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John D. Larkin was born on Clinton Street in Buffalo in 1845 to Levi and Mary Ann Durrant Larkin. He was one of seven children. When his father died at the age of 35 in 1859, Larkin had to leave school and go to work to raise money to support his family.  John Larkin was […]

On Wednesday, I went with Diane E., chair of the Grand Island Conservation Advisory Board, and Kathleen M., stewardship director of the Western New York Land Conservancy, to look at two wooded lots in Grand Island. These wooded lots are owned by the town, which placed a conservation easement on them. A conservation easement, which

Today is mothers’ day so I decided to celebrate Mother Earth. Four years ago, when I went to Ecuador, I spent a few weekends in an indigenous community, where I learned about medicinal plants and where I experienced the celebration of the vernal equinox. I celebrated Mother Earth by walking in nature and by picking

At last, spring has sprung, and I got to go to River Lea during daylight hours, instead of in utter darkness. It is wonderful to see the gardens that are filled with spring flowers around River Lea. The presentation at the meeting on May 7th featured Frank Gallagher, town historian of Wilson, New York, who

Last Thursday, I completed my first A to Z challenge. It was an adventure and an… um… challenge. I never did come up with a theme, but, then again, my mind works in random ways so I might have felt stifled by a theme. The challenge was made even more challenging by the fact that

Diane and a 200-year-old oak. Spicer Creek’s water levels are very low. Bird motel. Another display of the low water levels of Spicer Creek. Yesterday, Diane, Roy, Ron, and I went for another walk along Spicer Creek. This time, the weather was cooperative. It was warm and sunny. Last week, it rained so I couldn’t

Bridgett Braunscheidel chops up strawberries for smoothies after the April 25th Zumbathon at Saint Martin in the Fields church in Grand Island This morning, I went to my Zumba class. The class meets every Tuesday and Thursday. It is good exercise and loads of fun. Basically, you do a variety of dance moves to upbeat

This picture was chosen random but, in journalism, the choice of photographs can affect how you perceive the story. As an example, an unflattering picture of a person may cause you not to like the person and to see the person in a negative light because people are very influenced by physical appearance. Dear Reader,

the letter X was giving me the blues I have to admit… I was stuck. X is not a very common way to begin a word. Or a name. I went to the Oxford English Dictionary and felt sad that it wasn’t the Xford English Dictionary because I could then write about my love for

Today, I went with Diane, Ron, and Roy for a walk along Spicer Creek. It is one of a series of creeks in Grand Island. The creek, like all of the rest of the island’s creeks, is not in the best condition. The four of us wanted to view the creek and see what was