Tonight at Laurel Highlands Toastmasters we held an online meeting with only three in attendance. We could have easily cancelled the meeting but went through with it and we still had a good meeting. We dispensed with Table Topics and had a stealth General Evaluation. Sharon and I spoke and evaluated each other’s speeches. Ryan came on the beginning and gave us the word of the day. He also introduced me and I introduced Sharon. I give us all props for agreeing to hold the meeting as even the smallest Toastmasters meeting can be one of the best.
I spoke about the history of Eat’n Park and talked about the book on the restaurant, “The Story Behind the Smile”. I put a lot of details into my speech and it was hard to cover 75 years in 7.5 (minutes). I could have limited it to two things, one being my work experience with Park Classic Diner, or a speech about their community involvement or even Smiley. The speeches were done and we talked about some club business before wrapping up at 7pm. We decided last minute to hold it online and that was a good thing as it would have been a waste to drive down to Connellsville for nothing. I also got to watch the latest Halloween Baking Championship and that series will wrap on Monday.
On Friday, I took a nice drive to Ligonier, taking advantage of my day off. It was a nice day with wall to wall sunshine. It was little cooler than this week’s weather but perfect for October. In a few weeks, that gazebo in the Ligonier Diamond will have a Christmas tree to adorn it and families will be scheduling sessions in the Diamond. Ligonier will turn into the perfect Hallmark Christmas town. While there, I walked over to Second Chapter Books. These days I don’t buy books like I used to as I’m focusing on what I have now and also I enjoy writing more on this platform.
While in Second Chapter Books, I found some interesting reads that I mentioned in Friday’s blog. I talked about staying in the fantasy genre but David McCullough’s books catch my eye too. Perhaps I’m more into history like my dad and my uncles. One is on the Johnstown Flood of 1889 and another is on 1776. The two I saw on Friday were on Paris and the Brooklyn Bridge. A nice Christmas gift would be a collection of his works, maybe four or five. My dad read the Johnstown Flood book a long time ago. Robert Jeschonek is another great author and historian, covering Johnstown. I was looking at his Penn Traffic book on Friday as well. His other works include Glosser Bros. as well as the long gone Richland Mall.
Another book I saw in this little gem in Ligonier was on Squirrel Hill after the events of the Tree of Life shooting in 2018. This read also looked very interesting and highlighted the predominantly Jewish town not too far from the city of Pittsburgh. The author focuses more on the residents than the tragic events of October 27, 2018, and it’s definitely worth a look.
In my Eat’n Park book last week, I focused on the next to last chapter which covered how the restaurant navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitality industry was affected greatly by the events of the pandemic and Eat’n Park was no exception. The company made sure its employees and managers were taken care of. Takeout windows (which debuted in 2008 at Monroeville) became essential during COVID, and there was a plan in place long before 2020. Eat’n Park did all they could to ensure long term success after exiting the pandemic. I’ll be wrapping up the book this week and tomorrow, I’ll revisit that chapter.
Stylish 🍒 