Images of 2015, part two

July 4th was a beautiful summer day, a good day for a parade. Here are some bagpipers who are ready to share their music with the crowds assembled for the parade. 

These are cowboys who do regular shoot outs at Fantasy Island, an amusement park in Grand Island. They are prepared for a shoot out in the street. At any point on the route, they could stop and draw and BANG! Just like a wild west TV show or movie! There's nothing like a staged gun battle to showcase American entertainment at its finest... or loudest.

Here is a young dancer, ready and eager for the parade to begin.

Dancers from the Grand Island Dance Center know how to dance and to pose for pictures. 

A group from Saint Martin in the Fields Church advertises its upcoming chicken barbecue.

I never knew that sunflowers came in a variety of colors. Here is a purple one.

In mid-August, I joined a walk that was organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Our cause was to oppose the use of drones to kill and spy on people. We started in Madison, Wisconsin, and we walked west to Camp Douglas.

This is one of the perks of these long-distance walks... the beautiful horses!

Maya and Tyler enjoy the adventure.

Maya, who is from England, enjoys making new friends, including the equines.

Maya can multi task... march down the street, carry a sign, and play the trumpet. 

When man-made structures start falling apart, nature takes over.

After the walk, I continued working in gardens. This was a great year for gardening. The temperature was fairly mild and there was sufficient rain to keep everything, including the weeds, growing and glowing. Above is one of the fringe benefits of gardening... a toad who poses!

As summer turned into autumn, the apples and pears ripened and were ready to be picked and turned into applesauce and apple pear sauce. This year, I also made peach pear sauce. I would consider experimenting with other fruits.

Lots of work was done in sewers with unusual looking machinery, like this one.

I took pictures of people celebrating the first day of school for the Island Dispatch.

A teacher welcomes a student back to school.

On Labor Day, I went to a picnic celebrating the day. Here is Janna celebrating her son Vernon's first Labor Day.

The event featured delicious food, live music, swimming, and rides in kayaks.

Santiago sells the wonderful handmade wares from his store, El Buen Amigo. Everything sold there comes from artisans from around the world.

The sun sets over the Niagara River.

Little Miss Muffett sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey, when along came a spider to sit down beside her and frighten Miss Muffett away. So, you're asking, what is a tuffet? It is a little stool. Little Miss Muffett is not a big fan of spiders. Neither are the people who posted all of those "yuck, a spider" comments when I put a picture of this lovely spider on Facebook. Then I put a picture of a bee on Facebook, along with a few bugs, with the same results. The comments just encouraged me to continue photographing insects and spiders! Expect to see more next year.

In September, there were the primary elections. The turnout was not stellar. I had plenty of time to photograph bears and to run laps around the fire truck house.

The drawing was something that I did in a "virtual sketch crawl." That's when people go out and draw and then share their art work on Facebook. Later, I made an acrylic painting, based on the original sketch. That painting is now hanging up at Riverside-Salem environmental chapel in Grand Island.

Saint Martin in the Fields Church held an open baptism on September 13th. Both adults and children were baptized.

Still looking beautiful in September.

Here is one of the mums that grow best in autumn.

Mary and I enjoy doing photography in September. The Old Bedell Grille is already closed. It is a seasonal food stand.

I see... something shiny!

Many volunteers come together and build a playground at Kaegebein Elementary School.

It was projected that this job would take three days to complete but there were so many volunteers that the playground was completely constructed in two days.

This is a beautiful bee that really does not deserve all of those "yuck" comments.

How do we keep the land wild and undeveloped near the Riverside-Salem Environmental Chapel? Here are Town Supervisor Mary Cooke, Nancy Smith from the Western New York Land Conservancy, and Roger Cook to talk about options.

Here are a few flowers that grow late in the season.

This is the climate justice rally that was held in downtown Buffalo on a gorgeous autumn day.

Saint Joseph Cathedral in downtown Buffalo.

