Saturday was a Strange Day

Yesterday was a strange day for weather, the morning was nice and sunny but in the afternoon we experienced a series of powerful bursts of rainfall. One of them was accompanied by strong wind gusts that knocked over trees and drove the rain horizontally into the side of the house. Apart from the weather the high point of my day was finding a taxidermy Canada Goose at a garage sale for only $20. It is a bit ragged but still fairly majestic. I'm going to hang it high up in our foyer where it can fly above the taxidermy Bobcat, duck and crocodile.

Temporarily hanging in the studio

Wind damage in Front Park

Rain falling off the front porch roof

Rain over Fort Erie, Canada

In & Out of Buffalo & St. Petersburg

This was a long, weird week, particularly in terms of experiencing weather. I spent last Sunday riding my bike in near blizzard conditions, and shovelling snow, then Monday night I flew to St. Petersburg, Florida where my relatives gather for Christmas. The weather in St. Pete was in the 70s all week. When I returned to Buffalo last night (at Midnight) it was 60 degrees and almost all the snow was gone. This morning I was awakened by the house shaking from high winds. I always find this unnerving, I imagine the house moving and pulling away from the chimney. But then I remind my self that this structure has withstood this kind of treatment for 118 years, and that it's unlikely that this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The high winds also caused a seiche event, I haven't checked but it looks like the lake level was up by about seven feet. I went to photograph the lake around 11 am and it was violently frothing, images below.

Our car after the driveway dig out Monday, December 22

Peace River, Florida, December 26

Grapefruits from my Grandparents' backyard tree, the enormous one weighs 2.5 pounds!

View of the lake from LaSalle Park. The lake was up by about six feet when this photo was taken.

Wave spray in a restaurant parking lot on Lakeshore Road, Hamburg.

Wind blown powerlines

View of Buffalo and Lackawanna from Hamburg Town Park

Hamburg Town Park