It was a perfect day for skyline pictures, with puffy white clouds filling the sky. This is how it looked in black and white.
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A Green Bee
Father Pitt believes this is Agapostemon virescens. The world of entomology is one old Pa Pitt wishes he had entered into earlier; a whole universe of fascinating wildlife surrounds us, and some of these animals are shockingly beautiful. The flower is a Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis).
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Abbott Ice and Packing Plant, Carnegie
You can still see the name “Abbott” in dimmer letters, but the chimney now points the way to Standard Ceramic.
Would you like to see the same picture done up as an old postcard? The two-color process creates an interesting effect, and it may be amusing to compare it with the natural-color rendition above.
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Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church, Mexican War Streets
A small but very tasteful church (finished in 1909) that faces the beautiful expanse of West Park across North Avenue. The architect, according to this brochure, was Robert Maurice Trimble, a native of Allegheny.
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Allegheny County Civil War Memorial, West Park
Seen across Lake Elizabeth. This monument was “Erected to the memory of the 4,000 brave men of Allegheny County who fell in the great struggle to preserve the integrity of our Union.” Even today, four thousand men would be a huge number from this one county, and Allegheny County did not have more than a million people in it back in the 1860s.
Near the memorial was a bridge over the railroad, now gone, with the approaches blocked by chain-link fence. Some enterprising romantic discovered that the fence makes a fine billboard for a message spelled out in padlocks.
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Zinnias
Zinnias have become very popular in the last few years, and we never need an excuse for flower pictures.
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Bee on Goldenrod
Goldenrod is everywhere in September, which makes the bees very happy. Here we see a bee having the time of her life with a Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissima).
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Fifth Avenue, Oakland
A picture taken back in February, but held in reserve (or forgotten about) till now: looking west on Fifth Avenue in the Oakland monument district. On this side is the Fifth Avenue bus lane, soon to be integrated into the new Oakland BRT line; across the street is a corner of the Masonic Temple (now Alumni Hall) and the Pittsburgh Athletic Association under renovation.
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United Steelworkers Building
The United Steelworkers Building in a picture from last December. The architects were Curtis and Davis, who did nothing else that old Pa Pitt knows of in Pittsburgh.
