This past weekend brought with it chaos. The hot and humid weather made it unbearable to be outside. Our pool’s water temperature got as high as 90 degrees. Definitely some missed opportunities to work out in the air conditioning at the gym. With the heat and humidity came plenty of showers and thunderstorms, and they couldn’t have picked a worse time to arrive. The Gaffron Fourth of July picnic at the farm was a soaker. Most of us took cover inside, and eventually some of us left early. We were spared some of the major storm damage over the weekend, though. Adding insult to injury was the power outages in the area.
The store I work at wasn’t immune to the extreme weather, either. Early in the evening, the power went out at my Giant Eagle. Was this the store’s reaction to Kroger buying Giant Eagle a few days earlier? Kidding aside, I knew something was up when the parking lot looked dark Sunday night. Next door, Target’s power was also out. The evening was chaotic and it would sum up our night when we grabbed buggies and started pulling stuff. The power outage wreaked havoc in the perishable departments, as they lost a lot of product. Deli, Prepared Foods, Meat, Produce, and Dairy as well as Frozen and Bakery. We pulled all that we could. We used shopping carts, watermelon bins, and totes to save what we could. The plastic meat crates did not get used as they wouldn’t hold much. As chaotic as this night was, it was nice to see everyone pull together.
Monday night was not quite as chaotic, but we still kept busy. We began the night restocking Frozen and Dairy, The majority of the night was spent putting up the latter. We had help from everywhere. Meat department helped us quite a bit. Seeing those guys always gives me an opportunity to talk up my uncle, who worked for 40+ years in that profession. More than half of those were with Giant Eagle. We gave it our best effort. Still, we couldn’t save all of the ice cream or any of the frozen pizzas.
Thursday nights on TV can only mean one thing, and that’s Rick Sebak night on WQED! Rick Sebak has worked in public television since the 1970’s, and 2026 is his 50th year on TV. A majority of those years he has spent with Pittsburgh’s station WQED. Over the years he has produced many great shows that talk about the things that make Pittsburgh what it is. He started out local and has branched out nationally. One of his first documentaries is a little piece that I’d love to call Kennywood Memories. If you know, you know.
Kennywood Memories made its debut in September 1988 on WQED and is one of the Sebak specials that definitely stands the test of time. Many other specials are too. Even as the park itself has changed and evolved since then, people still watch it every summer. After that, it’s Things That Aren’t There Anymore and The Pennsylvania Road Show (two specials from the early 1990’s) as well as The Strip Show. If Kennywood Memories is the GOAT, then Pennsylvania Diners and other Roadside Attractions is definitely #2 on my list.
Pennsylvania Diners and some of his national shows that focus on food will definitely make you hungry. The Hot Dog Program and Shore Things will have you in the mood for Summer, as well as what I watched Thursday night. That show was Breakfast Special, which inspired some new features at Kings back in 2010 when it aired.
Today, my cousin and I are having lunch in Ligonier. It was her idea as both of our birthdays have recently occurred. Hers on June 16 and mine two weeks later. We are planning to have lunch at the Mexican restaurant in town, and I might have to take her up on tamales as my order.
While I do want to lay down in the afternoon to rest up for work, I might stop at the library. The Diamond is nice but the forecast is trending towards rain and thunderstorms. I’ll be previewing a new book I bought this past spring (Jane Austen’s Bookshelf). I was inspired by the author of Meet Me at Luke’s to check out this book. Along with Three Shades of Blue, these two books will be part of my reading sometime after August 15.
Stylish 🍒 