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Fun with words!

5 Jan

OK, I thought we all deserved to have a little fun today. So I present you with this mind-teaser.

You will find below a series of photographs of sculptures created by students in Sue Toomey’s Sculpture class at Webster Thomas High School.  Most of them were crafted this year (and so I know the artists’ names), but a few are from last year’s class.  Each one of them is a manifestation of a common idiom or phrase.  For example, the first one below, by Jaycob Sanchez, depicts the phrase “Mind on my Money.”  There are 16 different sculptures; your challenge is to see how many of them you can figure out.

Each artist’s name (if known) is shown in the caption.  After you’ve made your guess, scroll your mouse over the photo to see the sculpture’s title and check your answer.  Be forewarned: some are harder than others.  Good luck!

Jaycob Sanchez
Artist unknown
Veronica Speer
Madison Goodwine

 

Katelyn F-Thompson
Ally Bilow
Austin Deuschle
Artist unknown
Hailey Frank
Artist unknown
Nicole Meynadasy
Artist unknown
Marley Morrill
Kelsey Chippero
Alexa Cunningham (the word surrounding the knight is “SOMEONE”)
Aubrie Isaac

Good things DO happen

30 Dec

Today’s blog, which I’ve had in the works for several days now, takes on special significance given the tragic events of yesterday morning in Webster. It’s a reminder that good things really do happen in this world, and good people still inhabit it.

For starters, I want to bring you back to a blog I wrote earlier about how the Sandy Hook, Connecticut PTA has requested that people make snowflakes to decorate the school the students will be returning to after Christmas break.  Several days ago I posted a photo of the letter the PTA wrote requesting the snowflakes.

The response to that photo was overwhelming.  To date, that photo has been shared 145 times, which is very cool. But even cooler than that was hearing about some actual snowflake-making efforts.

Jen Sander, who works with 10- and 11-year-olds at Mary Cariola Children’s Center in Rochester, sent some photos of the snowflakes her kids made.

Some of the snowflakes made by the children at Mary Cariola Children’s Center.

I also heard from my daughter Sara, who teaches second graders at Buffalo Public School #76, Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy. Her kids knew about what had happened, so Sara explained to them that the snowflakes would be used to decorate the new school the kids would go to so it wouldn’t be scary.  The kids really got into the project, and didn’t want to stop. “It’s probably a big school so we need to make more,” they told her.

Students at the Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy in Buffalo show off their snowflakes.

Next, remember last week, after the horrible events in Newtown, CT, when Ann Curry proposed that everyone do a random act of kindness in memory of everyone who lost their lives?  I actually learned about the challenge from my friend Jane Laskey, who noted in her email that “I know two people that had their coffee paid for, someone who received flowers on their car while in Wegmans’ parking lot, my kids are making more and more Christmas goodies and plan to hand them out, and a meal paid for.”

I encouraged others to let me know if they had received or gave a random act. I heard back from a few people. My friend Lyndsay Maier wrote,

I heard this morning from a co-worker that she went to Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru this morning and the person before her in line paid for her order… Apparently one person about 15 cars before started this chain reaction and they had about 20 cars that kept on the chain… Every car paying for the person after them… the people at Dunkin’ were impressed that it kept on for so long.

Others told me that they regularly try to do random acts, and encourage their children to do so as well. Kurt Johnson has even set up a Facebook page on which he encourages people to report their random acts of kindness. You can see it here.

Merry Christmas, my friends. Hug the ones who are close to you.

D&C contributors gather for some holiday cheer

20 Dec

A few days ago I had the pleasure of attending a social gathering hosted by the Democrat and Chronicle for their bloggers and contributors.   D&C editors held the party as a thank you to the 100 or so community members who write blogs, articles, columns, editorial pieces, and more for their website and print editions.

I dragged my husband downtown with me, partly because he is my journalistic inspiration, but mostly because he himself worked at the D&C  for 16 years, and I knew he’d enjoy seeing some old friends.  That was indeed the case, and while he chatted with his former D&C colleagues, I chatted with my community blogger colleagues including Gary Gocek (Fairport), Donna DePalma (Pittsford), Lou Singer (Penfield), Terryn Maybeck (Victor), Ruth Thaler-Carter (Brighton) and fellow Webster blogger Rod Spratling. I also reacquainted with an old friend, Terry Schumacher, whom I haven’t seen since our kids were toddlers, and we were in the Fairport Moms Club together 20 years ago.

