Monday, March 25, 2019

Letter from Editor - Spring Issue 2019

Hello everyone,

It is finally here... Spring!!! 

And with the season change, comes a new edition of the Holiday Cafe.  

Another great issue, if you ask me. As I keep saying, without you I cannot do this... please send in your submissions to holidaycafe.nicole@gmail.com -  

Thank you,
Nicole


Lisa DiGorio Celebrates 40 years of Dance

For the past 40 years Lisa DiGorio has taught young children and adults how to dance, showing her students a love of music, rhythm, ballet, jazz, tap, and so much more. In return, her students let her mold them and create wonderful choreography while leaping and spinning and dancing their hearts out.
Pictured above - most of the ALLSTAR DANCE TEAM

I have written a few times in the past two years about how I am taking dance classes again after a long hiatus. When I was a little tyke, Lisa was my teacher in one of her original studios in West Mifflin. It has been an exciting journey getting back into dance thus far, mostly because of the great group I dance with and my amazing teacher.

If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Lisa, you know amazing is an understatement, as her dancers and staff would tell you. Words cannot even begin to tell you how much admiration the students have for Lisa. The amount of heart and soul she puts into each and every dance number that she choreographs is off the charts. Not to mention the love she has for each of her dancers and the studio itself.
 
Besides getting ready for the spring show, which will feature songs from 1979 to celebrate her 40th anniversary, Lisa has been busy with her ALLSTAR Dance Team that competes against other dance schools in the region.  Lisa and her team have won numerous awards and accolades over the years, including, Best Choreography, Class Act, Entertainment Award, Excellence Award, and Top Choreographer.

The event, Ignite Dance “Live”will shoot in Pittsburgh with teen sensation JoJo Siwa and Dance Moms. This isn’t the first time the ALLSTARs have been on the show. The first was during a two-part episode that aired April 28 and May 5 of 2015 when Lisa and her ALLSTARs competed at the Starbound National Talent Competition in which the Abby Lee [Miller] Dance Company also participated.



Lisa’s ALLSTARs were handpicked by event coordinators, along with nine other studios, to participate in the Ignite Dance event. Lisa was specifically asked to have her group of dancers showcase solos, duos, and small group performances. The ALLSTARs will showcase nine numbers at the event.

If you are interested about dance classes, The Lisa DiGorio School of Dance is located 580 Old Clairton Rd, Pittsburgh, PA 15236; website or Facebook page or call (412) 650-9986.

Nicole Leckenby is the co-founder/editor of The Holiday Cafe. She works full-time at the University of Pittsburgh and she has two amazing boys at home that keep her busy, along with a whole host of other things.

The Accidental Resort


The late Gordon Gibson was a legend.  Like many successful entrepreneurs, Gordon had weathered perilous swings of fortune that took him from rags to riches several times.

Many said those harrowing experiences had also enriched a wicked sense of humor. Gordon’s seemingly dour visage camouflaged that sense of humor, known at times to rear up and bite the pompous and the unprepared.

One evening, Gordon told some friends a revealing story: how his family came to own, almost accidentally, a luxury resort on the island of Maui in Hawaii, and how it factored in a favorite exercise of his ‘gotcha’ sense of humor.

Years earlier, Gordon had purchased some ocean front property on Maui as a winter get-away for he and his family. Not surprising, their vacation home became popular with their extended family and friends, and in time also with their married children and grandchildren and of all their children’s friends. To accommodate the crowds, a few guest cottages were built. Then, more were built. Eventually, Gordon and his wife realized the whole thing was getting out of hand. Something had to be done.

One day, the couple decided the property should be turned into a resort. Why not make some money to offset the ballooning costs of their winter getaway? they reasoned. Plans were drawn up. They decided renovations should include a swimming pool. Two sons staying there at the time were recruited to help retrieve an old US Army surplus D-9 bulldozer Gordon had found abandoned in nearby underbrush. The three men spent weeks restoring the bulldozer and then used it to build a magnificent swimming pool in the shape of the island. And then in his typical entrepreneurial fashion, once they no longer needed the refurbished D-9 Gordon sold it to a local construction company for a tidy profit.

The resort flourished. As the years passed, Gordon and his wife began spending more and more time there, eventually retiring to their resort. By then the Gibson’s had become quite wealthy.
Few people knew Gordon was an avid gardener. In Maui, he could thoroughly enjoy his hobby. His favorite place was outside, often with garden hose in hand, watering the abundant flowerbeds. His usual mode of dress: shirtless, an old floppy straw hat covering his scraggly mane of silver/gray hair, stained shorts, and beat-up sandals.

One day, his gardening revere was interrupted by an expensive new sports car pulling up behind him. A horn beeped.

“Boy!” he heard a woman’s voice call out behind him.

“Boy!” the imperious voice repeated almost immediately. “Come here!”

