Indian Summer

We are in Indian Summer, as we used to call it when I was little. Above is one of many pictures I shot in Delaware Park. The best part is the tote! That is my signature. That is how you tell the photo is by me.

It is in the 70s and sunny and the living is easy.

How did the name "Indian Summer" come to be? Can you still call it that? I looked it up on Wikipedia, as I am wont to do. I am happy I am not the first person to wonder about it. Wikipedia is the first to tell you if what you are saying is, ahem, incorrect. Yet in this case it does not. Here is what I read:

"Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain,^[6] it was perhaps so-called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Native Americans, or because the natives first described it to Europeans,^[7] or it had been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when Native Americans hunted.^[6] John James Audubon wrote about "The Indian Summer that extraordinary Phenomenon of North America" in his journal on November 20, 1820. He mentions the "constant Smoky atmosphere" and how the smoke irritates his eyes. Audubon suspects that the condition of the air was caused by "Indians, firing the Prairies of the West." Audubon also mentions in many other places in his writings the reliance Native Americans had on fire. At no point does Audubon relate an Indian Summer to warm temperatures during the cold seasons."

I am not sure what this is all adding up to, but it seems to be all good.

"Indian Summer" was the title of a jazz song that Frank Sinatra sang.

   

What a great record! I am listening to it. Sinatra is singing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Right away you can hear that growly restless sound. The Duke is on piano. 

This is funny, yesterday we were discussing Duke Cariadoc and today it is Duke Ellington. Tomorrow we will have to introduce yet another Duke, I am not sure yet who.

I am listening to this song. That is the great Johnny Hodges on saxophone! I read in the comments that Sinatra was so impressed by Hodges' solo that at 2:58 in the video, the singer was a half second too late.

That really is a beautiful solo Johnny Hodges plays. It is as if someone is talking to you.

Around the world they also have Indian Summer. However they call it other names.

In Germany and Austria and Switzerland it is "Altweibersommer" -- Wikipedia translates that to "old women's summer" however really it is "old wives' summer." Other Europeans call it "old wives' summer" in their own languages. That includes the Czech, the Polish, and the Ukrainians.

I love that in many countries they name Indian Summer after saints whose feast days fall at this time of year. In Portugal, Spain, and France, it is named for St. Teresa of Avila. It is St. Teresa's Summer. In Bosnia and Serbia it is St. Michael's Summer. Wales also salutes St. Michael by calling it haf bach Mihangel. I am not sure how that parses out.

The Dutch and Italians associate it with St. Martin. Swedes call it St. Bridget's Summer.

English folklore reveals another term that also surfaces in Shakespeare. This one is really nice. 

It is "All-Hallown summer!" All Saints Summer! We just had the Feast of All Hallows, or the Feast of All Saints. I went to Mass at the Carmelite Convent! But that is another story for another day.

For now, back to Indian Summer. I guess we can choose our own name for it.

I go with All-Hallown Summer.

We are blessed!

 

Sketching at the beach

 

Yesterday was a day to celebrate. It was almost 80 degrees! 

In Buffalo! In late October!

And so I went to the beach. We have the Pods for this purpose but we did not need them. Instead a group of us just gathered. At our height I believe there were seven of us. Plus strangers with whom we were interacting.

And their dogs!

A big poodle named Hannah came bounding up and ate the last piece of cheese off our cheese board! Then she kept trying to get into my backpack because she knew there was more cheese in there!

The dogs were playing fetch in the water and sailboats kept gliding by. It was a wonderful day off.

It is a challenge to sketch on the beach because the usual things I love to draw are not there. There are no traffic signals or parking meters or goose-neck street lamps or Do Not Enter signs.

Ha, ha! Once my sister Katie suggested I go with her to Allegany State Park where there is beautiful nature. She said, "You can draw there."

I said: "Draw what??"

LOL! Anyway at the beach I come up with sketches like the one pictured above. I did that the other day in the Pod.

Yesterday I sketched some dogs and sailboats and then simply zoned out and breathed the air and watched the sunset. 

It is good to zone out once in a while.

God rested and so should we!

From summer to fall

 

Yikes, all at once it is Autumn~!

That ~ symbol ended up there by mistake but I like how it looks so I will leave it there.

Just a few days ago it was warm, sweltering even, and I drew that little sketch up above. Actually the sketch is about a foot long. I drew it in my Long and Narrow sketchbook which I choose to use when I want to have fun.

I did that sketch at Wilkeson Pointe on Buffalo's Outer Harbor. I was there with my friend Ryan and we had noticed how cool these people looked walking on this ridge. They were silhouetted against the sunset and looked like shadows. The woman second from the front was wearing a sari and I did try to get that sari in there. It is fun working in ink because there are no second chances but also you do not erase and fuss over things too much. 

Anyway there it is, my portrait of people walking along the ridge at Wilkeson Pointe!

I like any drawing I did that I can look at and say: That is pretty much what I saw. This drawing does that.

Soon I will be going back to drawing at least some of the time in my car. How things change! The other night I made it to the Outer Harbor but it was, I must admit it, pretty chilly.

Today I wore a scarf when I went walking in the park. I took this picture.

 

 

I met my brother George and he had a knit cap. It was one of those days in Buffalo when you saw people in shorts and people in parkas.

I am working on getting Christmas cards printed! There, I said it ... Christmas.

It is closer than you think!

Delaware Park in the dark

We have a little heat wave going here in October in Buffalo. It reminds me of other Octobers that were very warm. It happens!

But after tonight the temps are supposed to fall into, well, fall. Big time.

With which, tonight I took the Huffy Harvard Limited on what might be its last spin this year -- although, who knows. I pedaled aimlessly around North Buffalo a bit and then, when it was getting dark, I swung twice around the Ring Road of Delaware Park.

It is a kick to go into Delaware Park in the last warm days. Last night I went walking around and even after it was dark, I mean really dark, the park was still full of people. It was as if it were 3 p.m. Kids were zooming past on scooters. Families were camped on the lawn. The basketball courts and the exercise area continued to play host to nonstop action. Speed bicyclists were racing around the park with their helmets and strobe lights. Those bicyclists are kind of annoying, you know? But still.

Fun to see everyone there! I took that picture above, by the way, when the sun was going down. I hate to see that evening sun go down!

Tonight was the second night and I did not stick around quite as long, but the place was jumping as it was last night. There is a kind of desperation in the air now because here it is 80 degrees but tomorrow, so they say anyway, will be different. Motorists were extra obnoxious. Radios were loud. Motorcycles were roaring around by the million. It was enough to make you think ....

.... almost enough to make you think....

.... maybe it is time for fall, after all.

No. I did not say that.

But almost.

The clouds roll in

I took these pictures a few days ago when we were on the cusp of winter. Well, we are still on the cusp of winter. We are not quite there yet.

That picture up above was taken in Delaware Park.

We live in the golden era of photography, you know? Anyone can be Ansel Adams. Imagine a world in which anyone who sat down at the piano could be Leonard Pennario!

Here is another picture taken the same day. For some reason I like this. Even though I know there are these two red trees in the middle of the picture, it's not great for the composition, it would have been better if there were two trees on one side and one tree on the other, still, still, still ....

I like this picture.

And this is the one I put on, ahem, Instagram.

I wanted to put the picture up at the top on Instagram but the square format did not work with it. Then I started to like this last picture. I liked the lamppost.

That is one of the things good about our ubiquitous phones. It is fun to go through life with a camera.

It brightens your day!