Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Don't Tell Dumbledore Our Sorting Hats Are For Muggles...

I'm now Twit-able.  Please go to http://twitter.com/MikeKrausBlog if you'd like these updates on your phone or whatever.  The same still goes for the Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Kraus-The-Blog/148570945185850


Photobucket
Pete at the JCPenney in "the mall" of Batavia, NY waiting to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.  Word...


Photobucket
Sarah, Megan, and Pete in playing with knit hats at JCPenney since we got to the theatre really, really early.  Megan and I are use to getting tickets really early for Harry Potter IMAX in Chicago, which you have to fight for.  Batavia is not Chicago...


Photobucket
I had to join in with my frog hat.  


Photobucket
Megan and Sarah squealing about the snowmen in the rest of "the mall."


Photobucket  
The Channing H. Philbrick (Linear) Park in Penfield, NY.  Megan and I live in the Panorama Plaza area, which is surrounded by parks.  So, we decided to check out this one which is a couple of blocks from our place behind the Home Depot.


Photobucket
Philbrick was a former Town Supervisor of Penfield, NY and the park features Irondequoit Creek, which drops 90 feet in a one mile stretch of class III whitewater cascades.  The area was first known as Sgoh-sa-is-thah (smashing water against rock) by the Iroquois and later became a mill and factory center around 1795 when Daniel Penfield purchased the township that now bears his name.  This settlement lost its importance when milling around the High Falls in downtown Rochester started.  The land was later converted to a sewage treatment plant that dumped right into the creek.  It was removed and is the park we know today.


Photobucket
A nice hobo gazebo on an island in the middle of the creek


Photobucket


Photobucket
We saw giant Salmon carcasses and this bend.  We just missed their run this year.  These are clay cliffs that seem to have a lot of homes for little animals.


Photobucket


Photobucket
The bridge at Washington Street


Photobucket
Megan with her feet dangling off the edge watching the falls


Photobucket
Washington Street Bridge


Photobucket


Photobucket
A strange cascade/fall.  Not sure if this is natural or manmade.  It's a really long, perfectly straight falls.  It may be manmade since it's so close to the milling area.  Then again, the whole area is a milling area.  So...


Photobucket


Photobucket
Foundation of one of the many old mills in the area


Photobucket
This appears to be an artificial waterfall runs for one of the old mills


Photobucket


Photobucket
Wonky bridge 


Photobucket
Shelley Bridge.


So, a lot of nature shots these days.  Probably because I haven't lived near anything natural since I started college in 1999.  We'll stay in Rochester for Thanksgiving.  The Lions should get destroyed by the Patriots.  We'll see how the Cowboys can handle the Saints.  And staying as far away from anything retail-oriented for the next week as people go Christmas Crazy.

Monday, November 15, 2010

He Use To Be Just "Mike," But Now He's "Uncle Mike."

Photobucket
Tachel had Veteran's Day off, but her parents did not.  So, Megan and I got to play with her all day long.


Photobucket
What child doesn't like going to the public market?  


Photobucket
Judging from the sunlight, this is Baby Jesus' Food Stand.  The sun was really bright.  So bright that I heard a few people complain throughout the day that it was too sunny.  I'll check in with them again in February


Photobucket
Best deal in town and another reason to seriously preserve Monroe County's agricultural and open spaces.


Photobucket


Photobucket
Every tooth you see in this picture is loose.  


Photobucket
This photograph was commissioned by Tachel.  It was requested repeatedly that I take this image (no, not like that.  Get closer), so her dad can "see that there is purple food."  So, Rich there is purple food.


Photobucket 
Little legs get tired of walking and cold ankles need hand warmers...


Photobucket
Going to town on a muffin at Union Bakery where we bumped into Erin.  This place was pretty awesome.  Affordable prices and just a barebones building.  Just my style.  


Photobucket
CANSTRUCTION CHICAGO!  Sorry, I mean CANstruction Rochester?  Indeed!  As many of you know, Megan use to put this event on in Chicago and discovered they did it in Rochester as well.  So, we went down to the Bausch and Lomb Building to check it out.  As you can see, this is a birthday cupcake.  The flame is a bag of Flamin' Cheetos


Photobucket
The Wizard of Oz


Photobucket
Candle


Photobucket
So, I took the previous pic and Tachel yelled out "WAIT!  I'M NOT IN IT!!!"  It was at this point I realized that I am officially the "artist" and she is the "muse."


Photobucket
CANstruction site


Photobucket
Tachel hanging out with the guy coming out of the manhole


Photobucket
Downtown Rochester.  You see the Genesee River with the city skyline.  That's a semi truck crossing the bridge


Photobucket
A sea turtle


Photobucket
Tachel and the crashed UFO


Photobucket
A Flour Mill that made early Rochester famous


Photobucket
If there's anything Uncle Mike has, it's drawing supplies...


Photobucket
"Aunt Meg, what do you eat if you don't have any food?"  After the taco and ziti incidents, we chose our battles and went to Burger King.  


Photobucket
Ellison Park off Blossom Road.  You'll see a bit of this later on.


Photobucket
On a bathroom run to a nearby gas station (because they locked the bathrooms at the park), I found disturbing candy made in the USA.  


Photobucket
Uncle Mike using is art degree once again


Photobucket
It was a fun day with Tachel.  Unfortunately, it really wore out Megan because she had two kids to take care off all day and only one gets to go home to her parents at the end of the day...


Photobucket
Back at Ellison Park, which is just down the street from our apartment.  They have historic markers on everything around here.  This is for Indian Landing, "the most important place in the early history of Genesee Country."


Photobucket
This is a 1938 replica of Schuyler's Trading Post/Fort.  The original was from 1721 built by the British Captain Peter Schuyler, Jr. to encourage trade with the Iroquois Native American tribe. 


Photobucket
Stairs to nowhere in the park.  It's only a guess, but I think it's probably from a resort from the late 1800s, early 20th century that was taken over and turned into a park because church folk didn't like all the drinking and fun being had on Sundays.  That, or to a mansion Frank Ellison may have of had on the property or something.  Further investigation is needed...


Photobucket
Out in the middle of nowhere were about 30+ dogs and their owners running, barking, swimming, and all.  It was pretty random.


Photobucket
As I said previously, Megan's dad gave us tickets to the Detroit Lions (2-7) vs. the Buffalo Bills (1-8).  We had a couple of other tickets that we couldn't give away.  It was good to see the Bills win a game (the first time I've ever seen that happen live) and for the Lions to protect their 0-16 perfect season from being reached by another team...


Photobucket  
Bills holding QB tryouts for the 2011 season at their practice facility...


Photobucket
Conklin's Tailgating Bar and Grill


Photobucket
 Megan with the family before the game


Photobucket
Heading into Ralph Wilson Stadium


Photobucket
These teams were so terrible that I yelled at both of them.  They are infuriating.  The dumb penalties.  The absolute lack of defense.  Poor call playing.  Timeouts at the most ridiculous times.  At moments, it was like each team was trying to lose on purpose.  Loser Bowl 2010 was everything I expected it to be!!!

If you like this, you might like...

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...