My 366-day photography project: Thanksgiving!

On Tuesday, November 24th, I went to the Grand Island Memorial Library to interview Lynn Konovitz, the director of the library, for an article about him. After working at this library for 32 years, Lynn is retiring. When he was first appointed as the librarian here in Grand Island, the library was located in a large room on the second floor of town hall. It was a very small space for the library. Part of his job was to find a new space for the library, to give the library room to grow. The space that was found was on land that had been donated to the town by the Funk family. A new library was built and the rest of the land is now Veterans Park.

The picture above is in the children's section of the library. There is a comfortable place to sit and the picture on the carpet is of the Very Hungry Caterpillar (based on the 1969 book by Eric Carle).

Doesn't this caterpillar look as if it wants to eat everything in sight, including the alphabet and the red chair? Eric Carle wrote and illustrated the story of a caterpillar who ate so much that he actually made himself sick before he managed to metamorphose into a beautiful butterfly. So which food made him sick? According to Wikipedia, the very hungry caterpillar gobbled down: one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, five oranges, one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, one slice of watermelon, and one green leaf.

OK. The caterpillar is obviously fictitious because the only thing that a real caterpillar would find palatable would be the green leaf. The wackiness of the food choices adds to the delight and humor of this lovely story.

The library has become a delightful community center. On Tuesday, children's librarian Anne Slater was setting up for a program.

This is the very colorful display of books to attract the eyes of the very young children who come with their parents or caregivers to the program.

Later in the day, I went to the hairdresser. On my way there, I took a look at Woods Creek and took some pictures of how it looks late in autumn.

The vegetation is turning brown and is ready for dormancy. According to Sally Cunningham, who writes a gardening column for The Buffalo News, Western New York gardeners have much to be thankful for, including the fact that we have winter. I will readily admit that I don't like winter because I don't like slipping on ice and being cold. But the period of dormancy is good for apple and pear trees. It's also good for the smaller plants. Sally Cunningham said that, when the snow comes, it is like having free mulch! 

After leaving the hairdresser, I thought that a treat was in order. I bought two tiramisu cupcakes at the Baked Cupcakery (1879 Whitehaven Road, Grand Island). Isn't that pretty? It tastes as good as it looks!

On Wednesday, I went to Island Presbyterian Church to help peel potatoes and to take pictures for an article about the church's annual community Thanksgiving dinner. This dinner is free to anyone who comes, and it features a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. If people have a favorite Thanksgiving dish, they are encouraged to bring it to share with the community. Approximately 100 persons were expected at this dinner. This dinner is one way to ensure that no one has to spend the holiday alone.

Preparing food is a joyful thing, especially when you know that it is food to be shared.

Suzanne Grafinger and her son in law display beautiful homemade pecan pies.

On Thanksgiving, I walked over to Island Presbyterian Church for the community Thanksgiving dinner, so that I could take pictures and ask people two questions for my article. My questions were: What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? What are you most thankful for this year?

The Rev. Carla Kline is the pastor of Island Presbyterian Church. Here she is offering a blessing before the big meal.

Don and Evelyn Lewis are among many folks who enjoy having their dinner here.

At the dinner, Candy Bouley shows off the lovely wreaths that she has designed and is selling.

Thanksgiving was a magnificent day. There was much to be thankful for. I enjoyed the community Thanksgiving dinner, and I enjoyed dinner with my family. I was well fed and happy. On Friday morning, I woke up and saw that the sun was rising, and the sky had been painted with these vibrant colors. That sky is one of the many gifts of nature. More reasons for gratitude.

On Saturday, it was cold and yucky. I still had to take at least one photograph for the day so I chose to set up a still life with these figurines. There's a compass, a seashell, and a treasure chest. In my imagination, I could be a sailor or a pirate or a mermaid, even when the weather was cold and yucky.

On Sunday, during coffee hour after church, Father Earle showed one of the nativity sets that he purchased during his recent trip to the Holy Land. The nativity set is made from the wood of olive trees.

On Sunday afternoon, I painted six wooden snowmen and one wooden snowflake.

It was a fun project. They went from being nondescript pieces of wood to being snowpeople wearing bow ties and buttons and black hats.

This is a rainbow snowflake. Even during the dreariest days of winter, it is nice to think of the world as being full of color.