Gordon turned. The driver was an expensively dressed matron in her late 50s. He could see from her manner that she was accustomed to issuing orders and being obeyed. Gordon, by then in his early seventies, pointed to himself, gesturing, ‘Me?’  The woman nodded impatiently, waving her hand for him to hurry over to where she was sitting in her flashy new white sports car.

Gordon turned off the garden hose and calmly walked over.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” the well-tanned six-foot resort owner asked politely.

“Yes, you certainly can!” she replied haughtily, by now even more impatient. “I’m a guest here, you know. You can earn yourself five bucks by washing my car.”

Gordon concealed his surprise and amusement.

“Of course, ma’am,” Gordon replied, keeping a straight face. A plan took shape in a mischievous corner of his brilliant mind.

The woman told him abruptly where and when to pick up her car. On his arrival, she gave him detailed instructions on how to clean the almost spotless car, and issued a strict warning to drive her newly purchased luxury vehicle with extreme caution.

The idea of washing her car appealed to Gordon’ delightful sense of humor, and to his fondness for the absurd. So, he washed it, personally. Gordon admitted later he did struggle with a temptation to stick the hose in the car, turn on the water and walk away. Instead, he returned her spotless car, being sure to collect the $5. He thanked the woman profusely for his reward.
Gordon enjoyed even more what came next.

Their resort had a tradition, as did many others, of regular luaus. They were a mix of Hawaiian tradition and resort hospitality, designed to encourage guests to mix and mingle. After a social hour, an MC on a raised platform called everyone together for the evening’s entertainment.

Seated in front of the stage in the first row was the owner of the sparkling clean sports car, now elegantly dressed in evening clothes and flashy jewelry. She had been thoroughly enjoying herself, flaunting her assumed charms during the social hour to men scattered through the large audience. A few announcements by the MC were followed by the introduction of their host.

Out of the shadows and onto the stage bounded Gordon Gibson. He strode over to microphone, placed not by accident directly in front of the self-important woman. Gordon looked down directly into her eyes, and smiled.

He confessed later the look on her face was priceless.


James Osborne is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller THE ULTIMATE THREAT. His latest novel, SECRET SHEPHERD, is the second in his Maidstone Series and was named recently as Best Mystery Novel of 2018 in an international poll of readers and writers. The first in the series, THE MAIDSTONE CONSPIRACY, was also an award-winner, receiving the award for Best Contemporary Fiction Novel of 2017 in a readers’ survey based in London, UK.
Samples of his work can be found on his Amazon author’s page: www.amazon.com/author/jamesosborne. Osborne’s varied career includes investigative journalist, college teacher, corporate executive, business owner and army officer.

Nighttime Sky

A few weeks back I was walking home from my dance class and the sky was a gorgeous red ... sadly my phone couldn't capture the full effect, but a friend (Thanks Phil!) of mine was able to edit the picture to make it look how it should have... 


Before edits ...



After edits... 


Poem Melody by Ms. Ceili

Crying For Spring
Swimming in black soil beneath wintering
skies, shoots once again harbour petals so
frantic to live they scream a cry for the spring
that will not come. Instead, frozen snow
buries all proof of their existence in its blanket
of silence.

Spring Concert
Symphony music awakens images of the
language made by spring storms raw upon
weathered rocks of seas reflecting ebony
darkness.

Lost Lines
They are ghosts that whisper haunting words
to me - words that I cannot hold in my head
long enough to put pen to paper. Like water
seeping thought cupped hands, they fill me up,
then escape me just as quickly.

Ms. Ceili began her writing adventure when asked to write about her life on a secluded island off the coast of Ireland.  Since "Noria's" publication in 2009, McCollonough has written and published several books for readers of all ages.  You can connect with McCollonough on Facebook at htpps://www.facebook.com/mccollonoughceili

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Musings for Moms... What are we eating?

Recently I have seen a lot more posts on Facebook and on the World Wide Web about how this company or that company is putting harmful things into our food.  For example, the article about the weed killer RoundUp being found in a number of children's cereals, and the very popular Cheerios. 

There is article after article that lists what foods are harmful and which have carcinogens in them and all I can think, once I get past my initial anger about the fact these companies are feeding us poison and could kill us, or at the very least make us very sick is why aren't these companies doing something about it.  

Call me crazy, but if the internet was filled with articles that said my company was feeding people, KIDS, carcinogens, I would be all over that.  First and foremost, finding out how said poisons were getting into my product and putting an immediate stop to it.  Then you do damage control, clear your companies name and ensure the public that the issue has been resolved and will NEVER happen again.  

I haven't seen that though, just the articles stating that there were issues to begin with.  Why are companies not doing anything about this?  Are they just trying to make the most money possible and they don't care that people are getting sick from their foods?

If these reports are indeed true, then these companies need to stop lining their wallets and fix the problems... Immediately.   Companies need to stop taking shortcuts to make profits at the expense of consumers.