Yours 'til Niagara Falls

A Trip to Albion

My maternal grandmother was born in Albion NY in 1891.  My mother and her sister have often mentioned that they would like to take the 90-minute drive to visit the town.  Today was the day we made it happen.  It was the very best kind of a day for a road trip.  Western New York is having a string of perfect weather.  The leaves are about half changed and not many have fluttered down.  

Our first stop in the tiny town of Albion was the church my grandmother attended as a child.  Back then, it was St. Joseph's.  Now, after a diocesean re-organization, it was combined with another parish and re-named Holy Family.  It is a beautiful church featuring massive amounts of pink marble.  The alter is exquisite. Here is a picture: (credit Woj Photography)

   

This photograph makes it look considerably larger than it really is.  Being that it is indeed a small world, the priest that celebrated the mass was my aunt's former pastor In Niagara Falls.  Furthermore, this priest's father worked on the railroad with my grandfather.  He even had a story he remembered about my grandfather, Daniel Buckley;

Dan Buckley and a companion were walking down the street.  As they walk past a local gin mill, they notice a man stagger out and proceed to vomit.  Seeking to comfort the afflicted, Dan Buckley lays his hand on the poor man's shoulder and says, "Better an empty house than a bad tenant".  

And so it goes...

Vintage Therapy Materials circa 1977

Late June can leave an educator in a tizzy.  Organizing and cleaning are a big part of the end-of-year routine.  I was weeding out some very old therapy materials in a kit called "Language Rehabilitation Program" that was designed to use with elementary schoolchildren.  Keep that fact-a-roo in mind as you peruse these gems:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I love Mr. Lonelypants.  The receding hairline, the mouth-watering feast he is preparing and the paunch he is sporting make him loveable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This foolish, foolish madam gambled with mean ol' Mr.Gravity and lost big time.  What are the odds that her hip will survive this tumble?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Drunkymonkey is pouring three fingers of cheap whiskey to start his day right.

 

 

My favorite illustration in this whole kit is this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is something vaguely illicit about this picture.

 

I can hardly wait for September to use these cards to help eight-year-olds expand their language skills. If nothing else, my class will be memorable for the little tykes.

A Tale of Two Conferences

I just returned from a two-day conference in Ontario, Canada.  Like all of life's experiences, some of it was good and some not-so-good.  It was an early childhood conference sponsored by the Waldorf School of Toronto.  I'm glad I went but at the same time, in retrospect, I could have taken a pass on the whole thing.  Here is how the weekend went according to nice me and crabby me.

Registration: 

Nice me: It was organized 

Crabby me: Registration was supposed to begin at 6:45.  The registrar was ready fifteen minutes early and there were a dozen-or-so folks standing in the vestibule of the school.  The registrar actually insisted on waiting until the scheduled time to let people pick up their conference materials. She sat with her hands folded for the intervening time.  Rigid people like this are the reason we can't have world peace.

Friday night keynote speech:

Nice me: It started with a sing-along.  I love sing-alongs.  We did a song based on a piece by Mozart and a Celtic chant.  The audience of 200 was split into four groups and we sang rounds.  Waldorf-ers have skill doing this sort of thing.  Not a single person in that huge group bellyached about this activity.  They all did it willingly and we sounded beautiful.

Crabby me: Midway through the keynote speaker, I began to feel unwell.  I had chills and sweats and an awful ache in my lower back.  I left the lecture hall before the lecture was done.

Sleeping accommodations:

Nice me: A night in Toronto for $10.00. Even though it only amounted to camping out on a carpeted classroom floor, you can't beat that with a stick.

Crabby me:  The ache became intense.  I realized I had a kidney stone.  It must have been a smallish one because although it was mighty uncomfortable, the pain was tolerable.  One odd thing about kidney stones is that one can track the progress of the little bastard due to the localized pain as it travels to freedom.  As I swigged massive amounts of water to wash the thing away I was able to find a couch in the faculty to sleep fitfully between trips to the washroom (ha! I speak fluent Canadian). By 4:00 am the stone was history and I felt LOADS better.

Morning market:

Nice me: This school has a farmers market featuring organic, biodynamic foods.  Shopping at the market is one of the best things about this conference.  I bought some turkey eggs I plan to use for an Easter centerpiece.

Crabby me: I bought a wildly expensive slice of a lemon loaf for my breakfast.  "It's gluten free!" chirped the cute little vendor.  I never experienced a gluten free product before.  Didn't like it.  Lemon-flavored sawdust.

Workshops: 

Nice me: The presentors wanted very much to do a good job and give us as much information as possible.

Crabby me:  I was looking forward to a presentation called "Gifts from the Garden".  What it ended up being was a lesson on how to identify edible weeds.  So far, so good.  Her presentation consisted of having the group of fifteen participants huddle around a 15" laptop to look at pictures of the aforementioned weeds.  I bailed on that workshop and joined in another that was only marginally better.

