Before Wyatt was born, The Toycrafter (my old toy company) built this 6 foot long motorized kaleidoscope. The kaleidoscope is still around - on exhibit at the Rochester Museum and Science center, and Wyatt got to see it yesterday!
Just one of those things I love- sign next door to a used car lot. Click on picture to read the sign more clearly. Oddly enough just off to the right behind the R&R Sales building, is a church!
On the nature in the back yard front, below is a good sized poke weed growing along the sidewalk on South Ave. It should get a lot taller unless someone decides it is just a weed. Dad and I have a big poke weed growing every summer behind our garage. I think Dad would cut it down ---- I know Mom would ---- but it is such a cool looking and huge plant that I intervene on behalf of the poke weed. That one will end up taller that the garage!
And on the sidewalk theme - major construction is underway on Caroline St. , with spray painted directions, warnings, pipe locations, etc. pretty much everywhere. The one below is my personal favorite!
There is always hope that whatever we manage to pave over, nature will prevail eventually and return the earth to itself. Above is a patch of flowers growing right in the middle of the paved parking lot outside our studio. Below - thought a bit hard to see - some small trees grow from the top of a 200 foot tall smokestack of an old power plant here in Rochester!
Not sure what the fruits above are, but I didn't eat them.
The cherries below however, were delicious and plentiful!
Another new dancer from Louise's Daughter (and son-in-law) We particularly love this group of three, but she is spectacular in any quantity!
Not many booths with live music right outside the window! This is one of the shows that is easy on the back, easy on the eye, and easy on the ears! Just to give credit where due, this is the 100 American Craftsmen show in Lockport, NY last weekend.
and not many booths with a hard working nephew ready to help!
Pat and Vanna show off my first poppies of the season!
We're off to Northhampton, MA for a show tomorrow. Will probably miss a few days since we have a free place to stay that may not have internet access..... how will I survive? I'll take some pics to share on my return though. The cactus flower above is right in my office. Sort of a big ugly, spiny, sharp plant that just sort of sprawls across my window sill ----- growing in a pot that fell over several years ago. You don't think I'm going to try to set it straight do you? Very regularly big 3" across by about 5" long flowers appear.... sometimes several at once. Always a great day when I spot one! Started from a little piece about the size of my thumb salvaged from the floor of my lawyer's office about 20 years ago!
Several years ago, my brother Dave found a rubber duck on the path to the campsite while at Merlefest. He kept the duck, called it Carolina Duck - the americana music festival is in North Carolina - and rubber ducks became a part of family history ever since. Carolina Duck went to every Merlefest after that, and was joined by quite a few close relatives. Dave is gone now, but rubber ducks remain, along with memories! I found several "hippie ducks" at an anti-war store front, and added them to my van dash, and also thought why not take one along on on my bike rides. I definitely do not want to become one of those old guys with flags, pinwheels, and even bumper stickers on their bikes, but thought this was a nice touch. Someday I may need to move him to my future walker or wheel chair, but for yesterday at least Carolina Duck's hippie friend and I went for a 22.8 mile bike ride. Dave would have enjoyed the ride!
Another "Look what we made" day. This simple automata's dancers move back and forth to whatever rhythm you move the front lever to. Looks marvelous just sitting there, and is fun to play with! About 10" x 10" x 6". To see them in person come to our up coming shows - schedule on the web site.
A few weeks ago Wyatt invited me to see Spider-man 3. In our world, that is code for wonderful time together, and we proved it again this weekend! Spider-man was indeed part of the formula, but this abandoned bridge over the Erie Canal was probably the highlight! We rode our bikes along the canal path that I ride several times a week, and I got to show him things I see regularly, and tell him stories about my rides. But something made us venture off the path, over a little hill, and right to a bridge to nowhere! Notice that there is nothing but flowering bushes at the other end ...... same thing on this end. Not sure what went over this bridge. There is a railroad bridge right next to it..... tracks not in use any more, but at least they are there. The picture below indicates the future of that bridge too, but this one has no deck, nothing but the frame. Nothing but an adventure for a couple of guys out for a ride. 50 years apart in age, but both ready for the joy of discovery, the vertigo of stepping out over the water, however briefly, and the pleasure of someone to share the story with!
We also saw Spider-man 3, cooked Mother's Day bruch for Aunt Cheryl, Grandma Peg, Cousin Deanna, Cousin-in-law Linda, etc.
In a way yesterday's story was about recycling. That cool couch found a new home, and a ride to that home on the back of a car that was being lovingly cared for after 34 years instead of rusting away in a junk yard. This man, and his father-in-law, drove along that same street tonight, the night before the weekly trash run, and collected anything with metal in it. The truck sure looked full, but they found room on top for a gas grill abandoned after several summers of family picnics. All this stuff is off to the junk yard for recycling instead of off to the landfill. I watched amazed as this guy mananged to get just one more piece on his load, and remembered my grandfather who made some significant part of the family income collecting stuff from the "dump", and recycling it, back when there was no landfills, and no recycling!
