I'd never been there before, so went with (e:) james and we headed down. Very crowded, and very good pierogi. We did not manage to see a butter lamb, but I did get a few decent shots of the crowds.

So, I run a little photography group and a woman from San Diego stumbled across us, and ended up moving to Buffalo and buying a bar on Niagara that she's fixing up.

A reporter heard about it and wrote a front page story about her and us!

I'm so excited for her :) she's working so hard and really needs the publicity for her new bar.

Has anyone been to see this at the Albright Knox? It was fun to sit in the room and watch people come in and figure it out.

Anyone want to help us clean up the Japanese Gardens? This Saturday volunteers will be at the Japanese Garden from 9am to 2pm. If you'd like to stop by and lend a hand, we need it! You don't have to work the whole time, just as much as you're able.

Lots of damage from the storm, we need to clean it out before winter arrives. Workers from Olmsted Conservancy will be there for the heavy lifting. If you come bring work gloves and hand tools (saws, rakes, etc) if you have them, but no power tools.

I've heard we might lose up to 50% of the trees in Buffalo. The last couple days I was optimistic things would be better, but doing research it looks like many of the trees that look relatively unscathed will be goners. If the top was broken off, they'll likely come down even if otherwise they still look to be in good condition. Almost all the newer trees along Elmwood have damage to their top trunk.

Branches that break off from inside the main trunk instead of splitting off just outside of it are also killers. If you've got a damaged tree, and don't prune it correctly this season, it will be too late next year.

Here are some links to information on nursing trees back to health, and please add more info if you've got it.

Pruning Shade Trees

Storm Damage to Trees

Tree Ice Damage