Tom is a farmer on Grand Island. I wrote a story about him and his farm for the Island Dispatch.

This is one of Tom's chickens. Tom sells beautiful brown eggs that I love to use for cooking and baking.

I become the world's oldest beginning tap dancer!

I never tire of photographing flowers.

Mmmm, birthday cake!

Zoe's window on the world.

Remembering my dad, Roy Gerard.

Pumpkins everywhere!

The Taste of Grand Island was held on a cold, windy, and rainy day. Here are a pair of Mary Kay salespersons bundled up and ready for the weather.

Hee hee.

The Grand Island Conservation Advisory Board presented a workshop on taking care of stream banks. It featured speakers from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Tim) and Riverkeeper (Emily). Diane is the chair of the Conservation Advisory Board.

There is nothing like settling down for the evening with a good book.

The bear enjoys the silver at River Lea, the home of the Grand Island Historical Society.

The CROP Walk this year was a great experience. I took pictures for the Island Dispatch and wrote an article, too.

Marie and her family are from the Congo. She did the entire walk with a heavy jug of water on her head to show us what life is like when you have to travel long distances to obtain water for cooking and drinking.

The walkers are ready to start.

Wow. That's all I can say. Just wow.

Patrick was the intern deacon at St. Martin's for nine months. His job was to develop a relationship between St. Martin's and the Family Justice Center, which he did, exceeding all expectations. He liked to wear cowboy boots so everyone wore western costumes on Patrick's last day at St. Martin's.

Patrick and his family.

On a mild October day, I took a walk in the Village of Lewiston.

This is one of my crochet projects.

This young man talked about life in Nepal for ethnic Nepalis who were expelled from Bhutan, where their families had been living since the 1600s. Many have since relocated to other countries.

Beaver Island State Park in autumn.

Nan and Joe present a concert at Saint Martin in the Fields church early in November.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Albert McFadyen) shares a moment with Shirley Luther at a well-attended meeting of the Grand Island Historical Society.

This is the beautiful Stella Niagara Educational Park, where I go twice a month for watercolor painting classes.

Children and their parents come to school to have fun at Huth Road School's Family Game Night.

This ship sank years ago off of the east coast of Grand Island.

Bottles turned into wind chimes by John. These were sold at Saint Martin in the Fields church.

Here are the snow humans!

This is some of the decorative work at the Montante Cultural Center, where I went with Ellen and friends to see the Canisius College Chorale, directed by Frank Scinta, perform. Ellen's daughter Amelia is a member of the Canisius College Chorale.

Lynn Konovitz retired after being director of the Grand Island Memorial Library for 32 years.

Mary Cooke gives Lynn a certificate of appreciation, signed by the town board.

Outgoing town board member Gary Roesch receives a certificate of appreciation at the end of the first December town board meeting.

The sign at the Kaegebein Community Playground is dedicated on a warm December day.

Christmas pageant at Saint Martin in the Fields Church, featuring the Holy Family, shepherds, and superheroes. It was a super Christmas.

My friend Chuck and me at a wedding.

Sandy and Bill are the happy couple. They met at a support group for widowed people.

Nan Hoffman leads the singing at the annual "Christmas in the Woods" at Riverside-Salem.

Christmas Eve with Kris Dodge's family.

These ornaments are made from the wood of olive trees and they come from the Holy Land.

Merry Christmas!

Claire Elisabeth, who will have her fourth birthday next month, enjoys Christmas Day with her nonnie (my sister) and the rest of our family.

Adelise Noel is happy to experience her third Christmas at age two.

Jamie enjoys watching the Christmas festivities.

Devin and his daughter enjoy a happy moment.

It was not a white Christmas. A few days later, the snow did fall. Since then, this light dusting of snow has melted away...

Maybe next year?

Next year is in a few hours.

Happy New Year! I hope it is a good one for you.

Thank you for reading my blog. You are appreciated.