This morning, I sprayed the snowpeople and the snowflake, and I set up all of them in a still life.

Don't they look like a little chorus? There's a bass, a baritone, a tenor, a contralto, a mezzo soprano, and a soprano. Singing brings joy, as you can tell by the happy smiles on their faces.

My 366-day photography project: week sixteen

Monday, November 16th was a sunny warm late autumn day. It was a good day for yard work. I went to Jean's house to rake the leaves, which were plentiful because she and her husband Paul have a very tall red oak tree in the yard. The winds of the previous week blew down the leaves that remained on the tree. I put on headphones, attached to a digital Walkman and raked to the danceable sounds of jazz broadcast from a Toronto radio station.

Despite the wind and cold, a few flowers continued to bloom.

Lately, I've noticed a large number of ladybugs. They seem to be everywhere... the garden, the laundry room, the bathroom, the porch... everywhere you look, there's another ladybug. Some have spots and others don't. 

Ladybugs like photo ops, too. This one, with its large collection of spots, is very photogenic. 

Here are a few more late blooming flowers.

On Tuesday, I finished raking the leaves. After I finished doing that, I went to the garden, where I cut down the perennials, removed the annuals, planted bulbs, and covered the whole thing with leaves. In the garden, I found another cute critter. I remember being warned when I was a kid not to pick up a toad because it would give me warts. Not a very good listener, I have, over the years, handled a fair number of toads. Fortunately, I have avoided developing toad-induced warts.

This is another view of the garden toad, on his rounds.

Jean and Paul's cat. She has lovely long fur. She is friends with Snickers, the dog. She likes to get outside and explore the neighbors' yards. She also likes to roll on the driveway. Her humans love her very much but she probably has them (and the dog!) wrapped around her little paw.

On Wednesday, it was time for me to put my own garden to bed. I removed the annuals, cut back the perennials, harvested the parsley, and covered the little garden with old leaves. I left the pumpkins to sit on the porch and an anticipating cutting them up and making pumpkin bread next week.

I also brought the garden ornaments inside and placed them in the patio. The garden will sleep. I am grateful for the months of enjoyment that I got from the garden, for the bright colors and the feel of the soil in my hands, for the smell of the soil, especially after a rainfall. 

In the Village of Lewiston, attention was being shifted from Halloween to Christmas. Wreathes and other types of decoration have already started being placed in visible spots, where people are likely to see them, photograph them, and enjoy the season.

On Thursday,  I went for my twice-a-month painting class at Stella Niagara in Lewiston. Here is one of the surviving plants.

Here is yet another late blooming flower.

Still life with bear.

Winter scene with critters that don't normally get along (bear and fox).

One of the lovely stained glass windows at Stella Niagara.

On Friday afternoon, I noticed that the moon was visible so I took its picture.

On Saturday, I walked to the library. This Thanksgiving decoration was quite adorable.

The Friends of the Grand Island Memorial Library were running their book sale, which raises money for programming at the library not covered by its budget. This is library director Lynn Konovitz. He has been at the library as librarian for at least 30 years and will soon retire. He has done a great job and will be missed.

Saturday was the day for the monthly "sketch crawl." It was too chilly to draw outside so I did my drawing at home. For models, I used a pair of Polish dolls. I placed them in front of a window. They are waiting to be called on to the dance floor.

As I mentioned in last week's update, John Pickwell had brought in a bunch of glass bottles. He had turned them into wind chimes and is selling them to raise money for Zion House, located in Avon, New York, which provides female veterans with safe and supportive housing. According to Zion House's website, there are approximately 15,000 homeless female veterans in the United States. For more information about Zion House, take a look at this website: Zion House

Here are a few more views of the wind chimes.

John is a stained glass artist and this is one of the decorations attached to the wind chimes.

Here is a floral decoration at church.

Today, I saw that just a few apples continue to cling to the tree. The leaves are all gone. Most of the apples are gone, too. The old, bruised apples were tossed into the wooded area to feed the deer and the good apples have become applesauce or are about to become applesauce.

Early in the afternoon, it started to snow, the first snow of the season. It was fun to watch through the window. There wasn't enough of a snow cover to photograph. The snow looks like powdered sugar on a cake. Mmmm. Cake...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Next week: pictures of delicious Thanksgiving food!