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A photograph of Grover Cleveland adorns the living room. Grover Cleveland, who is counted as two presidents (the 22nd and the 24th) because he was the only president in U.S. history to serve to nonconsecutive terms, was the nephew of Lewis F. Allen, who, at one time, owned a large piece of the southern tip […]

Dear Readers, I have really enjoyed sharing the story of an artist (weaver and retired art teacher Lee Tetkowski). I am grateful for the comments that you have made about this remarkable lady. I also thank Lee for opening her home and her life to me, for sharing stories over cups of tea, and for

Today, it was warmer. The snow still covers my garden but much of the snow has melted away. Soon, the deep freeze will return. The garden is still a distant dream. Last Thursday, I went to Stella Niagara for a painting class. It was the first of a two-week floral painting series. Last week, we

January 31st is Inspire Your Heart with Arts Day. I didn’t know that until a few hours ago. It’s not a holiday that is widely known or well advertised. I love the idea of having a holiday that’s dedicated to inspiring hearts. Sooooo…. put this on your calendar to celebrate next year. There are so

Today, it snowed. The wind blew and the air bit my face as if it were an angry animal. My garden now seems like a distant dream. On Thursday, January 25th, at Stella Niagara, I started creating a little bit of a two-dimensional garden, with paints on paper. I started trying to create a world

Note:  Lee Tetkowski, 94, is a retired art teacher. She taught for many years in various schools, including Grand Island High School. I have had the honor of knowing her since 2006, when I wrote an article about the reunion of the first graduating class of Grand Island High School. The high school exists because of

In Lewis Carroll’s magnificent story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, one of the participants at the Mad Tea Party was a dormouse. That dormouse was very sleepy and had to be awakened on several occasions. Of course, that tea party had been going for quite some time. The Queen of Hearts heard that someone had claimed

Note: On January 15th, I wrote about Grand Island Town Supervisor Nathan McMurray’s special announcement, held in the Brickyard Brewing Company in Lewiston, New York. “I am running for Congress against Chris Collins in the 27th district,” Nate said to a crowd of about 200 in the restaurant’s upstairs room.  That was the start of Nate’s

Well, January 24th is global belly laugh day. It doesn’t quite get the designation of “holiday,” but it probably should. Everyone needs a belly laugh because we all need to be distracted from very annoying things, like the way that the Windows 10 update is designed to delete all of your text, after you’ve spent

The suggested topic for today’s post in the Ultimate Blogging Challenge was to create a list. A whole bunch of lists were suggested, including “ten random things about me.” So… I chose that. Here are ten random things, in no particular order: Here are enough garlics to scare away one little vampire. 1. Bad food