Gay Respectability and How Our Families Reacted to Our Wedding

lesbian wedding

Today marks our two week wedding anniversary. We had originally planned to celebrate with Mexican food and a Henry Louis Gates marathon, but the frigid temps make it patently unfair to ask any human being to go out into the weather to deliver food. So it is soup from the pantry and HLG marathon. Married […]

Both of my parents have COVID-19

Last week, my brother contacted me to let me know. He had authorized requesting hospice for them. They live in an assisted living facility here in Pittsburgh. They have a myriad of underlying conditions, ravages of lives hard lived and filled with tragedies. Of course, they end up both contracting an international pandemic causing virus. […]

My Pandemic Pittsburgh Wedding Cookie Table

Pittsburgh Cookie Table Pandemic

Our wedding cookie table looks a little different than at a typical wedding. I have to admit this one was a little tough – having a cookie table at my wedding reception was one of the things I genuinely look forward to experiencing. While I didn’t attend a lot of weddings growing up, cookie tables […]

One more wedding photo

The Vulnerability of a Wedding Registry

Lesbian Wedding Registry

You would think a wedding registry would be the fun part of wedding planning, but oh no no no no. We had no intention of putting together a registry – we aren’t establisheding a new household, we aren’t young, it’s a pandemic, etc. It was hard enough figuring out the backyard logistics of serving apple […]

Encourage your children to donate their gently used toys to Play It Forward (Adults, too)

Donate toys for Christmas

There’s a great toy distribution project called Play It Forward Pittsburgh. For the past ten years, they have distributed gently used toys to neighbors in need during this reason. Hundreds of volunteers sort, clean, and pack the toys for distribution out of the Convention Center (DLCC.) Play It Foward Pgh is a super queer friendly […]

Thanksgiving Things to Do in Pittsburgh

Food! If you have never had the joy of restaurant dining on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day, you may experience sticker shock – upwards of $40/person is not unusual. And that’s not a buffet. BUT there’s a great option on the Northside called Bistro-to-Go on East Ohio Street. Their traditional turkey dinners are fantastic and at […]

Will It Be A ‘Long Winter’? Day 240

Fans of Little House on the Prairie books should get my reference – one entire book describes how the Ingalls family and neighbors endured from October 1880-May 1881. The book exaggerates a few facts, but is generally considered an accurate representation of the suffering and hardships endured by residents throughout the Great Plains. That book […]

Honoring the Dead

Dr. John Ruffing

My friend John Ruffing died on November 9, 2007 at the age of 41. He is someone I loved very deeply and think about often. It was suggested I create a blog altar for my ancestors. John and I are not blood related that I know of, but like many queer people – we created […]

Do You Have a Thanksgiving Plan?

Coronavirus is roaring back. Last week, the US averaged 53,000 new infections per day. This week, that’s up to 59,000. According to the New York Times, experts forecast hitting 75,687 new infections per day in the near future. That’s the highest rate in the US from back in July. It could go higher in the […]