The 366-day photography project: week 31

It's time for an update to the 366-day photography project. It was a busy week for me and interesting to document. On Sunday, February 28th, Father Earle was surprised with a gift: enough money to buy special vestments befitting an honorary canon, a great title that does not come with extra income. An honorary canon wears red socks. It just happened that Father Earle was properly attired in red socks.

If you are a canon, you must fire a cannon to celebrate your canonhood. Here, Austin and Trenton present Father Earle a cannon, which is on loan from another island organization. It was later taken outside and fired, much to Father Earle's glee.

Winter is not ready to give up yet, but spring is attempting to crowd it out. These little shoots grew through snow and freezing cold temperature.

Little and big, these shoots are signs of joyful life and hope for color returning to this small part of the world.

This is what Pope Francis says about our precious earth.

I was asked on Monday to take pictures of Gretchen and her friends. Her birthday was Monday, February 29th. It was her 20th birthday. All of the ladies were wearing blue shirts with the number 20 on them. They were doing their usual Monday routine: meeting for breakfast and then going to exercise.

These are the birthday brownies.

Gretchen and her friends enjoy celebrating a birthday that comes along only once every four years.

Gretchen's friends let her know that she is still not old enough to drink alcohol. "I know," Gretchen said. "That's why I drink coffee."

Later at home, I take a picture of the snow humans and the painted bottles.

After Zumba on Tuesday, I went to the library to pick up the book that I will read for the next book club meeting. The book is East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. I had plenty of time to walk to my hairdressing appointment, so I stopped off at the Chinese restaurant for some wonton eggdrop soup. Delicious! I carried the book home with me. As of today (Saturday, March 5th), I've read 135 of 601 pages. It is a beautifully written story, and the characters truly come to life. I am a happy reader.

On Wednesday, everything was covered with a layer of ice. School was canceled because the schoolbuses were covered with a very thick layer of ice, which could not be broken up in time for the start of the school day.

Icicles hang from everything.

The snow is beautiful but it covers the dangerous ice.

Inside Trinity United Methodist Church, all is bright and colorful. The folks from Saint Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church host the luncheon. They serve chef salad, fruit salad, sloppy joes, chips, and pastry.

Colorful and delicious pastries.

These are the oatmeal cookies that I baked for the Lenten luncheon. They are flavored with craisins and white chocolate chips.

Here are some of the goods that are sold at the SERVV store at Trinity. All of the money that people pay for these lovely crafts goes to the artisans who created these item.

Pretty pastels, the colors of a springtime yet to come.

The Rev. Canon Earle King discusses fear of death in the series titled "Be Not Afraid." I wrote about it in this blog yesterday. Here is the link: Be Not Afraid, part three.

On Wednesday evening, a group from Saint Martin in the Fields and Saint Timothy Lutheran Church go to visit Temple Beth El in Niagara Falls. The cornerstone is dated 1914. It is now the only Jewish congregation in Niagara County.

The building was designed to be a reform synagogue.

The artwork at Temple Beth El is very detailed. It shows pictures of prophets important in the Jewish faith.

Rabbi Ellen Franke, Adam, and Mary told us about Judaism and about the history and architecture of Temple Beth El. My next blog post will be about Temple Beth El so stay tuned!

This is a very affectionate and loving service dog, called an "emotional support dog." 

On Thursday, March 3rd, I went to Stella Niagara to paint. It had been a month since the last painting class. Unfortunately, the instructor contracted the flu, and she was ill for about two weeks. She is better now. She's resilient, like the plants that are growing through the snow.

The theme of our class session was Easter lilies. I painted the background first and then painted the plants. I used green and red/yellow for the background colors. 

The early plants are very hardy, even surviving a coating of ice.

Thursday evening was the meeting of the Grand Island Historical Society. It was fun to go back to River Lea. The mannequins have been given new fashion statements.

This mannequin is super skinny! She's got a wasp waist! Of course, back when ladies were wearing this fashion statement, they were also wearing corsets, which helped them squeeze into these outfits. The corsets, however, could potentially be dangerous. Tight lacing became the fashion in the late nineteenth century. The ladies were tied so tightly into their corsets that they had trouble breathing. They also had difficulty with their digestive system. These ladies were called "slaves to fashion."

The guest speaker, Greg Kinal, gave a presentation about Amelia Earhart. Stay tuned in the next few days for a blog post about this presentation.

The well at River Lea at night.

The program for this year's World Day of Prayer, held on Friday, March Fo(u)rth (the only day of the year that moves and is a command, was designed by the women of Cuba. This year, Island Presbyterian Church acted as host church for Grand Island's World Day of Prayer.

This is Eloise. She is a member of Island Presbyterian Church. Her family is from the West Indies. She was one of a group of people to act as leaders during the program.

This is Raida. She was one of two individuals who spoke at the World Day of Prayer. She talked about life in her native country, Cuba.

This is Santiago. He talked about his store, El Buen Amigo, where he sells clothing and crafts from Latin America. Everything is sold on a fair trade basis. The artisans get 100 percent of the sales price.

After the service, we had an opportunity to sample delicious Cuban foods.

Friday evening was the Huth Road PTA's big event, the Huth Road Bazaar. The theme for the bazaar was the 1960s. Everything was very colorful and, um, groovy.

One of the activities was a cakewalk. The kids walked around the music room to the sound of '60s music. When the music stopped, so did the kids. Each kid stood on top of a number. A wheel of fortune type wheel was spun and the number called was the winner. That kid got to select a cake to take home.

This is Larry Austin, editor of the Island Dispatch, on duty.

The school's art club painted trees on the windows at the school. Each tree (or set of trees) represented a season. This is the winter tree.

This little one is a future Huth Road Elementary School student.

These three teachers are in charge of the bake sale.

The goodies at the bake sale are very bright and colorful.

This is one of the more unusual cakes to be delivered to the cakewalk. It came as the activity was underway. It is a very unique-looking turkey... um... cake...

The bazaar is a very fun event.

This is Kelly and Bob. They are part of an organization called "Grand Island Junior Vikings." It is football and cheerleading for kids, aged six through thirteen. Kelly said that football was good for her son. "He gained so much confidence." She added that kids enjoy themselves and make friends. Bob said that football is a friendship building tool and that he is still friends with his former teammate from the kids' football team. The kids learn athleticism and discipline. Most of the football players are boys, but girls have been part of the team, too.

The Huth Road Service Club is working with the Grand Island Rotary Club to raise money for polio vaccines in third world countries. "Polio is still a problem in third world countries," said Mrs. Taylor, one of the club's two teacher advisors. When people get their polio vaccines, their pinkie is dyed purple so that they don't accidentally get a second vaccine. 

Diana and her mother, Julie, enjoy the Huth Road bazaar.

Next week: Another Lenten luncheon, another house of worship to visit, a trip to Buffalo... and... much more!