Winter Sunrise

Winter Sunrise, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is the sunrise two days ago, before we got all the snow.

Feb 27 Syracuse Snow

Feb 27 Syracuse Snow, originally uploaded by Melsky.

We got about six inches of snow yesterday and last night. It's still snowing! It's the kind of snow that coats the trees and makes them look all frozen and magical. I love it.

Doc's Little Gem Diner

On Sunday my husband said he wanted to go to a diner for breakfast. I had seen photos of this sign on Flickr, so I wanted to go there. Even if the food was horrible, I knew I could at least get a photo of that beautiful sign.

The food wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that great either. It was truly average diner food. It's the kind of food I regret eating right after I eat it, just because it's so unhealthy. If I eat something unhealthy I want it to be amazing, not just average.

The best thing about eating there was the waitress. She was friendly and efficient. The prices were very reasonable too.

I don't think we will hurry back there, but I'm glad we went.

Stone Barbecue

Stone Barbecue
Originally uploaded by Melsky

One of the things I love about this area is you see great stonework, like this home made barbecue I saw on my walk through Eastwood.

Some day I would like to make one of these.

Train Tracks on a Bleak Day

Train Tracks on a Bleak Day
Originally uploaded by Melsky

On my birthday I took a walk to Wegman's and did my grocery shopping, then my husband picked me up and took me to dinner at Bonefish Grill, a seafood restaurant. I was shopping while hungry though, which is a bad thing, though the only thing I got that wasn't on my list was blue cheese.

One of the things I like about winter in this climate is you can do your grocery shopping and leave it in the car for a while. We have natural refrigeration.

I'm going to enter this art contest. I'm working on a painting for it.

One of my goals for 2008 is to get in a local gallery. Even if I don't win I think entering will help get me some exposure. Plus I will have another large painting.

I just realized a couple of days ago that it was already the middle of February and I've done almost nothing to realize this goal yet! So this very motivating contest comes at a good time.

My Neighborhood

This is a street a few blocks away from my house. It looks just like my street, and is very typical of Eastwood.

One thing that's funny about this area, all the older houses have these long driveways with the garage in back. That is fine in the summer, but it's hard in the winter when you have to clear such a long driveway. Didn't they realize that this is not a practical layout? The newer houses all have the garage in front.

I do like the fact that the street is not dominated by big old ugly garage fronts and usually I like a style of neighborhood layout with garages behind the houses, especially if they are accessible from a back alley like they were in Toronto.

Maybe the garages used to be stables which you would want further from your dwelling.

A Day Trip to Song Lake and Heiberg Forest

On Saturday I went to Song Lake, which is near Tully, NY. The people whose house we were at had a great place, right on the edge of the lake with a dock in their back yard.

We took a walk around the lake and saw some old falling down houses which were a big contrast to the rich fancy homes on the lake:



I would love to go in to a house like that and explore it, but it's probably not very safe between collapsing floors and whoever might be hanging out inside.

Then we went to the Heiberg Forest, where they have lots of trails for walking and cross country skiing. I was sorry I didn't have my skis, though it was late enough that we wouldn't have had much time before it got dark. I couldn't believe how much snow this place had in comparison with Syracuse. I really want to go back there with my skis.




The Heiberg Forest is owned by SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is used as a classroom. We saw a maple sugaring area where the trees had tubes connected to them.

The 24 Second Shot Clock monument

This is in Armory Square. The building you can see in the background is the old armory, which is now a science museum.

In warmer weather it's a nice place to sit. You can use the wireless internet from Starbucks or Freedom of Espresso, the two coffee places which are next to the park.



The inscription reads:
The 24-Second "Shot Clock"
1954 - Syracuse, New York

This clock honors the rule that changed basketball and saved the National Basketball Association. The 24-Second shot clock, which put an end to stalling tactics that were threatening the league, was used for the first time in an N A scrimmage organized by Danny Biasone on August 10, 1954 at Blodgett Vocational High School in Syracuse. In the first game with the clock, league scoring would rise by 13.6 points per game.

Coach Howard Hobson of Oregon and Yale is credited with the original idea, and many helped Biasone to bring the clock to fruition in Syracuse, notably Emil Barboni and Leo Ferris. It was Ferris and Biasone who devised a formula for the shot clock, selecting "24" by dividing 2,880 (the number of seconds in a 48-minute game) by 120 (the average number of shots in a game).

Because of the vision and persistence of Biasone, president and founder of the Syracuse Nationals, his fellow NBA owners embraced the shot clock, now used in some form on almost every level of the game.

Dedicated here on March 26,2005, in the presence of surviving members of the Syracuse "Nats", 1955 Champions of the NBA.

The original shot clock is at LeMoyne College, is 25% smaller in size with one clock face.

Walking through Syracuse

This is downtown Syracuse, where I have been going quite a lot lately.



I got my learner's permit and I've been driving my husband to work downtown every morning, and then walking back home which takes an hour. I bring my camera, there is a lot of old buildings and interesting things to take pictures of on the way.


We had a big thaw and when I walked home on Tuesday I was glad I was wearing my waterproof snow boots because there were huge puddles and mud everywhere.



Yesterday it rained all day but today it's snowing big fat fluffy snowflakes and it's really starting to stick. Please, please, please let it snow enough to go skiing in the park this weekend!

There are two main ways I can walk home, either up James Street or up Erie. James has offices, houses and apartments and it has a sidewalk the whole way. Erie is industrial and crumbling, and does not have sidewalks the whole way, sometimes I have to walk on grass or a parking lot or gravel. But I much prefer the Erie route. There's so much interesting stuff to look at.