have to decide what to do with it.

• In the liquid state it can be poured over virtually any pastry, cake, cookie, or ice cream. It’s really good in the old fondue pot with pound cake cubes & strawberries.

• Chill overnight and form into balls using a small scoop, roll the balls in any of the following: ground nuts, Jimmies, chocolate flakes, cocoa powder, coconut, course sugar crystals, edible gold dust*, etc. and you’ve just made truffles *23k gold leaf sheets are available at several online sites or by phone from Burrell Cake Decorating Equipment ~ 800.488.2749 • Chill overnight, place on counter until it begins to become pliant, and beat with paddle attachment for your mixer until light & fluffy and it’s a very rich melt in your mouth frosting for cakes. Or the ultimate rosette on a peanut butter pie!

• Once chilled and tightly covered Ganache can last a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Just a few pointers when working with Ganache: • Use a better grade of chocolate, there really is a difference in quality • If the weather or serving environment is going to be warm use more chocolate to cream in the ratio. In the summer, I’ve even gone as high as 70% chocolate.

• Make sure all of your chocolate is chopped before you begin bringing your cream to a simmer.

These recipes like most are just a basic place to start for your ideas, have fun with your food! Experiment with different fillings for the beggar’s purses.

Whenever you’re just picking up the basic essentials for dinner pick up a small piece of an imported cheese you haven’t ever tried before. Keep a small notebook about what you liked/disliked about it, and then when you’re entertaining you can turn your friends onto a little gem you’ve fallen in love with.

For more ideas please visit my website www.theligonierchef.com and drop me an email. I sincerely wish the best this holiday season for you & yours, from our home to yours.

Scott Sinemus is a Chef with a degree in Culinary Arts from the Pennsylvania Institute for Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh. He’s continued his education with classes from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone; and has travelled internationally in search of authentic cuisine. For more information on scheduling a private cooking class for yourself or a group, visit his website at www.The LigonierChef.com.

Gifts Ideas from the Gift Guru

by JB Rossi The holiday season is such a wonderful time of year. I look forward to the delicious foods, the bright, beautiful lights, and the warmth and camaraderie from the endless array of parties with friends and family. I even enjoy the challenge of my long gift list and the many hours I need to shop.

But, for those who don’t like endless shopping, I offer the Gift Guru’s one-stop-shopping secret. It’s the one store in which I can find a perfect gift for everyone on my list, from the youngest godchild to the finickiest elderly aunt and everyone in between.

I’m referring to, of course, our local bookstores.

In Westmoreland County, we are blessed with an abundance of bookstores stocking an amazing amount of published books by local authors and on local interests. We live in a region alive with history, personalities, attractions, and sports. Area writers have taken these treasures and woven them into fascinating stories of fact and fiction. There are books on such a wide variety of subjects that I can find one to please just about everyone on my list. So will you. What a unique and thoughtful gift!

Here are some gift suggestions to get started . . .

For those ladies both young and old on your list who need a little extra love this season, may I suggest a little romance.

One prolific local romance writer is Barbara Miller.

Miller writes both historical and contemporary novels. My favorite is called Dearest Max, a historical story of love, danger, and desire set in England. Another title by Miller full of regency passion and intrigue is My Phillipe.

Miller also writes under the pseudonym of Laurel Ames. Titles such as Infamous, Tempted, and Nancy Whiskey are all great choices.

But the ladies are always the easiest to buy for.

How about someone who is more of a challenge, like that long-lost Uncle you only see at the holidays or your niece’s newest catch? May I suggest something with a little mystery? Miller has written a series of six mysteries which are all set in a small Pennsylvania town called Falls Bend where “everybody knows everything about everybody.”

Titles include such enticements as Barn Burner, Rendezvous, Relics, and Enough Rope.

What about that sweet godchild who excels in elementary school? A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt by C. Coco De Young is a wonderful historical tale based on a true family story about an eleven-year-old heroine’s determination to save her home during the Great Depression. This novel is set in Johnstown.

Other Young Adult choices include two books by Susan E. Richmond. Wyoming Hope, a story about a girl who wants to become a veterinary, and Dear Daddy, a tale about a girl looking for and finding answers after her father dies.

Is there a history buff on your list? Dreamers’ Tales

by Jim Harrold is a collection of factual tales of

the history of Fort Ligonier. This book is noted for having an excellent accounting of Arthur St. Clair.

Harrold also wrote Memories, a collection of local personal stories of family, friends, laughter, and tears.

Hay for Sale FAIRVIEW FARM 1st cutting round bales stored inside

724-539-4453

Another choice for the history buff would be The Indian Capture of Jacob (Kneisle) Nicely by Ronald Earl Nicely. Both young and old alike will enjoy this true account of a young boy’s capture and upbringing by local Indians. Written by one of the descendants, this tale is captivating and suspenseful.

Nellie R. McQuillis offers a fictional title that is based on facts about the French and Indian War entitled, It Happened Along The Four Mile Run. This treasure is a series of short stories based on the experiences of the early settlers in our area.

McQuillis, a former English teacher, also wrote Buying Hyacinths, a collection of poetic verse.

If Grandpa has an interest in local attractions, look into the Images of America series put out by Arcadia publishing. Two titles to look for in particular would include Jeffrey S. Croushore’s Idlewild, and Sally Shirey’s Ligonier Valley. Both of these are part of this historical series with lots of pictorial images.

What about that sports enthusiast? Susie Todd has written a wonderful book called Foxhunting in Western PA, in which she shares a lot of her own personal memories of the sport as well as giving its history.

Hugh Robards also gives us a detailing of the foxhunt in the local area as well as an overview of the sport elsewhere in his work called Foxhunting in England & Ireland.

JOHN McCREARY ATTORNEY AT LAW

1724B THEATRE STREET LATROBE, PA 15650 (724) 537-9139 / FAX (724) 532-1918

109 S Market Street in Ligonier 724-238-9611 Children’s Books • Educational Kits & Toys Herbal Teas • Local Honey • Homemade Jams Handcrafted Jewelry • Natural Lotions & Soaps • Many Items from Local Vendors• A Bit of Ligonier Country Market Year Round Stop in and check out “a few of our favorite things” Tues. 10-3, Wed -Sat. 10-5 Mondays 10-3 during December

Is football his/her favorite pastime or obsession?

For young and old alike, I suggest The Birthplace of Professional Football by David Finoli and Tom Aiken. This book celebrates the beginnings of the sport here in Southwestern Pennsylvania and is filled with little-known facts and exceptional photographs.

Hanna Insurance Agency

Our hometown area is so rich with history and talent that when you put the two elements together, the result is a complete array of interesting, exciting titles sure to please even the hardest name on your list. I only had enough space to mention these few. There are many more. Don’t hesitate to ask your local booksellers. They are more than willing to help you find that special title for that hard-tobuy-for person on your list.

John Hanna, Owner Phone: (724) 537-5140 Fax: (724) 537-0687 www.hannainsuranceagency.info

208 Weldon Street PO Box 306 Latrobe, PA 15650

With the one-stop-bookstore shopping, you can be completely done, and ready to enjoy the merriment and festivities of this great season. I hope I’ve helped! Happy holidays from the Gift Guru!

Jo Rossi is married to a wonderful man she adores and has two brilliant, active children. She is a graduate of Seton Hill University with a Masters Degree in Writing Popular Fiction.

Her undergraduate degree is from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Business Marketing and Communications. Jo loves to read, write, play tennis, do charity work, and enjoys her friends. She is a strong advocate for all animals and is currently raising four dogs, eight cats, and three horses.

5556 Route 982 (Across from Derry Middle School)

(724) 694-6200 LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 11

Wines for the Holidays

by Vance Booher As the brilliant foliage disappears from our forests and the weather turns increasingly toward the chill of winter, most of us take cheer in anticipating the onset of an exciting season of festive gatherings.

From a time of national Thanksgiving for nature’s bounty to the celebration of so many religious and cultural events, we are surrounded by the warmth and joy of friends and family. It is a time when we gather about our tables, laden with the foods of our traditions, to relive cherished memories and to rekindle relationships with those closest to us.

We are blessed to live in a region of incredible ethnic diversity, with an incredible array of culinary traditions. And while Turkey may be the nation’s Thanksgiving centerpiece on most family tables, around here there are some rather unique and flavorful accompaniments that don’t get a lot of play in Peoria.

