The part of Buffalo with people in it

I was in Buffalo again on Saturday with Jamie, Alison and Hilary. We didn't get to poke around inside Buffalo Central Terminal like we did last time, but we did see a fantastic exhibition by Jennifer Steinkamp at the Albright-Knox Gallery -- huge dim pillared rooms awash with gorgeously coloured, precisely rendered video projections. Many of the pieces use multiple projectors, so that odd things happen to your shadow as you move around the space. Go, if you get the chance.

Also, this time we saw a fair number of actual Buffalonians. They were out enjoying the sunshine in the Elmwood neighbourhood, which, as I'd been told, turned out to be a pleasant place to walk around, full of nifty shops like the vintage clothing place pictured above.

We also went back to that massive Wegman's we visited last time, because we cannot get enough of the strange exotic American groceries. This time we found -- on sale -- butter lambs, a Polish Catholic Easter tradition, apparently, manufactured every spring for nearly 50 years by the Malczewski family of Buffalo. Here is a photo of a lamb made of butter:



Click here for more photos from the supermarket and an enormous mall we also explored.

Winter on the Islands

This happened almost a month ago (yikes!), but I want to post about it before winter melts away. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you know how I love the Toronto Islands. But I'd only ever been there in the summer -- until the Saturday last month when Jude and I ventured over, hoping to go skating on the lagoon.

Most of the water that loops through and between the Islands freezes solid in the winter, and the Ward's Island locals keep a rink-sized patch cleared of snow. We found it, but couldn't skate on it because an all-day pick-up hockey game was in progress. We didn't mind, though; we stayed and watched a while. Maybe a dozen people were playing -- many in t-shirts, because the day was so mild -- and about twice that many were hanging out rinkside, watching, chatting, and drinking out of thermoses. Dogs ran around greeting everyone. For Island residents, it was clearly the place to be on a Saturday afternoon.



We walked along the trail till we got to the church. We could see Centre Island, the amusement park all shut down for the winter, the rides silent and still. But there were lots of sounds drifting over to us: barnyard animal sounds. Well, of course -- all the animals at Far Enough Farm were still there. "Let's walk over!" I said. "I want to see the lowing beasts."

We crossed the nearest footbridge. Centre was deserted, but the animal sounds were getting louder. We reached the petting farm and saw an enormous flock of ducks and geese. The ducks were all dozing peacefully on the ice, but the geese waddled up to check us out.



The doors of most of the barns and stalls stood open, and the animals -- donkeys, ponies, horses -- were outside enjoying the sunshine, but there were still no people to be seen, with the exception of one farm worker, busy at the far end of the horse corral, who waved to us. It was as if all the humans had left the park, and the animals had taken over. It was like downtown Buffalo on a Sunday, but with livestock.

We left the farm to walk along the boardwalk on the south shore, and look at the wild shapes the ice on the trees and rocks had taken.

The Islands are as gorgeous in the winter as in the summer, it turns out. If you're hoping to have lunch at the Rectory Cafe (the only year-round option), call first -- they're open on & off in the winter.

Full set of photos here.