My meetup group had a kayak tour of Buffalo River this morning . I've never kayaked before - I come from a land of mountains, shallow streams, creeks and ponds and have little water experience beyond those and pools. The sum of my boating experiences is less than ten, including the canoe in the pool for a lifeguarding class. I didn't know that I'd get nauseous.

It was interesting though, seeing the grain elevators - i had no idea there were so many - the metrorail house, the underside of the bridges. Tour guide Justin took pictures so maybe I'll have some to post soon.

Infringement Festival events at Albright-Knox tonight. I'm meeting some folks from my queer women's meetup there at 7 at the info desk, y'all are welcome to join me/us. Free, parking is $3.

(at the bottom)

8 pm
Performance: Infringement Festival
American tribal style bellydance with Euphraxa, Middle Eastern style bellydance with Nadia Ibrahim, and Erin Bahn. Now in its fifth year, the Buffalo Infringement Festival is an uncurated, eleven-day showcase of theater performances, performance artists, dancers, musicians, media-makers, and visual artists from throughout Western New York, Canada, and the rest of the world. Highlighting work that is eclectic, independent, experimental, and often politically charged, the festival unfolds from July 23 through August 2 in venues all over town, but this special event offers you a change to experience a broad sample of "art under the radar" under one roof.

An athletic goods store and a tobacco store in Mansfield, PA, are owned by the same people. (Hypocrisy? Irony? What is the right word for this?)

Little Pine Creek in English Center


Mountains


Pine Creek - dog waiting for person to throw stick



Since it's hard to see the dog, I cropped it...



The grey bridge was built in 1880. The county commissioners are listed.


South view from the grey bridge

The most amusing sight on my way home last week was this pair of signs - First you see "Will the road you're on get you to my place?" and you next see "Adult Outlet". It's much harder to see the little "GOD" signature, implying that Adult Outlet is not the intended destination.

I think the truck owners object to having an adult video store nearby.



The next two are views from the Pennsylvania welcome center on US Rt 15 S, south of Tioga, Pa., overlooking the Tioga reservoir . The welcome center is also very beautiful. The site includes a map of the Tioga River watershed and which tributaries are most polluted and which are living streams. Tioga County Concerned Citizens Committee created the map. They've been working to remediate the Tioga watershed, educate about AMD, and prevent other environmental harms such as dumps in our area. Our current environmental concern is natural gas drilling and what impact that will have. Two centuries of natural resource extraction has left a lot of scars on Tioga County - logging, iron mining, coal mining - strip and shaft.





Backyard fireworks



After we stopped in Wellsboro for some lunch at The Native Bagel and a new pair of hiking boots at Wild Asaph Outfitters (thanks Liz & Katie), we headed down to English Center, Pa. (for whole route on gmaps: ) where you can go across the creaking old steel bridge



or cross through the river, Little Pine Creek. (We did both.)


This woman used alternate transportation.


Nisha likes adventures.


We almost ran out of gas - there aren't many gas stations along the route. We should have filled up in Wellsboro. We made it to Waterville (barely).


We took a little detour on Truman Run Road


where I took these shots and we ate blackberries. (Actually, they're probably black cap raspberries )





And we continued up Rt. 414 through Cammal, Slate Run, Cedar Run and Blackwell. The rail-trail runs along Pine Creek - 65 miles from Wellsboro Junction to Jersey Shore, Pa., along Pine Creek gorge/the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. (WIKIPEDIA - Pine Creek Rail Trail)




Another bridge across Pine Creek near Hilborn - this one is considerably more solid.



Landrus Road between Arnot and Morris - one of our favorite no-maintenance roads. An acquaintance of mine is fascinated by the ghost town of Landrus, the site of the first electrified mining operation. Landrus only existed for about 22 years.



And then on the other end of the Landrus Road in Arnot, I found a sign with Landrus spelled wrong. I just posted it to FB, so hopefully some Arnot residents can tell me how it got misspelled...



Maybe next week we'll check out World's End State Park

Your video's continued Firefox crashing problem isn't saying much about the capabilities of your WinOS phone!!! <giggle>

Hello, (e:peeps)!

I'm looking for someone to do a logo or type treatment and lay out a flyer/brochure for my consulting work. I got a quote from - I really like their work but the quote was about 2x what I'm willing to spend on a part-time consulting thing that's only going to exist until I pass the bar in two years. As usual, I'm willing to trade QuickBooks consulting (install, set up, training, troubleshooting, payroll...).

Any suggestions?

My pictures from the Buffalo city fireworks at Erie Canal Harbor Central Wharf weren't as cool as the ones I took at Riverside - the event wasn't as cool either. The music at Riverside was better - Speedy Parker Blues Band - the space was friendlier and much larger, the fireworks lasted longer (although were not as intense) and we were closer to the origin point.







The next day, A, (e:tinypliny) and I went to Niagara Falls and to the Niagara Power Plant Vista which was almost deserted despite no admission charge, free parking, beautiful views, and interesting interactive museum. It has a surprisingly fascinating documentary of the construction of the power plant. (Of course (e:matthew,49299) posted absolutely gorgeous photos of NF just days after we went... Matt, are you doing HDR?)






You can take a tour of the Niagara River Whirlpool on these boats, and go right between the US & Canadian power plants.



The power plant museum as a very cool 3-D map of the project with LEDs to highlight the area the voice tour is talking about.





A shot to prove to (e:tinypliny)'s mom that she was at Niagara Falls.





The whole reason I was in Buffalo that weekend (instead of being in Tioga County enjoying my friend Jennie's birthday party...) was that A's bratty little brother had booked his return flight from California for Buffalo. He took us out to dinner and then we went to Nietzsche's where there was a really good jazz band that played until after 1am.








I joined the Buffalo Photography Meetup Group so I could focus more on improving (or regaining) my skills and talk to other photogs. On 7/6, the group went to the Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse to shoot the Peace Bridge lights. Folks posted their pix afterward and I felt my pix were unpracticed, inexperienced, and boring in comparison. Oh well...it takes time. I got a couple neat ones... I didn't have the patience, lens or tripod that would have made the wait for the Peace Bridge lights worthwhile, but other folks got some really amazing shots. I found the crew teams using the boathouse really interesting. (West Side Rowing Club )










The ceiling lights of the boathouse.

nisha is happily snuggled in the pillows of my bed.

To follow up on the bear in Wellsboro, Pa. (e:heidi,49142)

Bear death creates debate

by Kelly Stemcosky
kstemcosky@tiogapublishing.com
Published: Wednesday, July 8, 2009 3:55 PM CDT
The bear treed on Main Street, Wellsboro, last Monday, June 29, was the only one put down for aggressive tendencies in at least eight years, said Pennsylvania Game Commissioner Rodney Mee.

The animal was destroyed after an investigation revealed the animal had charged campers in Chatham Township two months previously.

Putting down a wild animal occurs infrequently, he added. Mee said the only other bears put down in that same period were a mother and cub that were too mangy and emancipated to be treated last winter. Those were the only three bears euthanized in Tioga County during his time as a Game Commissioner since 2001.

There is, however, possibility of another. A troublesome bear was tagged in Addison, N.Y., and then reported stealing food from grills at Hills Creek two years ago. Mee said it was never caught.