In Buffalo, March goes in like a lion and out like a lion.
However we are getting signs of spring! The daffodils have been up for several weeks. I have been shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear the red-winged blackbird and the mourning dove.
Unusually for Buffalo we have had a few actual spring days.
Of course they alternate with deep winter days. But still.
A spring photo album, just from the last few days, walking in Delaware Park, on Wilkeson Pointe, and at Forest Lawn Cemetery:
I like to snap one picture on every walk. Sometimes I take two however there does come a time to put your phone away and just enjoy taking the air. Putting your phone away is an art that many people are not privy to. Bad grammar! It is an art to which many people are not privy.
The photo directly above, I like to take a picture at that particular spot in Delaware Park. Perhaps one day I can do a flip-through of all of them and we could literally see the seasons coming and going. We could see the lake freeze and thaw and the trees change color.
As one does in January, I began a new exercise initiative. I committed to 10,000 steps a day.
I did this before, and I remember it really had effects on me. The deal is, however, you have to stick with it. And so I have stuck with it.
The third day or so, I went, "Results! I want to see results!" And there were none. That I refused to make any other lifestyle changes no doubt did not help.
However.
After a week and a half, I could fit into things I could not fit into before!
Ergo, I keep walking. A week and a half -- that was fast! I was shocked and delighted. And so I have been walking in the park even on the days when it is just me and the dog owners. And I have seen beautiful sights.
Up above, that was last night's sunset!
Here is another view because you know me, I can never take only one photo.
Today was a whole new ball of wax.
This was this morning.
And this was at around 5 p.m.
Mozart had a powdered wig. And he also had snow on his nose.
David was shivering.
I loved this tree.
It is hard to walk because I keep having to take out my phone and take pictures and to do that I have to take off my mittens. And it is cold!
We are in the middle of a blizzard. Buffalo is no stranger to blizzards however I do not remember one since the big one, in 1977, when I was a kid.
We have had storms, sure, however that is not the same thing. The snow flying around, the winds roaring, this is not something that happens every year.
Our next door neighbor, Dave, he had two huge inflatables on his front yard and both of them took off this morning. The snowman took off first. He belly-surfed across our yard and the yard next door and then took off down the street and whipped around a corner and that was the last we saw of him.
Santa was still sitting in the neighbor's yard. However when I took another look 15 minutes later, he was gone too.
They're outta here!
I was concerned for the werewolf. Last I checked, however, the werewolf was fine, menacing in the back yard. His big paws were covered in snow and he looked even more scary than usual.
With traveling out of the question I cleaned the first floor of my house. The renovations are proceeding -- the ceiling of the, ahem, solarium is in good shape after 10 years, the bathroom is repainted, the peeling wallpaper is down and the hall is repainted, the kitchen countertops are replaced. However the renovations are paused now for a couple of weeks and the house was in terrible disarray.
Cupboards and cabinets are pushed into corners where they should not be. I had stashed all kinds of stuff into these cupboards and cabinets, and garbage was everywhere. Notice I said "was." It is not there anymore! I took two giant stuffed trash bags out to the tote. It was like the Perry expedition, taking the totes into the back yard! That was Howard's joke.
Howard texted me: "Good job, Commander Perry!"
I am telling myself: You could not have done this yesterday. You had to wait till today. The good news i is, now the house looks great.
I vacuumed, I cleaned, I dusted, I rearranged.
Which is funny, when you think about it. It is not as if I am going to have any guests for Christmas. Heck, I might not even have Howard! Howard went to his garage earlier today not realizing there was a driving ban and he is stuck, riding out the storm in the apartment over the garage. So, it might just be me for Christmas Eve, who knows.
We have had only one snowfall this year. It was a big one.
Now it is safely in the rear view mirror. All we have are the memories.
These were all taken when I was walking in the park.
At least that was the first day. The second day more snow had fallen. And when I tried walking in the park there was no walking to be done! It was the first time I could remember when Delaware Park had not been plowed. A runner agreed with me. The runner and I were the only people in the park foolhardy enough to have a go at taking our exercise under such circumstances. He could never remember the park not being plowed, either.
Since then, no snow. I am wondering if we will have our traditional Christmas Eve snowstorm.
In Buffalo a walk is not a walk. It is an adventure! That is because in our town strangers talk to strangers.
When I go for a walk I do not always talk to everyone. Sometimes I am antisocial. However today is one of those days when I cannot shut up. I think it is because I am a little under-slept. When I could use more sleep, that is when I talk. And I keep talking!
As soon as I walked into the park I spotted two people putting their skis into their car. I approached them and asked how the snow was for skiing. On account of I had thought about bringing my skis but I had worried the snow was too wet.
I was right as it turned out. "Terrible!" the woman said in answer to my question.
Then we all laughed about times when we had been stuck clumping around on our skis.
Subsequent conversations as I went on my way involved dogs, little kids and that Buffalo classic, the weather. A protester, an Indian guy, was on the pedestrian bridge over the Scajaquada. He was holding up a big sign and drivers kept honking at him. I hung out with him for a while, exchanging views and opinions on world events.