Lunch:

Nice me: The organizers put forth great effort to provide a beautiful vegan, gluten-free lunch.

Crabby me: Not to my taste. 

The participants:

Nice me:  These people are earnest in their desire to raise children in an environment of love and peace. They are very ardent in the quest to establish family routines and avoid having "media-soaked" children.

Crabby me:  These folks are slightly humorless.  Very serious about the way they live.  Very few of the ladies dyed their hair or used make up. I felt slightly to gussied up.  I think it's fair to generalize that lots of these ladies did not have their children when they were young.  What with the undyed hair, there were more than a few grey-haired mothers of toddlers.

I do enjoy the handmade toys and tablescapes that are part of the Waldorf pedagogy:

 

So... It was kind of a wash.  On the way home I treated myself to a stop at Ikea and a grocery store.  I picked up some lemon curd, arrowroot biscuits and some hot cross buns.  I have next week off from work, so I have a few adventures planned.

Early Spring

I like this time of year.  It harkens back to Medieval times in that the days are marked with saint's days and liturgical seasons.  Starting with St. Valentine's, Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's day, in this part of the country, anyway, all these days are observed.  It all culminates with the Easter Triduum and, in Western New York, a Polish festival day called Dyngus Day.  There is also a secular observance on March 14th which I celebrated for the first time.

The new holiday is Pi Day - 3.14.  Linda of Raveloe (that sounds vaguely Medieval, doesn't it?) invited a group to come to her shop and enjoy pie and discuss the mathematical wonder that is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl.  We had a lovely evening eating pizza pie and a variety of dessert pies. A few daring members of the group endeavored to sit in a circle and all knit on the same circular shawl at the same time.  There were six knitters using circular needles and separate balls of yarn.  We discovered that it can be done.  Practice will make the process easier, but our experiment was very satisfactory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A week ago Saturday was Cousin Bridget's fabulous corned beef and cabbage feast.  The day after that was the St. Patrick's day parade in Buffalo.  Bridget and I made a day of it.  We parked our folding chairs on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa Street and enjoyed watching the parade and the parade go-ers.

 

There is a considerable amount of imbibing as a traditional element of this particular parade.  This year was no exception.  As the day wore on, it sort of devolved into a drunken brawl.  Walking back to the car, Cousin bridget had to grab me by the collar and drag me away when I turned into a rubber-necker when a rumble started across the street from us.  We did, however catch sight of a tree which only blooms during this parade:

 

 

 

 

Starting last Tuesday, I have the dubious honor of hosting my daughter's two dogs while she and her family spend a week in sunny climes.  That brings the canine count around here to three.  This is the legal limit in my community.  That is, I have discovered, a good rule.  My life has been letting dogs in and out and in and out. Today I took a picture of the three amigos.  When I posted it on facebook I gave it the caption "There is not enough Febreeze in the world to make this couch smell normal again."

On Friday, after the obligatory Lenten fish fry, I went to a lecture by Edwidge Danticat.  She is the author of Crik, Crack! among other books.  Ms. Danticat is Haitian and much of her lecture was directly related to her background.  She was very charming and likable.  She is an alumna of Barnard College, as is my own sweet daughter.  I brought my knitting with me and enjoyed the event completely.

Today I went to the opening of an art exhibit at the Castellani Art gallery on the campus. The exhibit was devoted to the art of Alice Bak.  I knew Alice and always enjoyed her work.  She worked very hard to preserve the Polish traditions and folk art in the community.  The organizers expected about fifty people to attend the event and were thrilled to have over 200 people show up.  Alice was a humble person in the very best sense of that word.  She would have been delighted to see such a crowd.  I particularly loved the Easter table that was set up with the pysanky eggs and traditional centerpieces.  I feel very inspired to have a similar display in my own house.  I also loved the sweet embroidery motifs on the tablecloths.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a tradition of paper-cutting in Polish folk art. Alice would consider a Polish proverb and create a beautiful papercut to illustrate it. After the show, there was the nicest dinner you can imagine hosted by Bridget and her mother Patricia.  it was a Polish menu with pierogie and breaded porkchops.  Delicious beyond words.  So... That is what my early spring has been like.  Busy and interesting.

 

Highlights of July

July was a beutiful month around here.  It must have been wearing roller skates because it went by in a flash.  I did manage to capture a few images.  One of the activities I've done involve wading pools. I had been taking the children to a local pool until an unsavory event occurred. After library story hour, we proceeded to a park.  Swimming in the wading pool had been cancelled for the morning in favor of what was billed as the Goldfish Derby.  Buckets of little fish had been dumped into the pool and the children were given cups with which to catch some fish to take home.  When the event was over, there were a number of fish left.  No problem, in the view of the park workers.  They drained the pool and used push brooms and power washers to push the poor little fish down the drain.  We don't go there any more.

