CONGRATS TO ME!!! (A shameless self-congratulations)

CONGRATULATIONS MIKE!!!

I am the new Annual Giving Manager of Lollypop Farm, Humane Society of Greater Rochester (www.Lollypop.org).  It's a great organization that's been helping all kinds of creatures since 1873.  At their wonderful facility, they provide tons of programs and services for dogs, cats, horses, sheep, goats, rabbits, fish, turtles and their owners.  It's a great opportunity for me personally and I'm super excited to be a part of the team.  I have lots of people to thank.  Especially Megan, Jerry, Jennie, Mary, and so many more!


To make a donation to Lollypop Farm, please go to:
How you can help


Enough patting myself on the back.  But, I figure if Hollywood can do it several times a year, I can do it once every five years or so.  ONWARD TO THE REST OF THE BLOG!!!



While I went to volunteer training at Lollypop, Megan went to Bristol Mountain to teach Tachel how to ski.  Here she is with her dad.



She can even pose for pictures on skis.  



Dad towing Tachel down the mountain.  



Megan had a gala for work for Wilson Commencement Park (http://www.wilsoncommencementpark.org/), an inspiring organization helping Rochester families become self-sufficient, held at ArtisanWorks (http://www.artisanworks.net/).  This place is a 40,000 square foot warehouse packed with all kinds of great things.  It's like a much, much, larger version of my childhood bedroom.  



There was so much to look at that I felt like I saw nothing.  I kept finding paintings, sculptures, photos, etc. in areas I frequently walked in.



The Frank Lloyd Wright room.  Not sure if this is a replica an artist made or if this is a salvage from a house that was torn down.  I'll have to check with Katherine, an FLW preservation expert, for more information.



up the narrow staircase



A view of the dining room



Our only purchase is this GIANT eagle.  Really look at the scale of this thing.  The painting in the bottom right corner is huge.  The pedestal it is sitting on is a full bar.  It will look beautiful in our apartment livingroom...



Lots of taxidermy.  This is an alligator eating a zebra, of course!



Lots of people with lots of art!  Plus, good food.  We met a great couple at dinner.  They were pretty fun and interesting.  Hopefully we'll bump into them again at another event.



a painting of Megan with a monkey on her head



Atlas, (http://www.atlasband.com/) rocked the house!



Highlight of the night was our conversation with R. Carlos Carballada, acting mayor for the City of Rochester and neighborhood and business development commissioner (for those not in Rochester, our mayor left for state government and there's been lots of issues in replacing him and multiple mayors and all).  Really nice guy.  Congratulated Megan on her work, gave me some career advice, thanked us for moving to Rochester.  


Well, that's it for now.  But, lots of stuff on my plate these days.  I've got a play tonight, volunteering and school committee meeting tomorrow, Amerks hockey game on Friday, car shopping this weekend, Valentine's Day and probably a lot more I've left out.  

CONGRATS TO MEGAN!!!

CONGRATS!!!

I promise this will be the last congrats to Megan on her job situation.  Promise...  She was the interim executive director of the Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson Foundation (Xerox Family).  Then, was offered the Event Coordinator position at another great organization on a permanent basis.  Well, she did such a great job at the Wilson Foundation that they decided to not let her go.  She'll be the permanent Executive Director from now on.  So, everyone send Megan your best wishes as this is an opportunity of a lifetime.  I'm proud of you!

Life and Times Along the Erie Canal

Noah and Frances should be back from Hawaii now. Hope you guys had a great time on your honeymoon!

We've been "spooked." I guess there's a neighborhood tradition out here in Penfield that you "spook" your neighbors by placing a bucket of Halloween goodies on their porch, a ghost on their door, and running away. Then you are suppose to do the same to two other neighbors. Much friendlier Halloween tradition than what I'm use to in the Midwest...

Bucket-o-Goodies

As I have some time on my hands these days, I was put in charge of the operation

I've been in Rochester about two weeks and I'm already making arts & crafts for the neighbor kids. I'm a minivan away from being a "soccer mom."

My niece, Rachel, getting ready to go spooking

Here we are spooking what turned out to be the home of the old guy from the movie Up. That's what happens when you don't know your neighbors.

Megan showed me around her office. She's the interim Executive Director of the Marie C. & Joseph C. Wilson Foundation.

Very professional

The Erie Canal in Pittsford.

The City of Rochester was sponsoring tours of the city called "River Romance" this past weekend. So, lots of free activities to introduce me to my new home. Although, I'm not sure what the "Romance" part was. Was it so I would fall in love with the river? Anyway, here we are under the Driving Park Bridge on the way to the Lower Falls

Driving Park Bridge

The Lower Falls

SINGLE RAINBOW! WHAT DOES IT MEAN!

There's a somewhat famous painting of these falls by Frederic Edwin Church at the Los Angeles Art Museum

The tour guide with a family from Webster, NY, which is just northeast of Rochester

The Middle Falls, which "are the most elusive attraction in all of Rochester" according to a father trying to engage his bored kids. Too bad they built a dam on top of them...

From the bridge over the Middle Falls on the dam

The Seat of Remembering and Forgetting. Not sure what this is really suppose to show. It's the faces and hands of kids from a nearby by school for the deaf. It looks like a representation of people stranded in hell. Maybe a mass entrapment of kids in carbonite with Han Solo?

The Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse at Rochester Harbor on Lake Ontario

Inside the lighthouse they have an interesting little museum. This depicts a local battle against the British. Apparently, the locals tricked the Brits into thinking they had more soldiers by having them march around a building several times. Or something like that...

Would you fight this guy?

Up the lighthouse!

Looking down from the top of the lighthouse stairs

Megan keeping watch over the harbor and Lake Ontario

Evidence I climbed up a 40 foot tower

Old railroad bridge

Lantern for the lighthouse

Ontario Beach County Park.

The beach use to have an amusement park. A few things remain including this Dentzel Carousel.

Carousel organ

Some woodcarving of someone

Someone I'm probably related to...

The very Art Deco Charlotte High School.

Checked out the Carl Peters WPA murals at the high school. They are about 19 feet tall and recently restored. They are very nice, but the photos don't do them justice as the lighting in the space was terrible

That's all I have for now. Back to job hunting and making some lunch...