If groundhogs are going to pose for their portraits, then Father Pitt will indulge their vanity.
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A Ginkgo Drops Its Leaves
A Ginkgo biloba has just dropped its leaves in the Union Dale Cemetery. Ginkgo biloba is an odd tree in almost every respect, and this is one of its odd habits. Most trees lose their leaves over the course of a few days, but a Ginkgo loses them in a surprisingly short time, almost all at once. If there is not much wind, the result is a rich golden carpet with the tree at the center of it.
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The Great Floyd Gun, Cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry, Pittsburgh
From Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 25, 1860. —Knapp, Rudd, & Co. cast this thing, which was considered one of the wonders of the age.
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Old Stone Church, Monroeville
This church is not all that old, having been built in 1896; but it sits on a site where there has been a church since 1834, and a burying-ground since 1796. The Cross Roads Presbyterian Church has moved to a much larger building some distance away, but still maintains the cemetery. The borough owns this building, and the Monroeville Historical Society uses it.
The bell tower was added in 1976; it is dedicated to George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla. Father Pitt has not researched the subject thoroughly, but he suspects that this is the only bell tower in the world dedicated to Nikola Tesla.
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Steller’s Sea Eagle at the National Aviary
By some measurements the largest of all eagles, Steller’s Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) is native to the eastern coast of Asia, where it hunts fish and gulls. This bird, however, gets all its meals catered.
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Fall in the Homewood Cemetery
Many more pictures of gorgeous monuments and fall leaves are at Father Pitt’s Pittsburgh Cemeteries site.
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World War I Memorial, West End Park
One of the least-known works of Frank Vittor, this memorial sits in the improbably hilly West End Park. It is an ornament to its neighborhood (in spite of some clumsy restoration), and it ought to be better known by Pittsburghers from elsewhere.
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Groundhog with an Acorn
KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA This scraggly groundhog has found an acorn and seems to be thoroughly enjoying it. Groundhogs love to eat grass and—especially—your garden vegetables, but they vary their diet with nuts and other things that appeal to the squirrel in them.
