Open House Night at the Shops of Downtown Catty!

The other day I was feeling a little blue when bff, Cathy posted on Facebook - Hey Bev, lets go!   The message was on Catasauqua Main Streets Facebook page and it read - "THIS Friday, May 30th 5:30-8pm
Open House at the Shops in Downtown Catty! There will be a  RIBBON CUTTING starting promptly at 5:30 at Blondies and working our way around the downtown."

Outside of the Mansion House

Well, I didn't leave my house until 5:30 since I had to get home from work first, so we missed the ribbon cutting, but we still had a great time.  I am just sorry to see that there were not more people out.  First we hit 121 Bridge Street - Studio and Gallery - there we talked with Deb and they had some GREAT T-shirts, buttons, magnets and more for Catasauqua Old Home Week coming up June 27 to July 6, 2014.  I bought a magnet. There I had some grapes and grabbed a bottle of water.  Off we then went to the Mansion House.  Now I have great memories from the Mansion - I ate there many times as a kid with my grandmother, my mom and stepfather.  There was a dog that use to sit on a chair in the dining room.  Dontcha love what you remember from your childhood - but can't remember what you ate yesterday!

It is a true building with history - the following is from the 1914 book - The History of Catasauqua:

"The Mansion House on Front Street below Bridge was erected by Captain 

 Plenry Harte during the sixties. After a tenure of some years his son, Lewis K.,

 popularly known as "Kos," succeeded him. Other landlords were Albert Pry, 

 Prank Medlar and Hopkins and Harteg. Harteg sold out to Hopkins, who, 

 January 24, 1889, conveyed the property to H. R. Blocker, the present incumbent.

 The house contains twenty rooms, and is equipped with hot and cold water, steam

 heat, electric light and telephone service."

Inside the Mansion House

The current owners are looking for someone to rent this space and turn it again into something great.  The place has a lot of room and a lot of potential for someone. 

Julia's 4 Seasons

We then walked down to Julia's 4 Season Consignment Boutique at 327 Front Street.  A delightful surprise! LADIES - you must check out their purses! I saw lots of Vera Bradley and the one which was totally Cathy was only $12.95 - and not to mention I found a dress that screamed Cathy for only $20 - really nice shop - nice clothes and nice people.  If you look - you can find a piece of history in the one room in the form of a counter - with tons of old invoices, articles and  all different kind of paper work from Catasauqua.  Really cool!  I had some cucumbers here (just to mention it - if I was drinking wine tonight - I could of gotten my third glass here).

We walked down to Jay & Brian's Excellent Video Store at 143 Front Street, it was okay, I really don't rent dvd's I have Amazon Prime, but for those who need, there you go. It was also kind neat going in because I use to go there when it was Hassler's Grocery store when I was a kid.  My grandmother would send me for 2 packs of Pall Mall every day, ah those were the days.

Blondie's Cupcakes

We popped into Blondie's - Cathy hadn't been in there before and we got a free cupcake - bonus!  It was delicious.  

We now made our way down front street and popped into the new Front Street Market (I think I got this right)  they have been there for about 4 months - it is in the old Gillespie Jewelry Store. Nice people, nice & clean store and they gave us a free hot dog - shazam - I have now had a complete meal!  We walked past Beiry's Port Tattoos - couldn't convince Cathy on getting a tattoo and passed David's Salon - we perused over to Pie's On and stop before hitting Tony's Top Cat.  We decided to walk up to Evonne's Sandwich Shop.  I was hoping for a menu and guess what, I got one with a complimentary flash light, oh yeah!   AND OH BOY- they have CORN NUGGETS!  I would love to try their Hawaiian Sandwich Specialty - it is ham, pineapples, swiss, with a spicy mango sauce - oh she had me at spicy mango.

Catasauqua Market

We then stopped into the Catasauqua Market.  I wanted to go in out of curiosity.  You know if you went in when the last owner had it - it wasn't so good.  Now, it is very clean, the gentlemen was friendly and I had fried plantains.  

So, it was a great night, in a great little down.  Like I said before, it would of been nice to see more people out their exploring what this town has. It really is a great little town and I look forward to visiting these establishments again.

Finally, thank you, bff, Cathy, for raising my spirits and burning off  535 calories in walking with me.  You're the best.

And that's ............. Another day in Catasauqua.

298 Names

Last year, I wrote all about Memorial Day - it's origins and who the holiday celebrated.  My Blog started as follows:

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

We forget why we have the day off - it's not to picnic, to party, or to declare the unofficial start of summer.  It's to remember. 

Sure my weekend is full of yard work, but this morning, while I was doing my FAVORITE thing that I don't get to do much of anymore and that is read the paper with a cup of coffee in the yard.  I read one page in the Morning Call that made we remember what this day is all about and that was 298 names of those who have died since 2003 as a result of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from Pennsylvania.  Some of those names are right from towns around us, Whitehall, Bethlehem, Allentown, Emmaus, etc.

298 Names.

It made me tear up, it made remember and it made me say a prayer for their friends and family who have suffered so great of a loss. 

Today the Catasauqua American Legion Post 215 makes sure we remember with Services as Fairview Cemetery at 10 AM.  The throwing of a wreath from the Pine Street Bridge at 10:15 AM.  A ceremony at 10:30 AM at the North Catty Monument at 10:30 AM. A ceremony at St. Mary's Cemetery at 10:45AM and then back to the Legion for a dedication at 11:00 AM.

So today, between the burgers, hot dogs, or like me - the planting of the tomato plants.  Take a moment.  Take a moment to remember those who have died while fighting while serving proudly the United States of America remember the
proud men and women of the Armed Forces. 

Take moment to remember 298 names. 

Take a moment........and that's Another day in Catasauqua.