On a happier note, a number ofthe knitters I hang around with on Wednesday nights went to Shakespeare in the Park.  This is  theatrical group has been putting on productions in Delaware Park in Buffalo for the past 35 years.  The current play is MacBeth.  The twist is that all of the cast members are female.  It was a real treat.  Together our group "knit the ravelled sleeve" and truly enjoyed the Scottish play.

Yesterday was another great day.  I went to New York State's Amish country.  The weather could not have been more perfect.

The Amish live in Leon, Cherry Creek and Randolph, NY about an hour and a half from me.  It was a pleasant drive and we had a great time buying the goods for sale.  The way it works is that you pick up a map of the area from one of the local stores and then drive to the different homes to shop.  Families specialize in weaving rugs, basketry, furniture making, quilts etc.  Our group boosted the economy very nicely.  We ended our day with a stop at a cheese factory.

These bird houses are made from gourds.  The shape and height are intended to attract purple martins, which eat tons of mosquitos.  The small stacks of grain in the background are oats.  They are cut and put into these sheaves and dried on the ground for two weeks.  The oats are then used to feed the hourses for the winter months.

This is a workshop of a family that specializes in weaving rugs.  I had a nice conversation with the lady who was in the shop.  As she knotted the fringe on a newly-woven rug she described the materials she used and the patterns she enjoyed weaving.  I told her about my rigid heddle.  "One heddle?"  She smirked, and tried not to laugh.  I have officially been mocked by an Amish woman.

We had the nicest picnic you could image. (Picture individual blueberry pies, for instance)  We foung the loveliest spot near a garden and enjoyed the birdsong and breezes the day had to offer.  Hope you had a nice July, too. 
 
 
 
 
  

The Good Old Summertime

I am enjoying this summer completely.  I have the pleasure of watching my grandchildren two or three times a week.  It is a lovely way to revisit one of the very best times of my life, that being when my own children were babies.  I'm having the time of my life reading, telling stories and singing to my favorite little ones.  I have also sharpened my play-dough and block-building skills.

I've tried very hard to do some clean up around here.  I went through boxes and boxes of things that were packed away when we moved here six or so years ago.  I was able to pitch a lot of things away.  This was aided by the 20-cubic-yard dumpster which was rented with a clean-up campaign in mind.  The other thing which helped was the Mouse Poop Rule.  Any box containing mouse poop was tossed.  It is almost never worth it to try to salvage anything after an onslaught by rodents.

Little or no crafting has taken place.  I'm hoping to get that mojo back.  I've been spinning some yak down and it isn't that much fun.  It has a very short staple and takes more concentration than I usually like to expend when I spin. I plan to start knitting and a little doll making sooner than later.

The kitchen re-do is rounding third base.  The final phase is the porcelain tiles for the floor.  They have been laid and need to be left to dry for 24 hours before grouting which takes another day to dry.  It is irksome to lose access to your kitchen for so long.  Worth it in the long run, though.

May is Just Zipping By...

I've made up my mind to try a little harder to have some projects going.  This is the yarn spun from this winter's Happy Family, wherein several people brought fiber and mixed it together and then divvied it up.

This time around I used a drum carder on the wool before spinning.  I am very happy with the finished yarn.  To preserve all the color changes, I've decided to leave it as singles.  Now I am left to ponder what project can show this yarn to its best advantage.

Saturday was well spent.  Friend Phyllis and I went to the 3rd annual Shepard's Market in Rush, NY.

The market was small-ish, but well-organized and had a nice variety of items on offer.  Some of the things available were fleece, yarn, various cuts of lamb (I treated myself to a couple of roasts), and plants.  With the help of Lola, my trusty GPS, we proceeded to the Rochester City Market.  It was very impressive. 

This market is significantly larger than my local one in North Tonawanda.  Different in that it is much larger, maybe ten fold.  It also had a greater huckster to farmer ratio and some permanent vendors.  Anyhoo... it was a treat, as are all farmer's markets.  We plugged in Lola again and made our way to the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum.  This museum houses an extensive doll collection.  I love to saunter through the cases of dolls which date from the 1600's to fairly contemporary dolls.  By that  I mean dolls I played with as a child.  I would have to say that this doll really caught my attention:

Could it be the burlap dress?  Might it be the teardrop tattoo on her cheek which she had to earn in stir by shanking another prisoner.  I can imagine how very thrilled a little girl would be to find her under the Christmas tree.

Next to her, you can see the arm of Mrs. Beazley of "Family Affair" fame.

