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At the most recent meeting of the Grand Island Historical Society, held on March 2nd, the guest speaker was Ray Wigle, development director of the Niagara County Historical Society and director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. He told us about how the Erie Canal came to be and he really put the STORY into […]

Today, I went with a group from Saint Martin in the Fields of Grand Island to visit Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Buffalo. This year is the cathedral’s bicentennial. It was established as a church in February of 1817. The original wooden structure was built at a cost of $5,000, which nearly bankrupted the

The challenge for week nine was still life (artistic). In each picture, there is a bear, who has a story to tell or, at least, a comment to make. I wanted tea but these sea creatures invaded my cup. I’m making sure that the cats behave when the birds visit this bird house. I really

Today’s teacher story series focuses on Kayla Fyfe, who teaches dance at the Grand Island Dance Center. Students range in age from two to adult. The staff teaches a variety of dance forms: toddler, pre-ballet, ballet, jazz, hip hop, acro, Broadway, modern, and contemporary. For more information about the Grand Island Dance Center, check out

The challenge for week eight of the 52 week photography project is to imagine that you have only one shot left on your roll of film. You have to nail it. Hence, it is called one shot. No deleting. No second shot.  Here is my one shot. Woods Creek in Grand Island, New York. Question:

Yesterday evening, the Western New York Land Conservancy hosted a fascinating event at Grand Island Town Hall. The title of the event was “A Big Night for Salamanders.” The courtroom was full of people who wanted to learn more about salamanders. People came in groups. Some people brought their kids, who asked good questions and

A week and a half ago, I interviewed Nathan McMurray, the town supervisor of Grand Island, New York, for an article that I wrote for the Island Dispatch about a Western New York Welcome Center that will be built near the Whitehaven exit of the I-190. Due to space limitations, I couldn’t put everything into

The challenge for week seven of the 52-week photography project is to tell the story of something that is forgotten. I took several photographs which, to me, have “forgotten” stories to share. There are so many ways to forget. We forget things when we leave them behind. We grieve over those forgotten things. They become

It’s time for a food post. Since I made applesauce today, I figured that I would share the process of making applesauce. As long as you have a large pot and a food mill, making applesauce is an easy project. You start by quartering and coring your apples. For this batch, I used three quarts

Note:  This is an update of a story that I wrote about a year and a half ago about a chair painting project that I did. This was the first piece of furniture that I’ve ever painted. It took me three weeks to paint the chair. After I returned the chair, I wondered what happened