January 2016

It’s time for another fun creative writing exercise! When I was at Huth Road school a week ago, I took pictures of the third-grade writers club to share with the families belonging to the PTA. The students were writing narrative poems. I thought that was pretty cool, especially later, when I read the poems, which […]

I started my 366-day photography project on a radiant summer day. I celebrated this new project by spending the day at Buckhorn Island State Park. Back on August 1st, this is what the park looked like. It was green and alive. The waters were warm and inviting. There was so much color!  The bees were

Glenn Colton came to offer a positive, encouraging, and entertaining message to the students and teachers at Huth Road Elementary School. He is revisiting a performing career from which he retired in 2012.  Glenn Colton said that he “started with an idea in 1985 and became full-time in 1993.” He performed in libraries, elementary schools,

Feet. We love our feet. We like to have a pedicure and to paint our toenails. We put shoes on them. Sometimes, they aren’t the best choice of shoes for our feet but they look good. Some ladies can dance in their high heels and look graceful. Me? Well, I can’t even walk on high

The Niagara River has existed for about 18,000 years. It was a product of the last ice age. The river connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. It is part of the North American watershed that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Lakes contain about 18 percent of the world’s fresh water.For

On Sunday, Jay Burney, who writes a column called “Greenwatch” for The Public in Buffalo, came to the Riverside-Salem Environmental Chapel in Grand Island. He said, “We are one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.”  He described the biodiversity of the Niagara Region as being “truly first class.” For example, nineteen species of

Last Sunday, I went to church and saw this bumper sticker on a car. I thought that it was funny, so I took a picture of it.  The gospel reading was about the miracle at the wedding feast at Cana. The party after the wedding went on for a week. Unfortunately, the parents of the

Here are some observations on a snowy Saturday, as well as a brief tour of my river world.  The holiday season is now a dream from the past. This Christmas tree has become a heap on the side of the road.  It looks so mysterious when it’s covered by snow. Fallen tree covered by snow,

One of the issues that I’ve been focusing on as a small-town journalist is agriculture. Grand Island, in the past, was a farming community. In the nineteenth century, Lewis F. Allen, for whom Allentown in Buffalo is named, started an experimental farm on the southern tip of Grand Island, called Allenton Farms. He raised cattle

I have had the good fortune of belonging to an online crochet group for the past fifteen years. There is a wonderful “list mommy,” who organized the list of about 30 crocheters and who has kept it going since it began. We call her “Mommy Lois.” She keeps us together as a group and she