So what do you do for wine for the Holidays? Normally the first question to be asked is “How do you find something that works with Turkey (roasted, French-fried, grilled, smoked, brined, etc.), as well as gnocchi, stuffed grape leaves, borscht, halupkis, pumpkin pie, fig pudding and a hundred other unique foods?” It is all complicated by the fact that in most homes these Holiday celebrations tend to be nearly “buffet” in style, with many, many different selections, rather than more normal meals with a few courses, one entrée, one starch and one vegetable.

Before giving any answers I must first confess that I believe there are no hard, fast rules to choosing the perfect wine with any given food. There are no perfect combinations; there are no absolutes about what goes with what. Red wine with red meat and white wine with chicken or fish are antiquated philosophies that never had much going for them any-

Brewer, RD, the LDN, CNSD,realities CNIS that way. Jim Rather, consider following apply whether you are lunching at Burger King or feasting at Thanksgiving: 1. We all taste things differently for physiological, as well as cultural and simple preferential reasons. There are only 5 tastes – sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami (savory) and we all perceive them differently, with different levels of sensitivity. Think too of all the permutations and combinations inherent in these 5 tastes.

2. There are both objective and subjective realities involved in trying to discover how to match your menu with a wine (or beer, or Pepsi, or coffee, or whatever).

For example, consider that it is an objective fact that higher levels of acidity in foods will decrease the apparent acidity in a wine while enhancing the wine’s apparent sweetness and fruitiness. Or consider that bitterness in a food will enhance the apparent bitterness in a wine, while saltiness in foods decreases such bitterness. These are objective realities. From a purely subjective standpoint, you may or may not like the sensation and it would be improper for anyone to tell you “try this you will like it.” Make up your own mind. You know what you like.

3. These same objective realities apply to the foods on your plate as well – irrespective of the beverage you choose. You must recognize the interplay of these things too.

4. Here is a personal subjective “reality” that I always consider when choosing a wine – or any other beverage for that matter – with a meal. I order or cook things to eat and drink that I like. If I didn’t like them, I wouldn’t order or cook them. Why would I choose a wine that totally overpowers the taste of the food I am eating – or vice versa? I want a wine that retains its varietal character, or whose character is enhanced (in my opinion) by the food I have chosen.

The same goes for the food. I don’t want my simply prepared Filet of Sole totally overwhelmed by a very powerful wine – white or red. Remember, I said this is my own reality.

All this sounds rather complicated. It certainly can be. But it can also be a very pleasurable experience to spend some time studying and discovering what works best for you and your dinner group.

So here is what I suggest.

Remember your sweetheart in the Laurel Mountain Post this Valentine’s Day! Valentine Ads are only $10 for up to 20 words.

Call us at 724-331-3936 for more information!

Advertising deadline is January 10.

If you have a small group for your event, and especially if the menu is fixed courses, consider having a pre-event tasting for all – or at least a good random sampling of invitees. You can turn one event into two, involve everyone in the planning, perfect your recipes and learn a whole lot about different wines in the process.

Share the work and the expense by having everyone bring one of the dishes and a bottle of wine.

Maybe even suggest that each guest do a little research on the wine they have brought and give a quick presentation. And don’t be afraid to tweak your recipes a bit to see if the possible wine matches can be improved. After all, you can’t adjust or remake the wine, but you can creatively adjust your recipe.

Tasting parties are truly fun – and when the big

12 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

night finally comes you will have the comfort of knowing you’ve made the best matches possible given the tastebuds of all the folks involved.

If you have a very large group, or the menu involves an extensive buffet the problem is different. Here you have to depend upon your knowledge of your guests and their preferences, as well as some basic wine knowledge. By the latter I mean general flavor and intensity characteristics of wines. My suggestion in this case is to bite the bullet and offer a modest selection of 3-5 wines to cover a broad range in whatever price category with which you are comfortable. I offer the following as a core selection based upon my own palate preferences.

1. A lighter fruitier white wine such as Elk Cove Riesling (LCB #18065 @$18) or Adelsheim Pinot Gris (LCB #18003 @$18). The Riesling is a touch sweeter but both have moderately high levels of fruit intensity and moderate acidity.

2. A crisp and refreshingly dry Sauvignon Blanc such as St. Supery (LCB #7024 @$16). It has the classic Sauvignon Blanc aromas of grapefruit, mown grass and a bit of green herbaceousness.

3. A medium-bodied Pinot Noir such as Argyle (LCB #15286 @$16), or a Beaujolais such as Georges Duboeuf Morgon (LCB #5506 @$11). The Argyle is much more elegant, with firm tannins and good acidity, but both have a wonderful bouquet of fresh red cherries and strawberry. They are very easy drinking wines.

4. For the bold ones in the group I would choose a Syrah such as the Arrowood 2000 Syrah now on special at LCB specialty stores (LCB #14599 @$18).

This is a very special price on this intensely flavored wine, with firm tannic structure and medium levels of oak and acidity. Luscious black fruits, with notes of white pepper, licorice and baking spices really load up the palate.

5. Of course Champagne and Sparkling Wines are a great choice simply because they are so festive and so widely popular. Particularly popular for the Holidays are the Brut Rose or Blanc de Noirs wines with a hint of pink or salmon. They are mostly based on the Pinot Noir grape. I suggest Gloria Ferrer, Blanc de Noirs, Carneros (LCB #29227 @$21).

So the real answer to that question I asked several paragraphs above is that there is no wine that works beautifully with all the wonderful foods and flavors you are likely to find on a Holiday table. There are just too many flavors and too many different palates involved. But don’t despair. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Make it fun, try some wines with friends, learn a little, and enjoy the season immensely!

Vance Booher is the 3rd generation owner of Mountain View Inn., which has earned a Wine Spectator Award for its 300+ selection wine list. Mr. Booher hosts regular Wine Dinners and Wine Tastings at the Inn and is developing a series of Wine Appreciation courses to begin in 2005. Mr. Booher is a long-time devotee and student of wine, and is pursuing the Culinary Institute of America’s Certified Wine Professional degree and is enrolled in the Wine Spirits and Education Trust Advanced Certification program. He may be reached at 724-834-5300 or vance@mountainviewinn.com.

Route 30 East Latrobe, PA 15650

724-537-9700 “You’re Going To Like The Way We Do Business”

Capture the Moments

The Country Cupboard Handcrafted Original Furniture in Ligonier “I started making stuff for my wife to put things on in her store [The Country Cupboard],” explained craftsman Chuck Moore. From there he has grown his woodworking hobby into a line of custom-made Colonial shaker-style furniture available in their Ligonier shop.

Each piece is hand sanded and made without modernizations. Cupboard doors close with simple wood toggles instead of complicated clasps and latches. He finishes his pieces from a simple palette of colonial paint hues.

Celebrate a special birthday, graduation or anniversary in the Laurel Mountain Post.

Three ad sizes are available at special rates!

Contact our adver tising depar tment advertising department for more info at 724-331-3936.

“Wood scraps yield smaller pieces of furniture. I look around to see what I have and start making something new.”

Every design is named after a town in New England, a place Chuck and his wife, Kathleen, like to visit often. To see the “Waterbury Stand”, the “Weston Cabinet” or a “Manchester Bench,” stop by their store at 110 N. Fairfield St. in Ligonier or visit their website www.TheCountryCupboards.com for an online furniture gallery and online store coming early in 2005!

724-539-0755

READER RECIPE CAVATELLI w/ ASIAGO SAUSAGE & RICOTTA submitted by Nicky Zappone of Zappone Sausage Company & Lucy Foods INGREDIENTS: Olive Oil, garlic, shallots, baby spinach leaves, Zappone Asiago Cheese Sausage, Rizzo Cavatelli, ricotta cheese DIRECTIONS: While still half frozen, cut sausage links into small chunks. Brown in skillet and remove. In same skillet, saute oil, garlic & shallots. Re-add sausage chunks and spinach at last minutes until spinach wilts. Boil cavatelli in salted water until al dente.

Drain cavatelli and add to large serving bowl. Top still hot cavatelli with the ricotta. Top the ricotta with the sausage/spinach. Toss everything together to mix and serve while still hot.

Advertising Deadline for the Winter Issue of the LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST is January 10, 2005.

(Release date: 1/20/05) Call 724-331-3936 to reserve your space!

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 13

The best bargains in Der Derrry in December 1955.

