photo challenge, week seven

This is the painting that I did when it was too rainy to take a walk. I decided to add a little detail, using a liquid correction pen. The painting is finished now.

On Thursday, I went to a meeting at the community room at Town Hall Terrace. I brought the bear, who was happy enough to pose with Miss Pumpkin Head. Summer is waning away and autumn will take its place.

The gardens still live. The beautiful decorations continue to bring joy to all who pass by.

The vivid colors of late summer bring joy.

It is a pleasure to see the late-blooming flowers.

Here is a bee on goldenrod. Many people thought that goldenrod, along with ragweed, was the cause of autumn allergies. Goldenrod does not have that kind of effect on people. Ragweed…. ahhh-choo!

Morning glory is lovely but it is invasive and takes over shrubbery. When I take care of gardens, I usually pull this out.

Land snail!

On Saturday, September 19th, I walked down the bike path to Kaegebein Elementary School. Here is the bridge that connects Grand Island to Tonawanda. If you travel farther south, you will arrive in Buffalo.

At Kaegebein, approximately fifty volunteers were busily installing the new playground. David Brand, chair of the Kaegebein Playground Committee, said that he was hoping to get thirty volunteers on each of three days: September 18th, 19th, and 20th.

Volunteers included parents, teachers, alumni, high school students, and community members.

The turnout was far bigger than anticipated. The playground was completely finished on Saturday. Word went out that volunteers were not needed on Sunday.

It is a happy day.

Teamwork is the key to putting together so many pieces to make one playground.

The new playground cost approximately $60,000. All of that money was raised through private donations and through many fundraisers over five years. One of the fundraisers, which was done in June, was a chair auction. Old library chairs, which have since been replaced, were painted by artists. These chairs were auctioned off. One of these chairs was painted by me. It was the biggest art project that I ever did in my life. I had doubts as to whether I would be able to paint something as large as a chair. It took me well out of my comfort zone.

When you leave your comfort zone, you realize that you can do more than you thought. After working on the chair for a few weeks, I realized that I could do it… and I did do it…

I brought the chair back to the school. During the auction, the chair was sold, and it now has a new home. The money raised went for the playground. All are happy… me, the chair’s new owners, and the kids. It is all good.

After leaving Kaegebein, I walked over to Bible Presbyterian Church, which I sketched. I do a “virtual sketch crawl” every third Saturday with a Facebook group. Here it is.

My friend Amy picked me up after I sketched for a while. She brought me over to her apartment so that I could meet her new kitten, Ballou.

Ballou likes my foot.

Ballou enjoys his toy.

Happy kitten.

On Sunday, I walked to church. When I saw that the horrifying hand reaching out of the ground, I realized that Halloween is coming and that this is just the beginning of the horrors.