Monday, October 23, 2017

A visit to Mozart


Another thing I did the other day on the funky bike path was, I stopped and said hi to Mozart in Delaware Park.

There is one thing especially I love about where I live and that is that the closest musician memorial to me is Mozart, whose music I love more than anyone's. By the way that bust of Mozart is Buffalo's oldest piece of public art. I like that about Buffalo, that when it came to putting up statues, Mozart was the No. 1 priority. He went up before George Washington did!

As I have pointed out before, Mozart looks a little like Babe Ruth. Well, so what? Maybe they did look alike.

Anyway, there is a website that told me Mozart was the closest to me. And this is also cool: The second-closest musician is ....



..... Who?

... . Hint, he is on Hertel Avenue.


Give up?

It is Jerry Garcia! Another musician I love. Garcia's mural is at Terrapin Station.

Anyway, that is magical about where I live. But Mozart, I usually see him from the expressway. I always give him a smile. The German word for statue is "denkmal," sort of translating to "think a minute." You think for a moment of that person.

I think of Mozart.

And it is a treat to get up close because I do not usually do that.

I took a picture from the funky bike path (actually not so funky when it wends past Mozart):


... and then approached with deference.



Now I have succeeded in emulating those cooking weblogs I hate, that give you a million photos that look almost exactly alike.

But I am sorry, that made my ride on the funky bike path well worth it.

Get close to genius!



Saturday, October 21, 2017

The funky bike path


Today I rented one of those Reddy Bikes and took a ride on the funky bike path.

I mean the Scajaquada bike path, that runs parallel to Scajaquada Creek. As Charles Dickens would say, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. The path gives you great views by the History Museum ....


.... and then you get views such as at the top of this post, where you feel alone in the world and surrounded by graffiti and worry you will be beset by highwaymen.

The path takes a turn and you think: Oh, no, it continues?


I passed a person pushing a shopping cart. And two kids who, all I could think was, they looked like Halloween goblins. Just up to no good, you know? And a couple who, they were having a tense moment. Just standing in the bike path arguing, making up, you couldn't quite figure out what.

The path spat me out on Niagara Street, as I knew it would. I was hoping to find my way to the Riverwalk but I never did. I made it to Niagara Street and could go this way or that way. The signs, if there were any, were vague. Down one way was a threatening-looking guy loitering under a bridge, so I nixed that. Going the other way, I ran into a family coming out and I asked them where the path went. They said it was a dead end and we were laughing about that.

Now this is the greatest. I made my way to Broderick Park and saw this:


Oh no!

That was what I had been hoping to find, a path right by the water. There it was! And it was closed.

But you know what? I had fun.

It reminded me of being a kid, just bombing around, riding down Niagara Street, looking at things. Eventually I had to tell myself, Mary, you have work to do, you can't just go riding aimlessly around Buffalo forever.

I honestly could have kept at it all day!

Sunday, October 1, 2017

My fair share



We are entering the high eating season of the year.

You pass the September Ember Days, and you are into it!

This morning for our St. Anthony's coffee hour I made two pumpkin delicacies. I am sorry if I was jumping the gun a little but I could not help it! I made a pumpkin wreath, one of those big coffee cakes I make with yeast, and I also made a Bundt cake I called Buttercup Rum Cake. There is this amazing recipe, Whiskey Squash Cake, which was the first successful Bundt cake I made a couple of months ago. I riff on it now and this version used rum instead of whiskey, as well as deep orange Buttercup squash.

I assume it was good because it vanished pretty quick!

I have been having a good time with the farm I joined, this CSA. This is the same ol' organic farm I used to belong to, Porter Farms. I just do not remember having as much fun with it then as I have been having this year.

The deal is, they deliver to the office. And so every week, on the appointed day, at the appointed hour, all of us are going downstairs and collecting these bags of produce. It is hard not to smile when you are toting this big bag with collard greens sticking out of it and so it is always a bright and cheery day.

I took the picture up above of one share. That was especially heavy because of the cantaloupe which was like a bowling ball! But it was so sweet and good, worth the long haul across the parking lot.

Here is the share from Sept 7.


I love how the farm says one share does for four people, or for two vegetarians. That Sept. 7 share, I think I ate it pretty much single-handedly in two days! The cantaloupe on the other hand lasted us a week. We ate every bit of it.

This current share included an array of peppers which, I used them for this Mexican cheese soup I made for the coffee hour. The coffee hour sees a lot of the vegetables. A few weeks ago I made yummy white bean soup with greens from the farm.

Bring on the fall eating season.

I am ready!