HOLIDAY 2004 COMMUNITY EVENTS CALENDAR Thru Jan 2

Overly’s Country Christmas Westmoreland County Fairgrounds; 5:30-10pm; 724-423-1400

Thru Jan 14

“Joy to the World” All Handmade Ornaments on Tree for Sale Latrobe Art Center, 819 Ligonier Street, Latrobe; 724-537-7011

Nov 6 - Dec 12

Candlelight Tours Compass Inn Museum, Laughlintown; Sat/Sun3pm-7pm; 724-238-4983

Nov 21 - Jan 30 30th Annual Holiday Toy & Train Exhibition Westmoreland Museum of American Art; 724-837-1500 Nov 23 - Jan 3

Parade of Trees Four Points by Sheraton, Greensburg; 724-836-6060

Nov 36

Light Up Night On the Diamond, Ligonier; Santa arrives at 6:30pm; 724-238-4200

Nov 26 - Dec 11 A Taffetas Christmas Apple Hill Playhouse, Delmont; 8pm, 2pm on Sundays; 724-468-5050

14 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

Dec 1

Greensburg Salem High School Band Concert Auditorium; 7pm; 724-832-2960

Dec 2

Holiday Doo Wop The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 2pm, 8pm; 724-836-8000

Dec 2

Derry Area Middle School 6th Grade Christmas Choral Concert Derry Area Middle School Auditorium; 724-694-1405

Dec 3-4

Christmas New and Old by the Westmoreland Choral Society First Presbyterian Church, Greensburg; 8pm; 724-836-0982

Dec 3

The Oak Ridge Boys The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 2pm, 8pm; 724-836-8000

Dec 3,4 5

The Nutcracker Childrens Musical Theater, presented by Greensburg Civic Theater Greasepaint Players Greensburg Garden & Civic Center; 724-836-7529

Dec 4

Handel’s Messiah Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica; 8pm; 724-537-4565

Dec 4

To Grandmothers House We Go, presented by the River City Brass Band The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 8pm; 1-800-292-7222

Dec 4

Breakfast with Santa Mountain View Inn; Greensburg; 724-834-5300

Dec 5

Red Hat Pink Ribbons Holiday Tea Mountain View Inn, Greensburg; 1-4pm; 724-834-5300 or 724-537-6218

Dec 5

Christmas Concert St. Joseph’s Chapel, Seton Hill University; 4pm; 1-724-838-4280

Dec 9

Baggaley Elementary School 5th & 6th Grade Band and Chorus Concert Gymnasium; 7pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 9

Latrobe Elementary School 5th & 6th Grade Band and Chorus Concert Auditorium; 7pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 9

Derry Area High School Band Concert MS Auditorium; 7pm; 724-694-1405

Dec 11

The Nutcracker, presented by the Laurel Ballet and the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 3pm, 8pm; 1-724-837-1850

Dec 12

The Nutcracker, presented by the Laurel Ballet and the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 3pm; 1-724-837-1850

Dec 14

Derry Area Middle School Christmas Band Concert Derry Area Middle School; 7pm; 724-694-1405

Dec 14

Greater Latrobe Junior High School 7th & 8th Grade Band and Choral Concert Senior High Auditorium; 7pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 15

Big Band Christmas Spectacular The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 2pm, 8pm; 1-724-836-8000

Dec 15

Greensburg Salem High School Choral Concert Auditorium; 7pm; 724-832-2960

Dec 16

Greater Latrobe Junior High School 9th Grade Band and Choral Concert Senior High Auditorium; 7pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 16

Greater Latrobe Senior High School Choir Concert Senior High Auditorium; 8pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 16

Greensburg Salem Middle School Band Concert Auditorium; 7:30pm; 724-832-2930

Dec 18

Greater Latrobe Senior High School Band Concert Auditorium; 4pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 18

Home for the Holidays, presented Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra The Palace Theater, Greensburg; 8pm; 1-724-837-1850

Dec 19

Derry Area Senior High School Choral Concert Middle School Auditorium; 3pm; 724-694-1405

Dec 21

Derry Area Middle School 7th & 8th Grade Christmas Choral Concert Derry Area Middle School; 7pm; 724-694-1405

Dec 21

Mountain View Elementary School 5th & 6th Grade Band and Chorus Concert Gymnasium; 7pm; 724-539-4226

Dec 22

Greensburg Salem Middle School Choral Concert Auditorium; 7:30pm; 724-832-2930

Jan 2

Race of the Decades Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Jan 13-14

An Evening with Ralphie May Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Jan 14, 15, 16

Fire and Ice Festival Streets of Uptown Somerset; 814-443-1748

Jan 22, 23

Ice Fest On the Diamond, Ligonier; 724-238-4200

Jan 22

Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra Tribute to Heroism Palace Theatre; 8pm; 724-837-1850

Jan 26

Monte Carlo Night Mountain View Inn, Greensburg; 724-834-5300

Jan 28-30

Women in the Outdoors Ligonier; 724-238-4085

Jan 28

Big Band Dance Mountain View Inn, Greensburg; 724-834-5300

Jan 29 - Feb 6

WTAE TV Winterfest Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Feb 3

America in Concert Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Feb 5

WPSC Kids Snowshoe Fun Race Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Feb 6

Ski Dummy Race Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Feb 12

Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra Classic Valentine Palace Theatre; 8pm; 724-837-1850

Feb 16

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Palace Theatre; 7pm; 724-837-1850

Feb 18-19

First Tracks on Gunnar-Benefit Race for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Glioblastoma Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Champion; 814-352-7777

Feb 25

Big Band Dance Mountain View Inn, Greensburg

To add your community event to this calendar, please call 724-331-3936 or visit our website www.LaurelMountainPost.com

$2 off haircut for all new customers with coupon expires December 31, 2004

TO YOT A OF GREENSBURG . . . moving forward TOY OTA

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LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 15

HOW TO EAT Jim Brewer, RD, LDN, CNSD, CNIS

The Basics for Living with Children’s Food Allergies Both questions asked for this edition of (How to eat) have a similar theme of food allergies. First I’d like to clarify the difference between food allergy and food intolerance. A food allergy or hypersensitivity is a reaction to a food particle that initiates a response from the immune system. A food intolerance can be any of those unpleasant reactions from something you ate, which may resemble those symptoms of a food allergy but without the immune system being involved.

Soy Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein(HVP), Lecithin, Miso, Monosodium Glutamate(MSG), Natto, Natural Flavor (may be from soybeans), Soy Cheese, Soy Fiber, Soy Grits, Soy Flour, Soy Milk, Soy Oil, anything with the word Soy in it, Soy protein can be labeled as soy protein concentrate, isolated soy protein, textured soy protein (TSP), and textured soy flour

Peanuts Lecithins or food additive 322, arachis (an alternative term for peanut), Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, “emulsified” or “satay” (which could mean the food was thickened with peanuts.

One in 3 people claim to have a food allergy but in reality clinically proven food allergies are very rare.

Only 3 - 8% of all children have clinically proven food allergies, and that number is even lower in adults at only about 1%. Those people with a true food allergy must avoid these foods at all costs because the powerful immune response they initiate can cause serious illness and even death.

My best advice is to ask your doctor to consult a Registered Dietitian in your area who works with children. Take a list of foods your toddler likes and let him/her help you adapt those foods to be free of soy, eggs and peanut butter. This article is not intended to be the most complete source on food allergies and to keep your child safe and healthy, a qualified professional is always the best choice.

Q: How can I help my 21-month-old child get the protein and fat he needs for healthy growth when he has allergies to peanut butter, eggs and soy?

This question poses a challenge, especially due to the fact that your son is a toddler and has probably found out by now that the one thing he can control is what he eats and doesn’t eat. Usually starting with a stylistic tantrum to make his point. I can say this with some confidence because I have a toddler of my own. Luckily there are many foods that can provide adequate protein and fat to meet your toddlers’ needs without having to include eggs, soy and peanut butter. Milk has plenty of protein and fat, and so do meats, fish, and poultry. The only problem is that they will have to be prepared from scratch. You’ll need to use fresh sources of protein, and avoid just about all processed foods. Soy, Peanuts and eggs are tough foods to avoid due to their use as fillers, and additives in many foods. It is very important that you read labels carefully when trying to avoid these foods. When reading labels here’s a sample list of ingredients to avoid.

Being creative with foods without the additives listed above will be your biggest challenge. Toddlers are picky I know, but simple is usually best. Use fresh beef, chicken, turkey, fish etc. in your recipes. Your son can get plenty of protein from these foods. Also, fat requirements can be met by the naturally occurring fats in these protein foods and by cooking with pure olive oil or canola oil.

Q: If my child is allergic to peanuts, does that mean he is allergic to all nuts?

Tristan, Jim and Michael Brewer (TSF). Soy Sauces like Tamari, Teriyaki, and Tempheh, Tofu. Beware of non-dairy frozen desserts which are made from soy milk or soy yogurt, Vegetable Oil (Usually 100% soy oil or a blend of soy and other oils), Vegetable Protein (usually soy), and Vitamin E which contains soy oil.

