Taste of Diversity Festival - international foods festival at Grant & Lafayette 11-3 on Saturday, 6/20. (I'll be out of town



I visited a client yesterday and met her birds.

This is Tango


These are Tango's children, one male, one female, 10 weeks old


This is Tango's son laying on his back like a baby, getting his belly rubbed. I had no idea birds could be handled like this.



My hand petting a pretty white bird.




My Juneteenth parade pix aren't fantastic, but they are an interesting contrast with the St. Pat's parade pix. (e:heidi,48092) Instead of Irish dancing girls, there were steppers & drill teams - even some with curly hair pieces - is this a Buffalo thing? My hometown parade never has dancing girls (and never any with curly wigs), other than the rare baton twirler. The Irish dancing girls were all on floats, while the steppers walked between drills. The Juneteenth parade had much better cars than the St. Pat's or Pride parades. About Juneteenth About Juneteenth of Buffalo

Anticipation!



Cars - from old to new...




Curly-haired steppers


More steppers



This was the only crew that had a large group of boys - they were with the girls in the orange shirts, a gospel group.



Cheerleaders


Drummers


Buddhists - saw this sign at the Pride Parade


The historically black fraternity & sorority alumni groups were well represented.

Alpha Phi Alpha


The Delta Sigma Theta ladies were dancing to "Milkshake" by Kelis. Really funny!



A parade to watch for some Sunday in September - Puerto Rican Day!


She was the only queen with a tiara as big as the queens' tiaras in the Pride Parde.


My friend Alisha was posing as a car model in front of this classic Buick.



The Juneteenth festival is held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, one of the Olmsted parks

That's supposed to be a five-acre wading pool.


(more photos if you're really interested )

At Allen West Festival - a hawk rescue group member was showing one of the rescued hawks who can't be released because of a severe wing injury.


For Uncle Dudley


Basra loves strawberries!

I'm sure someone here is going to love these "Where are they now" galleries

Ghostbusters:

Saved by the Bell:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

Friday:

Pretty in Pink:

Two chicks hatched while I was at the Pa. office Wednesday. (e:heidi,48491)



tight crop, same picture


... and randomly ...

Eco-friendly, hand-crank vibrator - definitely read the second review...


Heard on AM radio on my way back to Buffalo tonight

These are from Little Pine State Park in Lycoming County, Pa., last summer:













More info about Little Pine State Park:

I went to my favorite annual party over Memorial Day weekend. It features some of the best in bluegrass - Hickory Project,
(Tioga County-based, internationally known, mandolin player is a top national player)

and some more local folks - Fetish Lane (they were combined with members of another band, calling themselves Woodshed something, but i forget... ah, update: Woodshed Prophets )
Backwoods Experiment (who I don't really like)
Grass Stained Genes (who played in my living room for my 31st birthday party)
and there's jammin' everywhere. I didn't take pix of the whole event, and pretty much no performances except the Sunday afternoon jam in the area we call The Pines, just took shots when the spirit moved me.



The bonfire Saturday night was huge - those are people and trees dwarfed by the fire - and that's after it's died down a lot.


My friend's kid turned 11 at the party.


A's little brother wanted food from our stash because he's a big mooch and didn't bring his own food. We had decided that he couldn't have any unless he paid $1 for each item. He negotiated letting me take pix of him blowing bubbles in trade...I've definitely gotten more than $1 in amusement :-)



My friend Marty is a blacksmith who lives in Ohio. He brings his "portable" forge and tools with him - this is one of his pieces.




Each year, someone flies a small plane over the party and drops a gift for Bucky, the host. (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/leonardharrison.aspx - there's a little airport near the PA Grand Canyon)


Bucky playing banjo at the "Hardy Hole Cafe" (aka the kitchen)


Cellist Dave Bush playing in the Pines


Sunday afternoon jamming (the cellist is back there playing too, behind the guy with the harp)


More jammin'


The stage area late Sunday night. My friend (father of kid above) is glaring at the other guitarist because he's sick of the same tunes the guy has been playing since the afternoon jam. There was a bassist, the cellist, a drummer, and a couple other folks that he would rather have been jamming with, in more of a rock style.


The pews are where the audience sits when when watching folks play on the stage. The wooden platforms visible at the bottom of the picture are where folks dance. The couple on the right comes from North Carolina each year, but he grew up down the road from the party location.


Just a funny shot.


(if you're really curious about the rest of the party, msg me and i'll send you a link)