A foggy day in Buffalo town

Today was the Buffalo Marathon and I used that as an excuse to bike to my 9 a.m. Mass. Usually I help out with the coffee hour and have to bring baked goods but today the hall was rented and so there was no coffee hour. And so I was at liberty to bike.

It was fun biking. Your day feels different. At 8 a.m. the city was swathed in fog. It was like San Francisco! Or like that beautiful little poem by Carl Sandburg you learn in school.

The fog comes 
on little cat feet. 

It sits looking 
over harbor and city 
on silent haunches 
and then moves on.

I had that memorized! When I reached downtown and got to Big Blue I sent this picture to Howard.

I thought of the Sandburg poem and also Bismarck "Bix" Beiderbecke's "In a Mist."



Wow, listen to that. Bix on piano!

Mass was long because we are singing a lot of Gregorian chant these days and just taking our time. We are in no hurry. Summertime, and the living is easy. It was almost 11 a.m. when I returned to my bike. The fog was still there. It had not gone anywhere!

I pedaled leisurely in the direction of home, more or less. I went along the Riverwalk.

There is an amazing juncture where you get a panoramic view of the Niagara River. The Peace Bridge had gradually appeared from the mist and here it is.

Eventually I found my way to Unity Island, formerly Squaw Island. I love railroad bridges and the one to this island is a beauty. So I sat on a curb and took out my new ink pens and drew the picture at the top of this post.

I sort of wanted to wash in the clouds later but I like the lines of the picture, its angular nature, so I will think about that. While I was thinking I biked over the bridge. As I wrote on Instagram it felt like family now that I had sketched it.

On Unity Island I found the bike path and it takes you right by the river's edge.

Unfortunately at this point it also got really cold! It felt like summer in the Arctic circle. It looked like that too. The waves of the river just disappeared into the sky and you could not tell which was which.

Next time I go there I will draw that beautiful International Railroad Bridge that appears in the mist in that last picture. OK, to tell you the truth, I already did draw it. I could not resist. It was so dramatic and I drew my picture in the presence of several Border Patrol agents. They were parked there keeping an eye on the bridge.

I loved this foggy Sunday.

I am glad I have so many pictures so I can remember it.

This little light o'mine...

... I'm going to let it shine! I am gloating over the paper today, where it tells how we are lighting up our Peace Bridge.

You can read about it and see the Peace Bridge lit up here.

Oops, sorry! That was the memorable and dramatic story about my most recent crossing over the Peace Bridge. You can read The Buffalo News' story here.

The reason I am crowing about this is that I proposed a few years ago in the paper that we do this, that we light up the Peace Bridge. I wrote a whole column on it. It seemed to go nowhere so I just gave up on it. My job was not set up in a way that would permit me to keep beating the drum for the idea, which is what you have to do in Buffalo, or probably anyplace, if you want to get anything done.

But now lo, it has come to pass!

This is great for Buffalo and it is a triumph of common sense. Here we are with this historic bridge and it's a pretty bridge, too. They certainly thought so in 1927 when it went up and the Prince of Wales came to the ribbon cutting. And that was back when the Prince of Wales was a very glamorous figure, not someone who went around eating brown rice and quoting the Dalai Lama.

Here is a picture of Edward, Prince of Wales, who christened our beautiful Peace Bridge.


What about Edward, Cardinal Egan?


Remember when I interviewed him for my book and Howard made that goofy video?

Back to the Peace Bridge. I always wondered how it came to be considered ugly. It is a kind of mob mentality. One person says something, another person says something, and before long, everyone is howling for "the eyesore" to come down. That is a word slugs and schufts love, "eyesore."

There is one way to deal with something everyone saying is ugly and that is to shine lights on it. Play it up. We do that an voila! Signature bridge!

Howard has a philosophy that goes, turn your weakness into your strength. I am even applying that to my book. At one time, Leonard Pennario was not only hailed as one of the world's top pianists, but he was a household name. By the time I met him, though, he was pretty much forgotten.

You would think that would be bad news. But I like to emphasize it! It contributes drama and humanity. This pianist who was forgotten suddenly appearing, out of the ether. That is part of what makes this story beautiful to me. I shine a light on it.

Just like we shine a light on our Peace Bridge!