Eggs Albumin, egg in any form (including whole egg, dried egg, powdered egg, egg solids, egg yolk, egg white, egg white solids, and egg substitute), globulin, livetin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, ovoglobulin, any ingredient with to prefix “Ovo” which means “egg.” Silici albuminate, Simplesse (a fat replacer), and vitellin.

Although it is not true that if you’re allergic to peanuts you are automatically allergic to all nuts, all of my resources on peanut allergies recommend that if you are allergic to peanuts, tree nuts should also be avoided. Some people allergic to peanuts can tolerate peanut oil (not cold pressed) without a reaction. But due to the possibility of a severe reaction, experimenting with other types of nuts is not recommended. The best advice here is to ask your doctor or immunologist before trying your child on any other types of nuts or nut oils.

Jim is a1983 graduate of Derry Area High School with 10 years experience in nutrition. He has a BS in Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition from the University of Pittsburgh and currently practices as a clinical nutritionist. His specialties include physical nutrition assessment, nutrition support and renal nutrition. Send your nutrition questions to Jim by writing PO Box 227, Latrobe PA 15650 or emailing editor@LaurelMountainPost.com.

Wrap Up Your Holiday Shopping with Gourmet Gift Baskets from Zappone Sausage Company Avoid the long drive to Pittsburgh – stop by the new Lucy Foods/Zappone Sausage Company retail store in Latrobe this holiday shopping season and check out their line of specialty Gift Baskets. They are filled with a variety of Specialty, Gourmet and Italian items from all around western PA and Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Also at the store, you 16 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

can find homemade pastas, sauces, mustards, peppers, jams, jellies, salsa and a variety of chicken, turkey and pork sausages filled with cheeses and herbs. Visit their website at www.zapsausage.com for holiday store hours and directions to their Latrobe location on Long’s Road.

Or call Nick and Nicky Zappone at 724-539-1430.

Enjoy the scenery.

Place your ad in the Laurel Mountain Post!

Call 724-331-3936.

MONEY TALKS submitted by Jodee Harris-Anke

Benefits of a 529 Plan Every so often, the Government does something especially nice for us. One of those nice things is the college savings strategy known as the 529 plan.

Even if you don’t have pre-college-aged children, don’t stop reading – these versatile education accounts can also be set up for grandchildren, a cousin, or, in certain cases, even a non-relative.

There are so many wonderful benefits to the 529 plan that it’s difficult to know where to begin. So, I’ll start off with a detriment. Not every 529 plan is the same.

The reason they are not is because individual states run their own plan. Not all states currently have 529 plans. The key to investing in a 529 plan is finding the right one for your purpose.

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And that’s where a Financial Advisor can help you. With the majority of states now offering these college savings plans, the competition for 529 plan funds among states has motivated some to offer incentives, such as state tax deductions and even a match of contributions. A good advisor will also make you aware of possible penalties and added costs, such as harsh fees on nonqualified withdrawals or unusually high expenses.

They can also help you choose the most favorable plan investment choice for your individual situation. Clearly, becoming familiar with other states’ plans will help you select one that will be flexible enough to benefit both you and your beneficiary.

The 529 plan is a great way to fund a child’s education with tax-free dollars.

Generally, it has no income limits, and is completely exempt from federal income (and, in some locations, state) taxes when used for a variety of educational costs throughout the beneficiary’s educational lifetime.

And, unlike some other educational plans, it leaves you in control of the investment program. For more complete information on 529 college savings plans please obtain a Program Description which includes all

charges, applicable expenses, tax consequences, and risks. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.

The value of your account will fluctuate, so that your investment, when it is withdrawn, may be worth more or less than its original cost.

Whether you are a parent, a grandparent, or even a friend of a future student, it is rare to find such an attractive, albeit sometimes complex, method to fund an education. So call your Financial Advisor and discuss ways that you may benefit from one of the most significant tax advantaged programs our government has ever offered us.

Allow me to show you where you can save on taxes or reduce your estate and also provide a child with a solid foundation for the future – a quality education.

FINANCIAL FORESIGHT GROUP, INC. Jodee Harris-Anke (724) 523-0825 Registered Investment Advisor Insurance and Securities

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LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 17

WELCOME Roman J. Darazio Born October 28, 2004 Congratulations to proud parents Patsy & Marnie Darazio and big brother, Ethan!

Happy 2nd Birthday Alexander Beetle

Love, Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Sam

Happy Birthday to Big & Little

ROBERT WILLIAMS Robert Shelly “6” December 7 Robert Thomas “74” December 31

Happy 60th Birthday CAROL ANN DAVIS GERHARD DECEMBER 12, 2004 with love from Shelly, Michelle, Slim, Cathi, Drew, Elizabeth & Robert

18 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

TAKE IT ON FAITH Pastor Ron Durika

How’s This for A Gift Idea?

Christmas Season is upon us, and all of a sudden our lives seem to have become even a little more chaotic. It happens every year so why do we seem to fall into this yearly trap where we become most concerned with what we shall give to those special people on our list? We search for the perfect gift to complement each person, to hopefully make him or her happy, and to fulfill a need or at least a want in that person’s life. Maybe we should ask ourselves if we actually know what someone close to us really wants. Maybe an even better question is, “Does that person even know what they are in need of?”

Some people will tell you what they would like to receive and, like my wife, go as far as making detailed lists. I confess I have found this to be of enormous help, but it’s almost like a grocery list mentality when you are out shopping from this prepared wish list. All you have to do to fulfill your obligations at Christmas is to have the time and money to go purchase the items requested, get them wrapped, and placed under the tree. December 25th then comes around, the package is opened, surprise is exclaimed, and the anxiety of the season has been once again put off for another year. However, is this what Christmas was meant to be?

by caring for others more, while spending less time thinking of ourselves. This Christian way of living is a visible sign that the Spirit of God has touched the life of the one who follows it.

1st John 4:7-12 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for loves comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

“when someone truly touches the heart of another, the experience will last a lifetime.”

Maybe the world’s retailers would have you believe in this chain of events and do all they can to drive home the point that it is the material things around us that bring true pleasure. But as a pastor, I have found that the one thing people in this world most desire is love. I believe that love is the reason that God gave to us His Son on that special night over 2ooo years ago, and that by that love we were given a gift that has encompassed time. It is an eternal gift for all who would receive it.

I don’t know of any eternal gifts we can give. But I do know that when someone truly touches the heart of another, the experience will last a lifetime. The full and complete love that was shown

by God on that first Christmas night can never be copied, but we can begin to try to duplicate it

God has shown us time and time again how much He loves us. Love itself comes from God, and from that gift we are enabled to share the love in our hearts with those around us.

This is the greatest gift we can give to someone, it is the greatest gift we can hope to receive, and it is the gift that cannot be bought but has to be freely given.

This year, try to be less like the wise men bearing their gifts, and instead love someone in the manner that God has shown to us. Spend time with someone and show that you care for him or her. You are not to be their slave, but you can give undivided attention, show genuine concern, and freely give a part of your life for them. This Christmas could be a special time for the people in your life if you would make a commitment to try and love in this manner. Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of looking under the tree, we look into the hearts of those around us and experience the love that comes from God? Ron Durika is the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in New Florence (corner of Fifth & Chestnut Streets, 724-2352940). Join them for worship every Sunday at 10:30am and Sunday School at 9:15am. Bible Study meets on the first and third Monday of each month at 7pm.

Statewide Conservation Project Headquartered in the Laurel Highlands Are you, or someone you know, one of the estimated 2.7 million bird watchers in Pennsylvania?

Young or old, casual “backyard” bird watcher or avid birder, just beginning or with a lifetime of experience—everyone is encouraged to take part in the 2nd Pennsylvania Breeding Bird Atlas (2nd PBBA), the most extensive survey of the state’s nesting birds ever attempted. Begun in 2004, the 2nd PBBA will continue for the next five years.

Even if you haven’t watched birds before now, there is still plenty of time to learn how to observe and identify them in order to help in this important statewide project. When the monitoring period ends in 2008, all of the collected data will be compiled in a volume that will be used across the state as an invaluable tool in conservation management.

Twenty years ago, when the first Atlas of Breeding Birds in Pennsylvania was published, it was a major undertaking accomplished with the help of over 2,000 volunteers. The 2nd PBBA Project Coordinators, Bob Mulvihill and Mike Lanzone of Powdermill Nature Reserve in Rector, hope to involve as many as 10,000 people in the research for this second survey. Their local Headquarters is home to one of the finest and best known bird banding stations in the United States.