It was windy and when the wind blew, you could almost call it bitterly cold. So there were not many people out. I would venture to say that I ended up talking with most people I passed.
In between I took some pictures, including the one up above. Is this Siberia? No, it's Buffalo!
David looked chilly standing there in his altogether.
Across the way Mozart had a powdered wig. I did not get to take a picture of that. It was actually not easy to take pictures because the bright light made it hard to see what you were getting in the shot.
The Great Gates of Kiev! I mean of Nottingham Parkway.
I love this iron fending they put up by the Miller Mansion.
We are having a wacky spring here in Buffalo! In addition to everything else.
I took the picture up above walking in Delaware Park a couple of hours ago.
When I got home I took this picture.
That was out my back window!
You know one thing, walking in the park I thought how much I was appreciating what I saw.
This is my time of year!
I like weird weather!
Midsummer ... I am child of the summer, born on June 1, but summer is not my time. It would be, maybe, if I lived somewhere else. I love swimming, I love summer clothes, I love being able to walk around in long dresses and sandals. However...
There is something about the brooding weather that I love. The silence. The freedom to be with your own thoughts. The mists.
I cannot help it!
With which we give you Prince, "Sometimes It Snows In April."
Today I was getting over a migraine brought on by recent dental derring-do. It was really no big deal, I had this deep cleaning, pretty much describes it. I get migraines in response to anything. They are not terrible migraines. They do not put me out of business.
Still I would rather be without them, you know? And so today I went for a walk in the park.
This walk in the park was no walk in the park!
It started out nice and sunny. I loved it. I slipped back my hood and got me some Vitamin D. There was a smoky aroma in the air. I could not remember when I had enjoyed a walk so much. Blissing out, I took the picture up above.
And this picture, of Ashker's in the Park all shuttered for the season.
This was in contrast to my summer sketch of Ashker's in the Park ...
... that led in a roundabout way to my show going on now at Ashker's on Elmwood.
I loved doing that drawing, sitting on a tree stump on a summer day. But I love winter too. I love the stillness, the snow. Thinking thoughts like this I rounded the corner by the bathrooms and continued counter-clockwise parallel to the expressway.
That was about when things began to go south. I mean north! Because it got colder and windier. The sun was still out but somehow it was not hitting me.
I worried I would slip on black ice. Trying to walk in the snow to avoid that I got snow in my boots. Yikes and zut alors!
I struggled on. This being Buffalo I kept passing a bicyclist. Of course people were bicycling in the park, you know? You have to love this town. The thought made me smile as I entered the home stretch. Finally, finally. With the end in sight, I began enjoying myself again. The view really was stunning. I mean, if you showed someone this picture ...
... and said you took it in Greenland, that person would believe you.
The bison did not care what kind of day it was.
Watch that ice!
And a picture of the walkway because I love this view and take pictures of it in all seasons. And this being winter there were no cars ruining the view.
Wow, look at this gallery! Pushing a button on my camera is a lot easier than drawing, I will tell you that right now! And one other thing, my head had stopped aching.
A winter walk will work miracles! And when you get home you can have brandy.
Today is the first snow and we are supposed to get several inches before tomorrow morning. Luckily it is ending about 6 a.m. and then we can plow out.
I always have great sympathy with people who have to get out and go somewhere because so often that has been me! I come from a family of teachers and when a snowstorm blows in, they are all la la la la la la la, because if it gets bad, odds are they will have off, and they can sit around and make snowmen and bake cookies.
Not me! I always had to get to work and even now I have to do work related things a lot. And I have to get to church for various things too. There is always something. Reminds me, I am fascinated by that song, "Let it Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." I did a Let it Snow Christmas card, with a sketch I did of Hertel Avenue digging out after a storm.
But the lyrics, they have little in common with my life. Granted I think too much. But a few days ago I heard ...
It doesn't show signs of stopping But I've bought some corn for popping... The lamps are turned way down low.. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
And I was thinking: I cannot imagine a set of circumstances where I could just say, let it snow, let it snow. There is always something! If not tonight then next morning. Or next afternoon. You would have to be on vacation or something.
Ahem.
I am very lucky in that Howard is out getting the plow in order. He took that picture at the top of the plow, deployed just today, and my old Crown Vic next to it. Howard drives the Vic now.
I am sentimental about the Vic because Leonard Pennario rode in it and so did my mom. But the Vic is terrible in snow and looking at it I remembered terrible times in it. Such as once when I was coming home from The Buffalo News in a snowstorm. I was driving the Vic over the bridge on Michigan Street right by Scott Street and I was stuck in traffic and all I could think was, I am going to slide all the way down this bridge hitting all these cars.
Yikes!
So what I did was, I called Howard from the top of the bridge. As if that was going to do any good! But somehow I think it did. He calmed me down and then miraculously the Vic did not slide. Things went OK and I made it home ... hours later, but I got there. That was not a long time ago. That was pretty recent. It was funny, I was thinking: This is the worst snow drive of my life. And that included the time I was driving home from the Niagara Gazette and did a donut on the Robert Moses.