After our trip through the Strong Museum Phyllis and I were weak with hunger.  We wandered a few blocks over to Dinosaur BBQ, one of my all-time favorite places to eat.  We had an uneventful drive back home and arrived before 4:30 pm.  As I said, a great way to spend a Saturday. 
 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

My day began with traffic court.  I had to take the morning off from work, which I am loathe to do. There were about 80 people at court, scofflaws all.  We were arraigned en masse over a loudspeaker and individually went before the judge.  Speeding tickets were magically turned into parking tickets.  45 minutes and $100 later I was free.  I'm glad it is over because the whole thing has been preying on my mind.  Did I mention I ran into not one, but two former students while I was waiting for my turn?  Fun.

On the way to work I had to stop by the vet.  Little Frida has an ear infection of epic proportions.  A whole lotta head shakin' going on around here.  Poor creature. Hope the $30 dollar ear drops fix her up.  In other dog news, my daughter's little black pug Sofie is minus 37 teeth.  That leaves her with five, if you are keeping score.  We are all hoping that this will improve her bad breath.

After school, I went to dinner with a group of my favorite people.  It was my knitting group.  We proceeded to Linda's shop for the usual Wednesday night knitting and to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  We enjoyed Tequila Sunrises.  Delicious and I choose to believe they are good for you.  Orange juice and pomegranite syrup.  Oh yeah, and tequila.  Anyhoo... beyond the healthful properties, the beverage is a wonderful illustration of specific gravity.  Grenadine, aka pomegranate syrup, has a relatively heavy specific gravity.  Poured into orange juice, it sinks to the bottom of the glass, with the desired "sunset' effect.  Science can be pretty. 

 

My Presentation to the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children

I woke up very, very early today and drove across the state to present a program at the annual conference of the NYSAEYC.  I was on the road before 5:00 am and made very good time to the Turning Stone Casino and Convention Center in Verona NY, just east of Syracuse.  My topic was "Using Wool with Pre-School Children".  It went very well.  As I was driving along, fear grew in me as I imagined one of my program participants sticking themselves with a needle felting needle.  Visions of artereal splatter hitting the walls and ceiling of the meeting room flashed before my mind's eye.  Nothing of the sort happened.  This is the display I had:

This organization is devoted to infants, toddlers and pre-school children.  Consequently, the people who attend are generally nice to the extreme.  Another advantage I had was that my program was toward the end of the three-day conference.  Most of the other offerings were topics on the order of brain research, agency management and other technical areas.  People were ready to do something entirely different, let me tell you.  This is what I covered:  Making a pom pom with wool fleece, wet felting over a styrofoam ball and needlefelting.  About 35 people attended the session.  Presenters were required to hand out session evaluation forms at the end of the workshops.  That made me break a sweat!.  Anyhoo... It was a good experience but I'm glad it is over.

The casino itself is quite pretty.  This sculpture of the tree of life is by the phenominal glass artist Dale Chilhuly.  I admit that I went through the gaming floor, but in the end I didn't pump so much as a penny into the one-armed bandits.  I liked it better when you put in a coin, pulled the handle and watched the rollers spin.  Now you have to put money o a debit-type card.  Takes the charm out of it for me.  I was so nervous about my presentation that I forgot to eat! That has never, never happened to me.  So... when I was done, I realized I was ravenous, so I treated myself to the casino buffet.  For 20 bucks I ended up having something comparable to a school lunch.  Really disappointing.  I was rewarded with a prize-winning people-watching opportunity.  I noticed a couple of the casino's pastry chefs assembling a wedding cake.  But it was not a wedding cake!  It was a cake to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a fun-loving couple. 

These folks were dressed up in wedding party clothes and were having a blast.  It was a hoot watching people all dandied up going through the buffet line.  I love watching people.  One of the good things about being a middle-aged woman is that you are unnoticed about 98% of the time so you can observe the goings on of others without them noticing. 

Novica Order

I love retablos .  They are little shrines to the Blessed Mother or saints.  Sometimes they are not devotional and show things like market scenes.  I had two and I was thinking that finding a third one would make the arrangement on the wall prettier.  I went window shopping on the internet and found a company called Novica. This company is affiliated with National Geographic and supports artisans who make traditional art.  Boy am I thrilled with this company!  Look how my package came! here was even a handmade llama ornament on the ribbon.  And it was wrapped like a gift with paper covered with traditional Latin American motifs!  The white envelope has a note from Novica expaining the company's philosophy and a postcard from Machu Pichu signed by a Peruvian artisan. 

Then I opened the package:

This retablo depicts Our Lady of Fatima .  An apparition of the Blessed Mother revealed herself to three peasant children in Portugal on May 13, 1917.  The Baby holds a rosary in one hand and a scapular in the other. The little booklet tells the story of Fatima and has a comment from the artisan.  I'm sure I'll be shopping at Novica again.  I can't think of the last time I've been so happy with a purchase.