Breeding bird atlases have been published for most states in the country and their use by conservation organizations has helped to establish priorities for habitat management. In Pennsylvania, for example, one of the most important factors in determining the status of our bird diversity has been the decline of our state tree, the Eastern Hemlock. This widespread loss of the hemlock through insect infestation may affect the distribution and abundance of our birds in the future. Through research on the 2nd PBBA, you will be gathering data that will be studied to ascertain factors influencing many areas of similar concern. Your work will become a part of a total effort by thousands of volunteers, all striving toward a better understanding of our wild resources.

Completing the 2nd PBBA—that is, the process of literally putting hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania’s breeding birds on the map—depends on the participation of thousands of volunteer bird watchers. “From a single record of a robin nesting on your porch post, to a handful of observations of birds seen at a state park while on your family’s summer vacation, to a long list of nesting species you’ve gathered, every single participant and every single record adds value and importance to the project,” says Mulvihill.

Nesting Blue-headed Vireo – Courtesy 2nd PA Bird Breeding Atlas

Your help is needed! To learn how to participate in this special project, you can visit our popular website, www.pabirdatlas.org, or call the 2nd PBBA office in Rector at 724-593-6022. The 2nd PBBA is being sponsored by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Carnegie Museum of Natural History, with principal funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grants program.

Next issue: How the project is organized, how the state is divided into regions and blocks, and the basics of atlas volunteering

Volunteers making observations for the Atlas LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 19

SUSAN SAYS Susan McBroom

Holiday Wrappings Christmas spirit seems to burst forth just as we finish saying Thanksgiving grace. No sooner is the table cleared than some invisible elf has trimmed every streetlight in town with boughs of holly. Throughout the United States, women are compelled to spread the holiday spirit by decorating themselves, just as they would their tree. I am talking about the Christmas sweater. A phenomenon that began decades ago with women gluing glitter designs onto sweatshirts.

Short-waisted – wear a sweater that will fall below your waist.

Top-heavy – wear a darker or full cut sweater that does not hug the body.

Simple Holiday Solutions Sweater Set The lightweight ensemble that layers a cardigan over a pullover is a hallmark of good breeding and propriety. Drape the cardigan over your shoulders, or tie it around your neck or waist for easygoing style. Accessorize a twin-set with pearls or beads to dress up a pair of jeans. The sweater set can be worn in place of a jacket to give a suit a new twist. Wearing it under a blazer adds both texture and visual interest.

Today it has reached the proportions of holiday tradition, becoming one of the best selling clothing items at this time of year. Choosing one can be similar to choosing a painting, in terms of considering quality, proportions, detail and design.

These sweaters are worn day and night, with jeans and velvet. When worn with black the design on the sweater becomes the focal point.

The original sweater was a thick wool blanket used by stable hands at the end of the nineteenth century to make racehorses perspire during training exercises. When draped over the likes of Lana Turner and Grace Kelly, it induced perspiration in a decidedly different population. Sweaters are infinitely flexible. They can be thick and woolly, warming men and women alike on snowy winter weekends.

As Coco Chanel discovered, they can be feminine and subdued. Like the cashmere twin-set you substitute for a suit jacket, changing your look from hard power to soft sophistication. Beaded sweaters and cashmeres with exquisite buttons say luxury and have shown up at elegant evening parties and fashionable resorts for decades. Being paired with dress up fabrics like chiffon, satin and silk taffeta. Everyday sweaters made from cotton, wool and polartec fleece serve a remarkable range of activities…from tea with Grandma to skiing the slopes.

Katharine Hepburn understood turtlenecks. The sleek, contemporary silhouette and the remarkable ability to define a jaw line (as if she needed help in that department). The sophisticated simplicity of revealing so much by showing so little.

Katharine knew enough to wrap them around her neck. Was it for warmth, protection, or simply style?

Who cares. It looked great!

Cat burglars, skiers and a number of men with goatees have also appreciated a turtleneck sweater. Less for their aesthetic properties than for their ability to camouflage, warm and impute intellectual hipness. Everything about a turtle20 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

Evening Sweater – Cashmere of Course!

A few exquisite details such as a beaded border, decorative pearl or rhinestone buttons trimmed with fur is all a cardigan needs to go from simple classic to elegant evening.

“This season’s must have is the cashmere sweater, the ultimate in luxury and a timeless investment.”

The entire holiday palette is a return to Town & Country elegance … where the sophisticated lady dominates. This season’s must have is the “cashmere sweater,”,the ultimate in luxury and a timeless investment. This traditional sweater can be worn with a skirt or pants to Holiday dinners, cocktail parties or any occasion in the month of December.

Hair Raising Truth About Luxurious Cashmere from the Coat of a Goat

neck depends on how it fits and the type of fiber.

Big, bulky hand-knits are about homespun charm and warm cozy weekends. A tight, ribbed turtleneck with a slim neck looks great with jeans, it defines the body in a feminine way. Lying smoothly under a suit jacket, the sweater creates a tailored, sporty look. In the end, the turtleneck’s form is simplicity itself, whether it is at the center of attention or part of a layered ensemble.

Sweater – The Body Politic When a sweater is wrapped around the waist it adds visual interest and can camouflage a belly. However, it also will draw attention to your backside. Tie a sweater around your neck to add color that will frame your face.

Body Type Silhouette Pear-shaped – avoid long sweaters, which will make the hip area appear wider.

Empress Eugenie knew a good thing when she saw it. As the stylishly influential wife of Napoleon III of France, the Empress’s love of cashmere made it all the rage in 19th century Europe. The rest, as they say, is fashion history.

Cashmere has been the queen of fibers in western culture ever since. But truth be told, its legendary softness and warmth has been revered by central Asian cultures for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Originally produced in Kashmir at the foot of the Himalayas, 60% of the world’s cashmere now hails from Tibet, Mongolia and China – in areas surrounding the Gobi Desert. Cashmere “begins” with the collection of the “underdown” fibers from the Capra Hircus (goat) during its spring molting season.

With only four to six ounces of cashmere underdown gathered from each goat per year, cashmere always commands a princely sum. Be-

How to Spot Quality Cashmere Only the softest hair from the bellies and chins of goats raised in Mongolia, northern parts of China and the Himalayas is regarded by purists as cashmere. Harvested once a year, it takes four to eight goats to make enough yarn for a single sweater, which helps to explain pure cashmere’s high price tag.

Courtesy Department of Animal Science - Oklahoma State University

sides its relative scarcity to wool, cashmere is remarkably soft. Once touched, you’ll never mistake it for anything else.

Regardless of cost, worldwide demand for cashmere continues to rise. As a result, some manufacturers are selling cashmere that isn’t “100%” as labeled. Chances are, the more reputable the retailer, the better the quality.

Sumptuous cashmere takes many guises, from scarves to bathrobes, coats to cardigans. If money were no object, who wouldn’t choose cashmere?

Just ask the Empress.

Susan McBroom is an independent image consultant who meets individually with clients to help them enhance and develop their personal image and style. Susan will advise clients on their existing wardrobe, future wardrobe purchases, special occasion dressing, personal style enhancement, wardrobe research and personalized shopping for the clothes and accessories that will meet the individual lifestyle and budget. Email Susan at Susan@LaurelMountainPost.com.

Susan’s Cashmere Sweater Shopping Guide Tropical colors are all the rage this holiday season: Extremely affordable price • Sam’s Club • Target • Express Moderate price • J Crew • Banana Republic • Kaufmann’s, Valerie Stevens cashmere, Collect them in mouth watering colors!

High end • Ralph Lauren Black Label, shop their web site at www.polo.com or fine department stores.

• Lilly Pulitzer, shop their web site at www.lillypulitzer.com or fine department stores.

1. FEEL IT. If it’s not insanely soft, it’s not worth it, since the feel of cashmere is the number one way to fudge quality. It should have a slight spring, what those in the biz call “loft.”

2. TEST FOR FLATNESS. Soft? Good. Fuzzy? Not so good, since the sweater could have been overwashed to give a softer, bulkier feel to inferior fibers and will, therefore, be more likely to pill. A good test, is to pinch the goods. “If coarser hairs pop out, it’s not top quality. Finer cashmere has these hairs picked out during the manufacturing process.”

3. READ THE FINE PRINT. By law, cashmere is required to be labeled for content; the finest will say “100% pure cashmere.” If you are buying a blend, check the tag to make sure it has at least 10% cashmere; less than that can wash out. “Two–ply” is also a good phrase to look for, since it equals reinforced, stronger yarn. (Beyond two-ply has to do more with the bulk of the sweater than the yarn’s strength.) A pure cashmere sweater will cost between $150-$200 and continue to look good for years.

