Steelers Fans never really die, they just watch the game from another angle.

Steelers Fans never really die, they just watch the game from another angle., originally uploaded by MacaDamien.

Only in Pittsburgh.......

Retiring with style

By Christie Campbell

One of the classiest ways to walk out of your place of employment for the last time was accomplished here Tuesday, thanks to the family of Mario Mullig.

Mario, who is 81 years old and has never looked his age, retired Tuesday after working 29 years at the Observer-Reporter as an editor.

As Mario said his good-byes in the third floor newsroom, his family pulled up outside the office in Washington, Pa., in a white, stretch limousine.

Mario walked out the employee entrance to see his three granddaughters, Sydney, age 3, Livia, 5, and Maria, 2, hanging out the limo’s back window, yelling “Hi Pappy!” His daughters, Suzanne Scott and Amy Antonio, took photographs as a chauffeur from Southpointe Limousine held the door for Mario to join his wife, Virginia. The family, including son-in-law Craig Antonio, then departed for dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh.

Quite a sight! The newsroom was watching out the front windows and heard Mario say, “I think I’m going to cry!”

We’ll miss Mario.

As we were reminiscing with him yesterday over lunch, editor Liz Rogers recalled she hated coming to work when he was on the night desk because he was such a stickler for details he made her work extra hard. But as much as she resented it then, it made her a good reporter and that translated to her being a good editor.

He was that way at home too, Suzanne said. Her dad would whip out his pencil and correct her papers for school and if one of her siblings brought up a word at the dinner table and was unsure of its meaning, Mario would make him or her look it up in the dictionary.

(Caption: Mario Mullig waives goodbye to his coworkers. Photo: Christie Campbell)

Hail the lazy man's pierogies

This is an easy recipe for those relocated Pittsburghers who might be looking for a taste of home during this Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Local Steelers fans may want to try this black and gold pierogi casserole, too, especially those who honor the Polish dumplings and didn’t learn how to make them from a studda bubba.

But, be warned, this variation of the national dish of Pittsburgh is not for those who have turned to Weight Watchers to shed a few post-holiday pounds.

Ingredients:

1/2 box of lasagna noodles
1 1lb., 8 oz bag of Ore-Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 stick salted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil noodles, drain and set aside. Sauté onion until it is translucent. Heat the potatoes in microwave per the instructions on the back of the bag, but don’t use milk and butter to prepare them. Fold the cheddar and ricotta cheeses, onion, salt, pepper and sour cream into the potatoes in a large bowl.

Layer the noodles and potato mixture in a 9 1/2- inch-by-11 inch casserole dish after placing several pats of butter on the bottom, and then on top of each layer of noodles.

Cover with aluminum foil and cook in a 350 degree oven for about a half hour. Remove foil, spread some more butter on the top and continue heating for another 15 minutes. Sprinkle some more cheddar cheese and ground pepper on top before serving.

My first 'Monster' million

An open letter by Amanda Gillooly

Dear Producers of the “Monster” CD collections,

I’ve been a faithful viewer of your program-length infomercials for years, although the collections you’ve peddled so far aren’t really my style. “Monster Ballads” was just a little too mature for me. I was too young to consider any of the musicians in Extreme hotties, and I couldn’t name one love song Mr. Big ever crooned.

As for “Monsters of Rock?” I’ll admit, I dig Living Colour a bit and there are some Alice Cooper songs that are pretty bitchin'. But I never thought the likes of Winger, Warrant and Ratt were “rock” as much.

So I thought about it, and I consulted my pal Sam Adams, and I think I have an idea that will help you sell records. My goal is much more humble: I’m just trying to make my first million.

Picture it: “Monster Cowbell.” I’ve long been a fan of the instrument, but I won’t deny that Will Farrell’s portrayal of the cowbell player in the infamous Saturday Night Live skit that reminisced about the making of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” lended it national appreciation.

The befro’d comedian, wearing a too-tight V-neck sweater rocked out with the thing, gyrating maniacally as the other members of Blue Oyster Cult tried in earnest to cut the track.

The skit, while it made me collapse a lung laughing like a fool, also made me think of the beauty that is inherent to the under-utilized instrument – and how it has brought so much unbridled joy to the world through the plethora of songs that feature it.

So I hereby present to you, dear producers, with a sampling of proposed track list.

Here goes:
“Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” BTO
“Breaking the Law” Judas Preist
“Life’s Been Good” Joe Walsh
“Honky Tonk Woman" The Rolling Stones

Is that too old school? Gotcha. Here are some newer hits:
“Welcome to the Jungle” Guns ‘n Roses
“Pets” Porno for Pyros
“The Distance” Cake
“My Sharona” The Knack

Need something to grove to? I got you for that, too. How about something like:
“Groove is in the Heart” Dee Lite
“Funky Cold Medina” Ton Loc
“Play that Funky Music” Wild Cherry
“Baby’s Got Back” Sir Mix a Lot

Personally, I believe that “Monster Cowbell” will have us both blowing our noses with C-notes we’ll be so filthy rich. Let me know what you think, and if a corporate jet might come with any record deal.

