Saturday, June 27, 2015

Photo of the Day

Street Chess, Chicago 2014

Botanical Gardens

I spent a very pleasant morning at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens the other day, my first visit ever.  I was accompanied by Theresa, Nik, Helen & Emma (who'd all been before).  Lots of great color, shapes, textures, and even a cool model railroad setup.  Here are a few pictures I took (there will likely be a sequel post as well).












Thursday, June 25, 2015

Photo of the Day

Rock'n'Roll at Canalside, 2015

Toonerville Thursday


A Special Night

Last night three Batavia Muckdog pitchers combined to throw a perfect game against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (only the third in the history of the New York Penn League-- which has been around at least since the 1930s)-- and I was there!  Gabriel Castellanos, seen above went seven innings, striking out twelve.  He was replaced by Brett Lilek-- just drafted last week-- who made is professional debut by striking out the side in the eighth.  Steven Farnworth got the save with a perfect ninth (one strikeout).  The final score was just 1-0, so there was plenty of drama beyond the no-hitter.  Here are a few more pictures from the evening (that's Castellanos getting what I guess is the Single A version of the Gatorade douse; the last shot is of the three pitchers and their catcher commemorating the event after the game). 





Sunday, June 21, 2015

Photo of the Day

Buffalo, 2015

FC Buffalo

One of my favorite simple summer pleasures: watching some fine amateur soccer with my camera trained on the action.  These are some shots I took earlier today of the FC Buffalo club taking on the visitors from Fort Pitt, with a favorable result for the homeside by a 2-0 score.














Friday, June 19, 2015

Photo of the Day

Dealing on the Strip, Las Vegas 2009

An Evening in the Park

Riding the Loop
Plans to head over to Batavia for a Muckdogs game fell through, so I headed over to Delaware Park to spend the evening hunting pictures.  There weren't any ballgames going on, but lots of other activity, as you can see from these photos.

First stop was the rose garden, where the flowers are starting to come out in force.  I wasn't the only one enjoying the sweet smells, as you can see in the picture below.

And what are the odds that, among the hundreds of flowers in the garden I would have stumbled on the following:

Yes, a stickpin laying across one of the flowers (I promise, I did not put it there). The guy below was hiding too, behind some vegetation that hid him from view when walking along the path beside Hoyt Lake.  But I happened to spot him from the bridge walking back from the rose garden.


Awaiting His Cue
Shakespeare in the Park has opened its season with a staging of Romeo & Juliet.  I didn't hang around long enough to see what character that was waiting backstage, but I like how the shot turned out. 

There was also live music over by the History Museum, with a band specializing in sixties British Invasion and garage rock.  I heard several Kinks songs, which they ably covered.  The guys below seemed to appreciate it too.

 All in all, not a bad way to pass an evening (even if it didn't include any baseball).