4. CHECK THE COLOR. A bright, consistent color, especially in lighter-hued sweaters is a sign of quality; it is nearly impossible to get lower grades of the raw material, (which are usually browner) to dye well. If you are looking for navy or black, compare the feel to the pastels on the shelf; some companies use a lower grade of cashmere for the sweaters they will dye a darker color.

5. CHECK THE SEAMS. The most expensive sweaters are knit entirely by hand. The least expensive are lockstitched, which means that separate panels are machinesewn with cotton or nylon thread. Higher quality sweaters are joined by the same cashmere yarn with which they were woven.

Holiday Greetings This holiday season I would like to extend my gratitude and a sincere thank you, to all of the readers of this column and also to the Laurel Mountain Post and their Staff. Your support and kind words of encouragement were greatly appreciated. And also a special thank you to Jason Ament and Scott Sinemus for taking the time to add laughter, props, and creativity. May the peace and beauty of the Holiday Season be with you and your family, spreading joy and happiness into the New Year.

Susan McBroom

Damon Shutak’s American Root Beer Company Brewing root beer began as a hobby that turned into the American Root Beer Company where the whole family pitches in. While producing gourmet soda pop in Greensburg, PA the brewer of American Root Beer has found a niche for soft drinks that serves a small, but discriminating segment of the market. Research into the production of beverages led this family to add interesting flavors to standard recipes to create unique and refreshing drinks. Vanilla root beer, wild cherry cream, licorice root beer, and blue raspberry fizz are a few of the taste-tempting favorites.

Sales this summer were at four farmers markets, which included the Country Market at Ligonier.

The company is now delivering private label beverages for The Country Cupboard in Ligonier and supplying its own brand name sodas to the John McGinnis Company store in Mt. Lebanon.

American Root Beer will soon actively market its products to additional specialty food stores and restaurants beginning in 2005.

The keys to success for American Root Beer are taking ordinary soda flavors and adding quality ingredients to give them that special pizzazz. The hobby turned business continues to generate smiles and compliments from its customers... and the occasional burp is welcomed too.

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 21

Choose Health!

by Dr. Yalana Awstraw

Share the blessings of your home. Some children never experience the love of a family or the security of a home.

BECOME A FOSTER PARENT For more information call Nne-Nne at 724-838-9074 or 1-800-KID-5928 www.adelphoivillage.org

Fabric Art

Melanie Kimmel www.melaniesfabricart.com Email: mel@melaniesfabricart.com

724-532-3542 22 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

It’s that time of year again when we’re all trying to stay warm and survive the ‘cold and flu season’. I’m sure if anyone had a choice in the matter, it would be not to get sick. Believe it or not, you can choose to be on your health’s team when battling against viruses and other common ailments.

You know how it feels to have your health as your enemy. You experience headaches, coughing and sneezing, even as if a train hit you! All the things we call ‘unhealthy’. These symptoms are your body telling you it’s not functioning at 100%. Your health is a invaluable investment you have by the choices you make each day. By reading on, you’re going to learn how to choose to be on the same team as your health. You do not have the time or energy to waste on being unhealthy.

Your immune system is what protects you from the things that cause ill health such as bacteria and viral infections, otherwise known as strep throat, the cold virus and influenza.

Your immune is also being challenged if you suffer from headaches, allergies, fatigue, even digestive issues. In the digestive tract, your body absorbs the nutrients it needs to support the immune function. If this process is interfered with, your immunity and health decline.

You can choose to support your immune system and thereby choose better and stronger health. The key points that improve your immune’s capability are: proper nutrition, ample sleep, regular exercise, and above all an intact flowing nervous system. Yes, it is your nervous system that keeps all bodily functions performing. Your brain is similar to an electric power plant and your spinal cord and nerves are the electric power lines leading to the organs that keep you alive and functioning. Similar to how the electricity supplied to your house allows you to heat your home, cook and take warm showers in it. I am sure we would all consider electricity as crucial to living in our homes. The nervous system supplies a natural electric impulse to each and every living cell in the human body. This electrical pulse is crucial to life. The brain and body connect through this sophisticated line of communication.

Fortunately for you, there is someone in your community that is concerned for the continued integrity of your nervous system, particularly the spinal

cord and the millions of nerves that flow from it, that person is your friendly Doctor of Chiropractic.

Since the nervous system connects to everything, such as the immune system, it has an affect on all the living tissue in the body. A Chiropractor seeks out any interference upon the nervous system by looking to the spine. In Chiropractic terminology, this interference is defined as a Subluxation, more specifically the Vertebral Subluxation Complex. Simply put, it is the result of when physical, chemical and emotional stress impact our body. The human body is made to self correct. But with today’s high stress lifestyle, our bodies do get overwhelmed and a bio-mechanical spinal misalignment (vertebral subluxation) results. This interferes with the integrity of the nervous system at the particular spinal segment that is subluxated. The underlying tissue of organ, muscle, bone, discs, ligaments and so on are affected. A prolonged interference of the nerves does result in ill health. Ill health is when you are not feeling or functioning at 100%.

The joints of your spine, known as vertebra, are specifically made to encase the spinal cord and nerves. Too much or too little motion of these joints impacts the spine and can have serious effects on your well being. A Chiropractor corrects the nerve interference of a subluxation with an adjustment to the spine. There are various styles of adjustments. For example, at our office we do a low force, specific adjustment with an instrument called Pro-Adjuster. It is a gentle yet effective adjustment for infants, athletes, elderly, people of all walks of life.

So my point here is, please help your body function, especially the nervous system with its life giving electric pulse by choosing health, a worthwhile investment. And you will appreciate your body’s health and functioning capacity down the road in life’s journey. So what do you think? It is time you get your spine checked.

Chiropractic is not just for low back pain. Chiropractic adjustments help patients maintain a wellness lifestyle.

Patients also seek chiropractic adjustments if they are suffering from any ill health symptoms such as asthma, allergies, ADD, colic, ear infections, headaches, scoliosis, torticollis and so on. Chiropractic does help people with an array of ailments find better health.

But Chiropractors do not just see this everyday in their offices, there are numerous studies from the 1980s to today proving the efficacy of adjusting the spinal cord to rid patients of their ailment and maintain a healthier quality of living, wellness living.

LEARN MORE Children now have to have approximately 20 vaccination shots prior to entering school. A child’s immune system is not fully mature and developed at such an age. Today experts are questioning the possible risks occurring due to thimerosal, a mercurycontaining preservative in vaccines.

“However, as with any medical procedure, vaccination has some risks as well as substantial, proven benefits. Individuals react differently to vaccines, and there is no way to absolutely predict the reaction of a specific individual to a particular vaccine. Anyone who takes a vaccine should be fully informed about both the benefits and the risks of vaccination.” -quoted from the Center for Disease Control

There are thimerosal-free vaccines available. Be sure and ask your medical doctor for more information. Once you compare the facts, it is completely your decision. Remember your health is your own. At times things are mandated to be included in your healthcare. You should question the purpose, the consequence, the risks and the benefits of an issue that has a direct impact on you and your health or your family’s well being. I encourage you the reader to investigate the material that is available through books, official websites and numerous studies concerning vaccinations.

A list is provided at the end. Before you make a decision on vaccinations, educate yourself and be aware of the risks and benefits that will impact you and your child.

Yalana Austraw, D.C. graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in August 2004. Dr. Yalana is a native to Latrobe, PA and currently practices at Chiropractic Health Center with Dr. Nicholas J. Senuta and Associates, located at 2300 Cedar Ave. in Latrobe (724-537-5200).

She is happy to answer any questions, welcomes new patients, and is available for lectures.

RESOURCES www.drnicksenuta-proadjuster.us www.909shot.com (National Vaccine Info Ctr) www.icpa4kids.com (International Chiropractic Pediatric Assoc.) www.cdc.gov (Center for Disease Control) The Consumer’s Guide to Childhood Vaccines

by Barbara Loe Fisher What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave, MD

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS MASTROROCCO’S MARKET Entertaining? Let us do the cooking for you!!

We can prepare your holiday ham, turkey, or entree and have it ready for you to pick up and serve. We also have a variety of fresh baked holiday pies, cakes and cookies, cheese logs, vegetable trays, fresh fruit platters and more!

Stop in at 133 E. First Ave. in Derry or call 724-694-2788.

Understanding Your Homeowners’ Coverage Needs

By Brian E Panichelle A homeowners policy is one of the most comprehensive policies you own. Cash stolen on vacation? Homeowners insurance provides replacement coverage.

