OK Pgh. Area Kossacks members and those who are interested in joining.
First a word of apology for my fairly long absence from the task of membership maintenance and editing. My excuse....I just turned 70....many family members descended upon me and forced me to drink large volumes of fermented spirits, eat insanely delicious food (courtesy of my Napa Valley super Chef son Eric and his sister (www.ericcwebster.com) and play several rounds of hearts. Unfortunately, I failed miserably in this latter task, losing to my brother Chuck. This caused the kind of depression usually reserved for GOP landslides, and a prolonged blue funk.
As a result a few diaries by members of our group have languished in the cue. Those are now published under the Pgh. Kossacks banner for your enjoyment and I promise to be more attentive in the future (as soon as I get my meds properly adjusted).
More below the orange pile of Primanti's french fries:
We've got a sterling bunch of new members for our group:
wtpvideo
causebass
musicsleuth
poopdogcomedy
mentatmark
gr8trtl
Marcellus Shale
AllenKitchen
Mel in Pgh
Pandoras Box
PowWowPollock
tobendaro
Chance the gardener
mjminPA
lisaz
Pennsylvania Tom
mapamp
gizmo59
dgf15215
virgomusic
and of course dweb8231 plus a couple more waiting in the queue.
If you would like to join us, whether you are in the general area, or a Kossack with area ties interested in staying in touch, just send me a Kos message or an e-mail to dweb823@aol.com that includes the following:
Kos Name
Your Name
Address or at least your home town
Phone number
Outside e-mail we can reach you at (and a gmail address is probably the best if you have one or can get one for reasons we'll explain later.)
All this will be held confidential, but it helps us administer the group and have ways to reach you if needed.
Once we get your request, we'll send you a Kos Message invitation, you click the link provided and you can come up here in the treehouse with the rest of us.
Next Order of Business? Figuring Out When and Where to Meet Up for the First Time
We're already a diverse group geographically with one member out on the West Coast (and pining for the fijords of PA) and a couple up in the Erie area:
N.Huntingdon
Pittsburgh
S. Fayette Twp
Los Angeles
Erie
Allison Park
Butler
McCandless Township
Tarentum
Erie
Pittsburgh
Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Edinboro
Shadyside
Monroeville
So let's work first on possible dates for an initial meet-up in the new year. My guess is that weekends are likely to be the best bet, so here are the possibilities:
January:
5-6
12-13
19-20
26-27
February
2-3
9-10
16-17
23-24
To make life easier, please either post a message in this diary or send me a message listing any of the above dates you CANNOT make (regardless of where we wind up meeting and I realize that could influence your final decision. Right now however, let's start with dates you CANNOT make in that block to see which seem best for the largest number.)
Next, let's start thinking about a possible location for a meet-up. From past involvement with the San Francisco Area Kossacks group organized by navajo (the Earth Mother of Kossack groups) there are two approaches that seem to work well:
1- A Pot Luck gathering either at the home of a group member or a free location sufficiently large enough to accommodate our group. Given the size of our group right now, I'd guess that a couple dozen might be attending a first meeting (trying to guestimate impact of date and location on decisions and the fact that spouses and partners and friends of members are welcome to come along - as long as they bring food/drink). However this might change as we get closer to an actual event and more members are attracted to join the group and attend.
2- A brew pub or restaurant where we can get a side room to mix and socialize (and order food and libations from their menu.)
Over time, we should definitely include future sites that recognize not all of our members area from the immediate Pittsburgh area, but given the obvious concentration, I think it might be best to plan a first meeting either in the city or suburbs.
So....you have your marching orders.....post ideas, suggestions, offers for meeting locations here and either post or message me with dates from the above list which do NOT work for you, and we'll begin the planning.
Finally, if you know of other Kossacks here in the Pittsburgh/Western PA and sorta WV/OH border areas who might be interested in joining the group, encourage them to sign up using the procedures listed above.