Thank you for your time.

Warmest Regards,

Amanda “I’d like an oversized check, please” Gillooly

Will the other Scott Beveridge please step forward

A sweet, mysterious letter arrived on my desk in the newsroom two weeks ago.

It was sent from a California, Pa., woman who was attempting to reunite me with more than a half-dozen photos of one Scott Beveridge as a boy posing for his next-door neighbor.

The problems are, the boy bears no resemblance to this Scott Beveridge, who has never lived in that town.

It’s strange because my name is not common, one that typically draws laughter from those who jot it down while I leave them with telephone messages to deliver.

Odder yet are the facts that California Borough is just a 10-minute drive from my house, this other Scott appears to be my age and I have never met nor heard from that dude.

There is no need to embarrass the 82-year-old author of the letter in public by naming her here because her intentions are admirable.

“I hope you are the one I’m looking for,” she stated in the letter. “I used to baby sit you for your mother Libby. I thought the world of her.”

She went on to instruct me to pitch the photos if she found the wrong Scott Beveridge.

Well the photos are too cute to just toss in the can, especially the one of farmer Scott wearing overalls. So if anyone knows where to find this cowboy, drop me an e-mail and I will pass them along.

The right eye for the job

We at the Observer-Reporter were faced with an interesting challenge for the cover of this issue of Living In Washington County.

Editor Maureen Stead wanted to use a photograph of what a viewer sees when he or she looks into the eyepiece of one of local artist Marcia Clark’s high-end kaleidoscopes. But none of our photographers is experienced in pinhole photography that, Clark said, is the best technique to use to capture the inside of her creations.

So we turned to Scott Manko, a freelance photographer in Washington, Pa., who has used the photography style quite effectively to shoot some of the county’s historic wooden covered bridges.

While we typically use photos of people on this magazine cover, Manko’s shot of what's inside one of these tubes of mirrors gives us something unusual for the January/February 2009 issue.

“It is an eye-catching image that is rarely captured,” Stead said.

The cover story follows:

Marcia Clark happened past a cardboard kaleidoscope kit in a store and thought it would make a great gift for her daughter and granddaughter.

Little did she know at the time during the late 1990s that her quirky purchase would lead her down a new career path.

“Then I said, ‘I’m going to get one of these things for myself,’” said Clark, of Peters Township, Pa., who now designs high-end metal kaleidoscopes that capture images of beautiful symmetrical patterns.

As a single parent, Clark worked in surgical staple sales while earning college degrees.

“I was this little Polish kid without college teaching doctors,” she said. “I loved it.”

Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in nonprofit management and founded the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“This is the 25th anniversary of the first wish. This is still one of the strongest chapters.”

Yet, when she gave the kaleidoscope kit to her daughter, her daughter had “a look of wonder in her eyes, as if to say, ‘What was going on in your head that day?’” Clark said.

Later, she went online to search about kaleidoscopes and found the Laughing Eye Studios, a company in North Carolina that sells scope supplies. She placed a call to R. Scott Cole, the laughing eye himself, who came to the telephone and invited Clark to a class.

“One simple click changed my life,” she said. “I thought I should get out of this rat race.”

Clark said she has had a lifelong fascination with the way kaleidoscopes work by reflecting light against such common objects as beads and then magnifying them against a tube of mirrors.

“I’ve just always loved them. It’s as simple as that.”

The craft has been around since the time of the ancient Greeks, but it was a Scottish scientist, Sir David Brewster, who was credited with reinventing the art in 1816. Brewster came up with the name by forming the Greek words for “beautiful form to see.”

Some of Clark’s designs are so intricate that they take on an Asian or Indian style.

She begins by picking such tiny objects as gold watch gears, vintage cloisonné, filigree and beads that relate to a certain color palate.

Then, she seals them in silicon gel in a clear plastic container as large as a hockey puck. The object case fits into the end of a metal scope opposite from the eyepiece. Inside the tube are mirrors running its entire length and set at a precise angle to reflect light off the sealed objects and create the multiple patterns.

“Getting a good mirror system, for me, it’s the most important thing as an artist,” Clark said.

Her mirrors are set to create 12-point stars, and it took her five years to get the angles just right. She since has made and sold nearly 1,000 kaleidoscopes and won an international award for one of her designs in copper named Dance.

There currently are about 60 working kaleidoscope artists in the United States. Hers are considered unusual because most of these artists work with stained glass.

“Most of them were already working in stained glass, so it was an easy transition.”

Now, Clark is working on a series of mixed-media scopes, using trendy metal lunch boxes to disguise the scopes. Some of them have vintage glass drawer pulls for feet.

An interesting thing about kaleidoscopes, she said, is that they are known for their calming effect.

Physicians have prescribed them to the seriously ill for relaxation and meditation.

“Kaleidoscopes are a good metaphor for life. It’s sort of like all the pieces are there, but sometimes we just can’t see all of them.”