Delivery guy trips on your patio? Liability coverage helps foot the bill. CDs stolen from your car? Once again, homeowners insurance to the rescue.

While homeowners insurance covers many things, it provides limited or no coverage for certain areas. In most cases an endorsement can help provide more extensive coverage for those items not included in a standard policy.

To help identify if you may need extra coverage, here is a list of some common areas. Talk with your agent about your individual situation to determine what coverage is right for you.

The Big One Earthquakes, floods and mines can be a big problem, and they aren’t covered under a standard homeowners policy.

• Earthquakes occur across the country, sometimes in areas you might not think have a problem. You should consider earthquake coverage if you have a brick home since the structure tends to give less.

• Floods are another area not covered by a standard homeowners policy. If you live in a flood prone area, talk with your agent about coverage backed by the Federal government.

• Abandoned mines can jeopardize your home’s stability. Research your community to see if you should seek coverage.

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Jewelry Jewelry is often irreplaceable, both in terms of cost and sentimental value. If you don’t have the right coverage you could receive little or no coverage in the event of a loss. If you have more than $1,000 in jewelry you might want to add coverage to your homeowners policy. You have two options. Upgrading to an all-risks policy will provide additional coverage and affordably extends your coverage limit (up to $5,000, but just $1,000 per item). You also can “schedule” your collection. This provides a more extensive risk and perils policy for your valuable possessions.

Ooh-Ooh, That Smell Though infrequent, a sewage back-up can be downright messy. If the wastewater that flows from your property becomes blocked, it can be forced back through your toilets and floor drains. A provision to your policy can help with service, repairs and clean up. All homeowners should be aware of this potential problem, not just those with basements, because sewage back-up can occur in any home.

Because everyone’s situation is unique, it’s difficult for agents to align the appropriate coverage without your input. Periodically talking with your agent to review your current coverage, the features of your home and your valuables can help you understand your current policy and identify additional coverage needs. It’s better to find out you have a gap in coverage before a loss rather than after you file a claim.

Brian Panichelle is Owner of BP Insurance, a Nationwide Insurance Agency in Ligonier, PA.

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“I was truly touched by Drew’s article [Treat Or Trick, Fall 2004] in your magazine. It made me laugh and cry. It was great! It reminded me so much of my own Mom, who was a ‘Halloween Purist’ too. It was her favorite time of year.”

Heather RRogers-Kline ogers-Kline – Creekside, PPA A LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 23

Second Chance Snow continued from Page 9 the rosary in Spanish, my choices were The Guiding Light and some gameshow where people were throwing dice.

Just as The Guiding Light was going into a commercial, Carrie came down the basement steps carrying two Dr. Peppers and a bag of Doritos. A familiar looking snowman with a handlebar mustache came onto the screen to the tune of Burl Ives singing “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.”

Carrie stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the television.

“Hey,” I said. “Rudolph’s on next week.”

Perhaps I should have said that with less enthusiasm, but Rudolph was always my mother’s favorite Christmas show. However, I could tell by the way Carrie glared at me that something bothered her. She handed me a Dr. Pepper and sat down at the

other end of the couch. “I hate that show,” she said, staring at the television. The commercial ended, quickly replaced by one for tampons. “Santa is such a jerk in it.”

I turned and stared at Carrie.

“What are you talking about?”

Carrie didn’t look at me, she just kept watching the two middle-aged women on the screen talking about the benefits of the plastic applicator.

“Santa is a jerk,” she repeated.

I don’t know why, but at that moment, I felt I had to stand up for St. Nick. Maybe it was because Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was my mother’s favorite Christmas show, and I wasn’t about to let anyone bash it; or maybe I was in the mood for a fight, but I wasn’t going to let Carrie get away with bad mouthing Santa.

“That’s a load of crap,” I said. “You’re talking about Santa Claus.”

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Carrie turned to me and shook her head. “So what? Santa’s a jerk in Rudolph. Think about it. Dancer or Prancer, whoever it is, has Rudolph.

And everything is just peachy until Santa finds out that Rudolph isn’t like all the other reindeers. Oh no, Rudolph has this shiny red nose, and Santa isn’t about to put up with any freak pulling his sled. Not jolly St. Nick.”

“So what does Santa do? He tells Rudolph’s father that he’s disappointed in him because his kid ain’t like all the other reindeers. He tells him that Rudolph’s not good enough because he’s different. Santa treats Rudolph like dirt just because Rudolph has a birth defect.”

“A birth defect?” I had never thought of Rudolph’s nose like that before.

“Yeah, that’s what Rudolph’s red nose is, a birth defect. It’s like being born with one leg shorter than the other. Or with a cleft-palate. It’s not the kid’s fault he was born like that.”

Carrie stopped, her thin lips slipping into a frown. “Who does Santa think he is? Huh? Do you think all of the other reindeer would have made fun of Rudolph if Santa wasn’t such a jerk to him? Hell no. If Santa wouldn’t have made a big deal out of the nose, everyone would have accepted Rudolph the way he was.”

“But Santa apologized at the end,” I said, though I could tell that was a rather weak defense.

“Big deal. If he wasn’t such a creep in the beginning, he wouldn’t have needed to apologize. Just because somebody says they’re sorry, doesn’t make everything all right.”

What Carrie was saying about Santa made sense, but I couldn’t let the matter drop. “Okay, but what about the Misfit Toys? Santa didn’t have to find homes for them, but he did anyway. That’s not something a jerk would do.”

Carrie rolled her eyes and snorted. “You just don’t get it, do you?

Where do you think all those Misfit Toys came from? Huh? Mattel?” She stopped, and I could tell that she wanted an answer. But I didn’t have one for her. I must have seen Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer six or seven times, and I never thought about where the Misfit Toys came from.

So that’s what I told her.

“That’s what I thought,” was her quick reply. “But if you think about it, it’s pretty obvious that those Misfit Toys are rejects from Santa’s workshop because they got to be made somewhere, and there sure isn’t anyone else up at the North Pole making toys. But like having some deformed

reindeer pull your sleigh, Santa would look like a nimrod handing out squirt guns that shoots jelly or polka-dotted zebras.”

“Elephant,” I corrected her.

“Whatever. The point is that it would be bad for Santa’s image if he went around passing out toys that were different than all the others. So what does he do? He ships them off to some island where they rot, and he doesn’t have to deal with them anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.” Carrie crossed her arms tightly against her chest and turned back to the t.v..

“That’s what people used to do with retarded kids, you know. Ship them off to some asylum so they wouldn’t be an embarrassment to anyone.”

Tears come to her eyes, and I should have kept my mouth shut, but I didn’t. “But Santa finds them homes at the end. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

Still staring at the television, Carrie shook her head. “You never really see Santa delivering any of those toys, do you? Santa just hands them parachutes and tosses them out of the sleigh. Hell, he’s probably flying over the ocean when he dumps them.” A single tear slipped from the corner of Carrie’s eye and made a path down her left cheek. When it reached her chin, it hung there for just a second before dropping onto her sleeve.

“That’s what you do with misfits,” she said. “Dump them in the ocean.”

I stared at the spot on Carrie’s chin where the tear dropped, and in that moment, I wanted to kiss her.

And I can tell by the way she was sitting, straight up with her head slightly bent toward me, that she wouldn’t mind it if I did. But I don’t. Instead, I sipped at my Dr. Pepper and turned my attention back to The Guiding Light.

For the next ten minutes we stared at the television, watching some old, bald guy try to seduce a woman half his age. He wasn’t getting too far, and Baldy was slipping something into the woman’s glass of champagne when the show went to a commercial break. Here we go again, I thought as another singing snowman danced across the screen.

I shot a quick glance toward Carrie, wondering if she was going to rip apart Frosty the Snowman.

I was a bit surprised to see her nodding her head in approval. “I like Frosty,” she said to the television.

“Oh, isn’t Santa a jerk in that one too?”

Carrie shook her head. “No.” Carrie turned to me before tossing a Dorito into her mouth. “Santa gives Frosty a second chance after he saves

that little girl in the greenhouse,” she said. “That’s cool.” ***** By the time I started for home, the snow was coming down even harder.

A solid two inches covered the ground, and I could tell by the way the heavy flakes floated from the sky that it would be quite a while before the snow let up. With any luck, school would be canceled tomorrow. Then I realized that the next day was Saturday, so it didn’t matter.

I walked home slowly, listening to the crunching sound the snow made with each step I took. My mother loved the wintertime and the snow. Sometimes she would bundle herself up in layers of sweatshirts and go for long walks in the snow. She might not come back for an hour or so, and when I asked her where she had gone, she would just smile and say “nowhere.” My father never asked her where she went on those long walks, and she never offered to tell him.

