July 2016

I enjoy sharing ways to reuse things in interesting and unusual ways. Above are two bottles that I painted with glass paint. The green bottle had been filled with sweet and sour sauce. The small bottle was a spice jar. When the sweet and sour sauce and the spices are gone, you’re left with empty […]

This is Marty Biniasz. At the June meeting of the Grand Island Historical Society, he kept everyone entertained with his recounting the history of the Erie County (New York) Fair. This August, the Erie County Agricultural Society will present the 171st county fair. The fair has definitely changed since it first began in 1820, when

The frog photographs have inspired me to write a fractured fairy tale. A fractured fairy tale is a fairy tale that has been rewritten with different characters, settings, or outcomes. Generally, it is best to use a well-known fairy tale and then “fracture” it. I chose the story of the frog prince for two reasons.

Today, I’m going to share a way to avoid writer’s block and have a good time doing so. Writer’s block is that evil thing that keeps you from translating the stories in your head into words on the page. It occurs at the most inconvenient time and it is an annoying plague for most writers.

Last night, I went with my friends Amy, Bev, and Jo to watch the Buffalo Bisons (Buffalo’s AAA baseball team) play against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Following the game, we were treated to music with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, as well as a display of fireworks.  This morning, I went to watch and photograph

Note: On August 1st, 2015, I started on a 366-day photography project. Every day for a year, I am committed to taking at least one photograph. I am now in my last month of the project. It has been an amazing adventure in documenting my world. Some of the things that I have taken pictures of

I feel fortunate to live near the Niagara River. In fact, because I live on an island, I am surrounded by the river. No matter which direction I go, eventually, I will reach the river. On Friday, I headed south to Beaver Island State Park for a plein air painting class, organized by George Smith

It’s time for the July Ultimate Blog challenge! Today is the first day of the July Ultimate Blog challenge, so I thought that I would start off with a bit of fun, featuring some chickens. One day, a chicken went to the library. Well, OK, he was a rooster. He walked around the library, crowing with