The 366-day photography challenge

Note about the photography challenge: I began this year-long project on August 1st, after reading a posting on the Second Breakfast blog. This is a beautifully written and designed blog. Take a look at it when you get a chance. The project challenges me to take at least one picture a day for a year. That means that I am taking daily pictures for 366 days, since 2016 is a leap year. I have been sharing my progress weekly on this blog.

So here is week nine of the 366-day photography challenge:

What better way to start the morning than by cooking a lovely omelet? Omelet cooking is a creative process. You can put anything in it that you like. This time, I added red onions, garlic, green peppers, and two types of cheese (parmesan and cheddar).

Every now and then, I find a spider wandering the kitchen. I enticed this one into a paper cup, and I relocated the spider to the porch. This looks like a garden spider, just like the one that I photographed on the mailbox.

Here is that bowl of delicious soup that I ate at Pho Dollar, in Buffalo. Just looking at it makes me feel hungry!

Back in January, I made a whole series of paintings of bears, and I wrote stories about the bears. They are in my art blog, Sun, Moon, Stars. So now, I am planning another series of paintings, and I'm taking more bear pictures. Here is teatime bear. 

In the evening, on Tuesday, September 29th, I went to the library for a presentation on the need for stream bank buffers. There are a number of creeks in Grand Island, New York, and the quality of the creeks could use improvement. The presentation was arranged by the Grand Island Conservation Advisory Board. Diane Evans (center of the above picture) is the chair of the board. The two speakers were Tim DePriest of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Emily Sadowski of Buffalo-Niagara Riverkeeper.

I wrote an article about this presentation for the Island Dispatch (our local weekly newspaper). Here are a few things that I learned: if you mow to the edge of the creek, it is very likely that there will be soil erosion because grass has shallow roots. Planting native species of perennials, shrubs, and trees protects the soil better, due to their stronger and deeper roots. Some of the native species here include coneflower, Joe-Pye weed, swamp oak, etc. Also, I learned that, when the creekbed is mainly silt and clay, the water is likely to appear muddy.

Another thing that I will share has to do with fish. Fish need to get away from fast-moving water, such as the water in the Niagara River, to spawn. They go to tributaries, such as the creeks in Grand Island. They need to have clear passage on the tributaries to their spawning sites. In Grand Island, there is a problem with fish barriers. Emily Sadowski talked about remediating fish barriers.

This is my precious Zoe. She is fifteen years old. She is quite the talker.

On October 1st, I went to hear Bill Kae's presentation on the history of Crystal Beach at River Lea (the headquarters of the Grand Island Historical Society). I shared that story in two previous blog posts. Here are a few pictures of the bear at River Lea.

Bear enjoys the silver at River Lea.

Back at home, the bear enjoys a good book and some delicious dark honey, which I buy from a local beekeeper.

Pumpkins everywhere!

Apples, too.

This is the fungus among us. I am fascinated by mushrooms and fungi of all sorts, but, since I'm not a mushroom expert, I won't eat the mushrooms I find. For cooking purposes, I hunt my delicious mushrooms at the supermarket!

Here is a big clump of mushrooms. I don't know whether or not they are toadstools. They are photogenic, however.

This bear is sitting on the fence. Can't decide which way to go.

Sniffing the mums.

On Saturday, October 3rd, I went to the Taste of Grand Island. It was fun but awfully cold. At one stand, I saw a great variety of yummy produce.

Mmmm, delicious squash.

Advertising for another stand.

Really delicious.

Patrick Braunscheidel was an intern deacon at Saint Martin in the Fields church for the past nine months. One of the tasks that he was asked to take on was to develop a relationship between the church and the Family Justice Center, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence. Patrick threw himself into that work. He went to a conference on domestic violence. When he asked what he could do to help end the scourge of domestic violence, he was told that he should talk to boys about how to treat women. He is a history teacher at a high school so he has many opportunities to talk to young people about that. It is important to reach youth because the rate of domestic violence is very high for people between the ages of 16 and 25.

Another thing that Patrick did was to organize a zumba-thon to raise money for the Family Justice Center. That was fun and the money that was raised went to help victims of domestic violence.

Patrick likes his cowboy boots, so it was decided that we would all wear our western-style costumes on Patrick's last day with us. Here is Noah, who really enjoys his cowboy hat.

Patrick is shown here with Maria, one of his former students.

Patrick and his wife Bridgett and his son Jedediah. Bridgett was the instructor for the Zumba-thon. They are planning another Zumba-thon to support the Family Justice Center. That activity will be held in March of 2016.

Patrick and Father Earle King.

What a great group of cow-people.

Yummy cake baked by Chris Chipp!

Here are Tim and Irene in their matching cow-people shirts.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to the CROP walk, which was held at Beaver Island State Park. This annual event is held to raise funds to combat hunger, both worldwide and locally.

Here is a banner designed by the youth.

Marie and her husband Shabani are originally from the Congo. They and five of their seven children came to participate in the CROP walk. Marie decided to illustrate the issue of scarcity of drinkable water in much of the world by carrying a bucket of water on her head for the entire walk, which was about 3.6 miles.

This bucket, when filled, weighs a ton (or so it seems). Marie is very strong!

Walking with the family.

Beaver Island State Park.

Sunday evening at Saint Stephen's old church, participating in a hymn sing to celebrate that church's 125th anniversary. This building is now used only for special occasions, such as weddings. Church services are held at a bigger church, built next door.

This morning, with the bears.

Next week, another update!