Snapshots of recent walks….
International Cat Day
Forest murmurs: Hunters Creek Park
Walking at Hunters Creek Park yesterday.
This park is “undeveloped”, meaning it’s a parcel of land in the wilderness and farm country southeast of Buffalo, with no amenities other than a fairly extensive series of trails, some of which are more heavily traveled than others. The access to the park consists of two gravel parking lots, and that’s it. The park follows Hunters Creek (hence the name) as it cuts through an impressive ravine on its way to Buffalo Creek, which in turn becomes the Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie just upstream of where it empties itself into the Niagara River. All this water, therefore, is destined to plummet eventually over the great Niagara Falls themselves.
But anyway, Hunters Creek is a fascinating pleasure. The only people you encounter here are fellow hikers and mountain bikers, and occasionally a person camping overnight (I’m not sure this is permitted but I know it happens).
A few photos from yesterday’s bit of hiking, which involved a side trip to the Creek itself because I’m always drawn to water.
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Dispatches from Warwickshire
It was Faire Time this weekend! Specifically, our more-annual-than-not trip to the Sterling Renaissance Festival. A good time was had by all, but for the “Pics or it didn’t happen” lot, here are pics.
It starts with turkey legs.
There’s always a parade, featuring Her Majesty the Queen.
People-watching is always a prime pleasure:
I bought a couple new mugs (no idea where to put them in our kitchen, but that’s a problem for another time), an oil lamp (for use in my library), a hand-carved jewelry box for The Wife, an ocarina for The Daughter, and another knick-knack or two. I managed to not buy a quill pen with inkwell, but I don’t think I’ll dodge that bullet next year. And I passed up this amazing lamp-post with dragon:
This is a vendor whose wares are sadly still well beyond my price range, but…someday. Oh yes.
Special mention should be made of this fine vendor, who went to special efforts to get a signal on his wireless doodad of mercantile magic.
And then there’s the jousting!
Order is maintained during the Tourney by the Impressive Scotsman…
…who must sometimes resort to forceful measures to maintain honor and peace on the Tourney Field.
But lurking behind it all is the watchful eye of Milady In Blue, whom I have decided is secretly scheming to revolt against Her Majesty the Queen and take the throne for herself. Maybe she has one of the knights bent to her will? Who knows!
What schemes might lie within Milady’s heart? Who knows! But I can tell you this: as fun as the Faire is, it’s even moreso when you’re a writer and you can fill a bit of downtime in the day’s activities by making stories about those around you…such as this fellow, who dared utter the most bitter calumny against the great Bard himself, Mr. Shakespeare.
But maybe I’ll form more of a tale about him next year.
Exeunt!
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Contrasting Dee-oh-gees
And now, a tree.
Doggos
Running Hound
I’ve always found it hard to get really nice pictures of Cane as he’s running. From certain angles a greyhound running is a magical thing, but from others they look like a randomized collection of overlong limbs flailing in every direction.
I finally got lucky a couple of weeks ago.
In other news, it appears that springtime may actually be in the offing. I try to not be overly optimistic on this point, but…well, I can hope, too.
And yes, Carla is still here, and yes, she still loves her brother.
Dogs, man. What a life development this has been!