We are in the throes of a snowstorm here in Buffalo. And this morning I drew the above picture of Howard's 1970 International Harvester Scout, parked in the back yard and ready for action.
The whole city is pretty much shut down. The federal workers are furloughed again. The state jumped on board and those workers are off too. Schools are all shuttered, no surprise there. There are driving bans.
My friend Meghan, God love her, texted me this morning to go sketching the way we do every week.
I liked the idea and I said yes!
Then we went back and forth about what coffee shop we were going to go to. We found that Spot Coffee downtown was open until 3 p.m. so we decided to go there. Coffee shops are great to draw in when it is too cold outside.
"This is why we are going to kick every other artist's butt," I texted Meghan. Well, maybe I was not that rude but I was rude enough.
And after all that .... and after all that ...
.. Howard threw water on my plans.
That is too chilly to say. Bad metaphor. He put the kabosh on my plans, shall we say. He had been out with the Scout and it was just too cold, he said.
"My fingers froze in 10 minutes even with heavy gloves," he reported.
So I had to slink back to Meghan with an apology and a reversal of plans. It is not as if Howard would have prevented me from going. Do not think I had not thought all this out! But it was like inviting something to go awry because if something did, Howard would not be quick to bail me out. Well, he would bail me out, sure. But I would not soon hear the end of it.
And so I am grounded like everyone else.
Oh well.
It is fun!!
It must be, because here it is dark again. I am never bored, I will tell you that. I am never stir crazy, not really. I have been sitting around drawing and writing and enjoying my endless stock of Celestial Seasonings Christmas tea.
Speaking of which, did I mention that my Christmas tree is still up? No wonder I am enjoying the day.
That picture looks wild but it is just something I snapped out the window on our way to see my sister Katie last night for Christmas dinner.
They live in East Aurora, aka the Snow Belt. They got snow. We did not.
It was exotic to me and so I took another picture.
At my sister's house disaster hit. I could not stop eating!
I started with split pea soup my brother George brought in a Crock Pot. He set the Crock Pot down on the floor near the Christmas tree and you had to go help yourself there.
Then we sat down at table and the food just kept arriving!
My sister's husband, David, is a hunter, and there was venison. Venison like fine steak, pink in the middle and sliced really thin and enjoyed, at least in my case, with horseradish.
There were mushrooms that David foraged. And Katie made some kind of dish involving what I believed to be roasted pears and onions -- delicious.
A platter of turkey showed up. And David is also a fisherman and served the most delicious steelhead trout. Howard thought the trout was the most delicious thing there and that was saying a mouthful.
Speaking of mouthfuls we also had a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, yummy with the mushrooms. A beautiful big salad with pomegranate and blackberry vinaigrette. I cannot remember what else. The thing is, dishes just kept showing up, one after another.
After dessert, which I will not even get into, I was so stuffed I could not move!
I asked my sister if I could help wash the dishes just because I wanted to get on my feet and move. She said no and then brought some cranberry liqueur a friend had made. And we had that.
There was also a great Crock Pot full of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice, our favorite. That was the only thing I consumed that had no calories.
As Neil Young sang, ohhhh, the damage done!
Today all I wanted to do was be on my feet. So it being Boxing Day I boxed up tons of things I did not like any more and that were getting under foot and I took them to Amvets. I managed to get out of Amvets without buying anything to take home to replace the stuff I had delivered, which is what I usually do. I parked way across the parking lot so I would have a hike.
Later I thought: Uh, Mary, you could just go to the gym, you know?
It is the middle of April but still snowing to beat the band. And raining. And flooding!
Yesterday for the first time I can remember, and we are talking years, the Latin Mass was called off at St. Anthony's. A monsignor was coming in from the country and he could not make it.
So my brother George and I and my niece and nephew Barbara and Georgie and I all piled into the Georgemobile and went to the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Louis. It is not Latin but they have a wonderful choir. And the church is so gorgeous. That is it up above. I took that picture after Mass.
Two of our friends from St. Anthony's joined us at St. Louis. It was funny in a way, our Mass getting canceled. Facebook was alive and jumping with everyone from the congregation trying to figure out what to do. And all the while it never stopped snowing or sleeting or whatever it was doing, this glop falling down from the sky.
When I opened the door at midnight last night it was still falling!
But anyway. The important thing is, when the going gets tough, the tough get baking. Back at my house after church, Barbara and I made cream puffs.
I have always wanted to try making these and since I had just made puff pastry for the first time, it seemed like a great idea. Barbara agreed although for a little while it was a kind of tough decision between cream puffs and the lemon meringue cupcakes in Martha Stewart's cupcake book.
We used the recipe out of my old Betty Crocker cookbook. When the puffs came out of the oven we both gasped with delight.
They were beautiful!
Then we did what Betty Crocker said and cut off the tops, put in this cream filling...
... and closed them back up again. We made the cream filling too. It is kind of a Bavarian cream and it is a whole separate story.
The finished product. All we needed was a white bakery box!
What an adventure. Is there anything more fun than baking?
They even looked good after we started to eat them.