Plus, I met lots of new people and had lots of pleasant conversations, something that’s very easy to do when you’re with a bunch of writers. (If you’ve never noticed before, people who like to write also like to talk.)  So the evening flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for a group photo, one last cup of punch and a friendly wave goodbye.

Thank you to the D&C editors for hosting the event. But mostly, thank you to all my readers who keep coming back every day to see what I have to say…even though it’s not always very interesting. It’s your support that keeps me going, and lets me be a part of this great bunch of crazy writers.

 

D&C writers, bloggers and editors gathered for a group photo before the party broke up.

 

Send a snowflake to Newtown

20 Dec

I received this email this morning from a teacher at Willink Middle School. I think it is such a wonderful idea, and I know that so many in our community would want to participate, so I wanted to pass it along to everyone immediately.

Hello everyone:

I learned of something simple anyone can do for the grieving community we all have on our minds.

The state PTA, teachers, parents and local folks are collecting snowflakes to decorate the new school for the Newtown staff and children. They can be any color and made of anything you want. I think the idea started as paper cut outs like we all made when we were little. The school they will inhabit is bare and someone thought it might be a nice showing snowflakes from all over the country, world, as a show of support….

The snowflakes can be mailed to the address below. The community plans to decorate over the break, so be sure to send them soon.

Connecticut PTSA
60 Connolly Parkway
Building 12, Suite 103
Hamden, CT 06514

It just gives me chills to think of that school covered head to toe with snowflakes from around the country, and around the world. Please pass the word and lets get everyone we know involved in this effort. It’s such a simple way to show our support.

 

 

A rose is a rose…even in winter

16 Dec

OK, this unusually un-winter-like weather has officially begun to creep me out.

When I was at the Eastway Wegmans on Saturday, I saw rose bushes — in full bloom — growing next to the parking lot. Now, I am no gardener, so I know nothing about rose bushes. Perhaps there are a few varieties that thrive in the cold.

But it was just weird.

On the lookout for nice Christmas light displays

11 Dec

Like most families, we have a whole pile of holiday traditions this time of year.  The barefoot snow walk which I posted a photo of a few weeks ago is one of them.  Decorating a tall, fat, fresh-cut tree every year with so many light strings, glass ornaments, childhood Christmas ornaments, garland and tinsel that it’s hard to see the branches; Christmas cookies; gingerbread houses.

But one tradition which fell by the wayside many years ago as the kids grew older was the annual drive through the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.  It’s not that the kids don’t still appreciate big Christmas light displays. When I was out a few nights ago with my son, for example, he made us take a detour past a particularly impressive house in Fairport.  It’s just that they don’t want to bother going out in search of them anymore.

Not me. I still like to troll the neighborhoods every year to see what’s new.  Thank goodness the obsession with those huge, tacky inflatables seems to have died down a bit, as homeowners rediscover the simple, sophisticated look of old-fashioned, colored bulbs.

So, kids or not, I’m going to take a drive out and about sometime later this week and snap some photos of Christmas lights. Do you know of any particularly nice displays I should check out?  Anything unusual or especially creative?  Let me know by commenting below, or send me at email at missyblog@gmail.com.

 

It’s CHRISTMAS TREE WEEKEND!

6 Dec

Ever since I’ve been a teenager, this has been one of my favorite weekends of the entire year. “This” being the weekend including — or closest to — the date of December 11.  That date has been near and dear to my heart for more than 40 years, because of one very special December 11 from my youth.

I think it was 1971, and at 13 years old, I was a cool-cat teenager, but still young enough to be very excited that Christmas was just around the corner.  It was an ordinary Saturday, nothing much going on, when out of the blue my mother came into the family room and asked a simple question, which I still remember clearly to this day:

“Do you want to go out and get our Christmas tree?”

I can still feel the pure joy I felt when I heard those words.  Strangely, I don’t remember actually getting the tree, putting it up or decorating it. I just remember that it felt like Christmas had finally, officially, begun.

I don’t think I’ve ever told my family that story, so they probably have no idea why I start getting itchy for a Christmas tree about this time of the month. But I’m sure I’m not the only one. With only three weekends to go before Christmas, the crowds will be thick at our local tree-sellers these next few days. Good thing we have several options very close by, most offering both pre-cut and cut-your own varieties:

* Bauman’s Farm Market, 1340 Five Mile Line Road (corner of Plank)
* Freckleton’s Tree Farm, 1651 Harris Road, Penfield
* Wilbert’s Christmas Tree Farm, 1321 Salt Road
* Kunz’s Tree Farm, 959 Five Mile Line Road (across from Lowes)
* Woody Acres, 1530 Harris Road, Penfield

And don’t forget about our faithful Boy Scouts. St. Rita Troop #163 is braving the cold again this year at their stand next to Bill Gray’s Restaurant on Hard Road (in the K-Mart/BJ’s plaza).  Their trees start at $40. They’re open 6:30-8:30 weekdays, 9-7 on Saturday and 10-5 Sunday.