Now, walking home from Carrie’s house, I think I understand what my mother meant. It’s kind of nice trudging through the snow. In a way, it’s quiet and peaceful, just like being underwater. For the next few blocks I’m able to enjoy that feeling. Then I remember that when I get home, she isn’t going to be there.

And so the tears come.

I try to stop myself from crying, but I can’t help it. A thousand memories of winters and Christmases come flooding into my brain. I can see her in her bathrobe opening presents on Christmas morning; or holding my hand when I was nine as we walked to church; I can smell the cookies she burnt last Christmas; and I can feel her cradling me in her arms, her lips pressed against my ear as she lifts me so I can see the star atop the tree.

And I know the memories are all I have left of her because she’s been taken from me. I feel like one of those misfit toys, like I’m a train with big, square wheels. A train’s supposed to have wheels, a boy’s supposed to have a mother; if you don’t, everyone looks at you funny. That’s the way things work.

Carrie was right, though I would never actually admit that to her. Santa is a jerk for the way he treats Rudolph.

I guess a part of me always knew that, but as I rounded the corner and headed down my street, it dawned on me that Carrie really wasn’t talking about misfit toys. She was talking about herself and the way the world treated her because of the pink streaks she puts in her hair and the black nail polish she wears. I guess

she was talking about the nuns at school and everyone else who tries to force her to act normal. But Carrie’s normal isn’t like everyone else’s. I guess that’s the difference between her and me. She likes her square wheels.

The wind has started to pick up, and I can feel my tears drying in my eyes. That’s good, because my father’s pickup truck is in front of the house.

He’s home early today, and I don’t want him to see me crying. He hasn’t said anything to me, but I know it upsets him when I cry because he can’t do anything to make it stop.

Since my mother died, he’s gotten quiet, like he isn’t interested in talking anymore. He’s only thirty-seven, but he looks older now. But I guess I look older now too.

As I get closer to the house, I can see something in the pickup truck, like an old carpet has been shoved up against the side of the bed. It’s covered with snow, and when I get close enough to the truck and see what is inside, I can’t believe it.

Still wrapped in binding string is a scraggly looking pine tree. From the way it’s twisted in the back of the truck, it is at least my size, five foot eight. When I lean over the side of the truck, I can see that it’s trunk is wrapped up in a wet burlap sack, and it smells like chewing gum.

“Do you like it?”

My father was standing on the porch holding a snow shovel in one hand and a bucket of salt in the other.

He stood still, like he wasn’t going to move until I said something.

“Yeah,” I said. “I like it.” I took my hand out of my jacket pocket and brushed it across the tree’s sharp needles. “I thought these things gave you a headache?”

My father shrugged his shoulders and started down the steps. “They do,” he said. He came over to the truck and peered into the bed. “But you just get used to some things, you know.”

My father stared at the tree, and at that moment, I knew there would never be any more talk of artificial Christmas trees in our house; and I knew that every Christmas morning for the rest of his life, he would wake with a headache and think of my mother.

“I don’t think we need to get the house lights and stuff out this year, though. Do you?”

I shook my head. The tree was enough. We would put it in its usual spot and string it with popcorn just as my mother had always done. Then its smell would fill the house, and in

Second Chance Snow

The Backlace by Cheri TM

For the Woman Who Wants to Make a Grand Exit Greensburg native Cheri Hayden created The BacklaceTM necklace while home sick in bed. “I handcrafted my first backlace during the second week of September . . . it all happened so quickly from then on.”

Since then, The BacklaceTM has raced through the local fashion scene as the season’s must-have accessory. Each piece is convertible – a choker is worn around the neck in the front with a long chain of semi-precious stones that drape down the back. Or vice versa. Each necklace is a copyrighted, custom work of art made from a variety of stones such as pearls, jade, amethyst, peridot, swarovski crystals, citrine, opal, gold stone and garnet.

“I come up with my designs for the backlaces and matching earrings almost everywhere that I am . . . animals and nature inspire me. ” Hayden explains. “I usually get help from my four cats who chase gemstones when I accidentally drop them.”

The Cheri Hayden Collection is available at several local shops

including On the Avenue/Laurel Valley Skin ©Laura Care Petrilla in Greensburg; The Spoiled Chics Boutique in Sewickley; Equine Chic in Ligonier where shoppers can take a look at the exclusive equestrian line of backlace designs; and MB Bride in Greensburg featuring a new collection of bridal and prom backlaces.

Prices range from $60 (sterling chain, Indian and Czech glass, colored or clear quartz, for example); $80 (fancy sterling or gold chain with semi-precious gemstones); to $100 (sterling, gold fill or rhodium-plated chain with pearl, mother of pearl, garnet, opal, onyx). Custom pieces are made upon request.

Hayden also designs sets for school sports teams and cheerleading fundraisers using school colors; offers public and private trunk shows of her collections; and participates in local fashion events. Find out more by visiting the online backlace portfolio at www.TheBacklace.com or calling Hayden’s Hempfield Township studio 724-832-1609.

continued on Page 26 LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 25

Second Chance Snow

continued from Page 25

some strange way, that smell would get us through December. My mother’s memory would be in the scent of pine, and we would breath it in. And as long as we could do that, we would be okay.

“Why don’t you go put your stuff away, then come help me with this sidewalk. We’ll put the tree up later.”

“Sure,” I told my dad.

I flung my backpack over my shoulder and headed for the house as the sound of my father’s shovel scraping the sidewalk filled the snowy air. When I reached the front door, I could smell the scent of the Christmas tree being carried on the winter wind. I breathed it in deeply before opening the door. And like a pair of protective arms, the smell of pine needles followed me inside.

A native of McKeesport, PA, Drew Williams received his PhD from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and teaches creatve writing at North Carolina Central University. His first novel, Night Terrors, was named Sime-Gen’s novel of the year for 2001. He lives in FuquayVarina, NC with his wife, two kids and a finicky cat. Keep up with Drew at his website: www.drewilliams.com or send an email to DrewWilliams@LaurelMountainPost.com.

The Laurel Mountain Post wishes Drew a Happy 40th Birthday on January 7, 2005!

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26 - LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST

Toyota of Greensburg University of Pittsburgh LATROBE AREA Adam & Eve’s Pet & Hobby Shop Adelphoi Village Arnold Palmer Motors Inc Arnold Palmer Regional Airport Bella Pasta The Corner Store CJ6 Pet Supply Outlet Chiropractic Associates Dino’s Sports Lounge DiNunzio’s Italian Chophouse DiSalvo’s Station Restaurant Dr. Philip Dahar, Orthodontist Dr. Scott Learn, DMD First Commonwealth Bank First National Bank - Latrobe 30 Plaza First National Bank-Downtown Latrobe Frank’s Lounge Gino’s Pizza of Latrobe Hanna Insurance Agency Harvey’s Barber Shop Hostetter Club In-Sync Rehabilitation Services Jocelyn’s Beauty Salon Kaye’s Tailoring Latrobe 30 Beverage Latrobe Animal Clinic Latrobe Art Center Latrobe Center Districuting, Inc. Latrobe Chamber of Commerce Latrobe Hair Company Latrobe Hospital Little Shop Latrobe News Stand Latrobe Post Office Len’s Jewelry Loyalhanna Care Center Mosso’s Medical Supply Company Inc Petrosky’s Pro Hardware Pizza Siena Ray Foot & Ankle Center Rose Style Shoppe Scotty G’s Pizzaria Sharky’s Cafe Sherwin-Williams - Latrobe 30 Plaza Shop-N-Save - Latrobe 30 Plaza St. Vincent College Van Dyke Styling Center Vita-Charge Weiss Furniture Youngstown Tire Zappone Sausage Company and Retail Outlet LIGONIER AREA Abigail’s Coffeehouse American Indian Jewelry Betsy’s of Ligonier Celtic Culture

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STUDENT ARTS SPOTLIGHT Marie Manski – Derry Area High School

Marie Manski is a senior at Derry Area High School. She has been drawing since her early childhood and sewing since she was nine years old. Marie has received numerous first place and best of show awards in the Westmoreland County Fair and Derry Township Fair for her artwork and sewing. She is a current member of the Derry Area High School Art Club and the 4-H Home Economics Club. She has volunteered as a tutor and worked as the Arts and Crafts Director of the After School Learning Center at Grandview Elementary School. Marie has also worked two seasons for Kaman’s Art Shoppes Inc. as a portrait and silhouette artist at Idlewild Park. After graduating, Marie plans to attend college and major in Art.

LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST - 27

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