Ironically, I won’t be joining you out there this weekend. I already have my tree. Do you remember the blog I wrote last week about the Festival of Trees at the Webster Museum and the raffle they were holding? At the end of that blog I encouraged everyone to go to the museum and enter the raffle, but added, “I’m going to win the Christmas tree. Just sayin’.”

I was only kidding. But I did. It’s a Bauman’s tree, and it’s beautiful, probably nicer than I could have picked out for myself.  So now go out this weekend and make yourself a memory.

Too close for comfort

2 Dec

Barbara Cotie, one-woman crime spree

Wow. Have you been following the story about the one-woman crazy show that’s been playing out in our neighborhood recently?  It’s the one where this woman has been working her way through our fair town, holding up Ridge Road businesses at gunpoint.

The good news is, after holding up Mark’s Pizzeria on East Main Street and Pizza Hut on Empire Blvd., and trying to shake down an employee of Kittleberger’s Florist on North Avenue, she has been apprehended. (Read the full story here.) She is 56-year old Barbara Cotie, of Webster.

It’s pretty scary to hear that such things are happening so close to home. My daughter works at a Ridge Road business, and it unnerves me to think that this lady could just have easily pointed a long gun at my daughter.  I have become friends with so many of Webster’s small business owners, and it unnerves me to think of someone pointing a gun at them.

Kudos to the Webster Police Department and Sheriff’s Department for their quick work on this one.

 

“Dear self…”

30 Nov

OK, folks, help me out here. Tell me if you think this is silly.

Every year when I disassemble the artificial Christmas tree, I write up a short note to myself and tuck it into the box before carting it out to the garage. Usually it’ll start with something like “Hi, hope you had a great year,” and then continue with some current family news and a few hopes for the future, like “Sean should be fully graduated from college and maybe has a teaching job?” Usually, by the time Christmas rolls around again, I have forgotten I wrote the note and it comes as a pleasant surprise. I enjoy reliving last year’s and this year’s memories while I hang ornaments.

Last year, though, when I unearthed the note, my daughter Sara gave me a lot of grief about it. She thought it was sappy.

That didn’t stop me, though. Sure enough, when I opened the Christmas tree carton Friday, there was my little note poking out of the branches.  But Sara’s comments must have had some effect. This time around the note was a bit more professional, without the “sappy” personal stuff.  I limited it to details about things like what decorations I needed to replace and how the cat denuded the entire bottom quarter of the Christmas tree. I didn’t even add a short “Hi, how are you?” greeting.

How about you? Do you ever do something like this? Do you think it’s overly sentimental?

By the way, if you zoom in on the photo of this year’s note, you’ll see the first sentence reads: “Don’t tell Sara I’m writing this. She thinks it’s stupid.”

Oops.

Why did the goose cross the road?

26 Nov

I saw the most amusing little scene play itself out yesterday afternoon.  As I was driving home from Thomas High School on Publisher’s Parkway, I passed a flock of about 30 Canada geese gathered on the north side of the road. To a goose, they were all peering at the roadway, and standing very still on the grass, a safe distance from the passing traffic.

Well, not quite all of them.  One solitary goose was inching his (her?) way closer and closer to the road.  As I drove slowly past, I watched him creep every so slowly onto the shoulder, while the rest of the flock stood and watched.

I was hooked. I just HAD to see how this was going to play out. So I pulled off to the side of the road to see what was going to happen next.

Step by step, the goose waddled tentatively into the roadway. For almost a minute, he was close enough to the roadside that drivers just went around him.  But at long last, the goose had made his way to the middle of the road, effectively stopping traffic.

Then, and only then, did the rest of the flock start across.

I didn’t hang around long enough to see if all the other geese gave their brave friend a high five or slap on the back.  But as I drove away, I did wonder how that poor sap had landed such a dangerous mission.  Did he volunteer? Maybe he pulled the short straw.  Perhaps it was some sort of goose gang initiation. Or maybe a Birda Poopa Epsilon fraternity hazing.

Or maybe, just like all of us after a long day of work, they just wanted to have a little fun. So they decided to play a game of … you guessed it … chicken.

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