Life's Good!

Here we are, in August already, and another week gone ... !

Our week was uneventful, James working, me, not so much, I caught up on them and now have to wait until they've caulked before I can do more.

I'm not complaining ...

The weather is a little better, not so hot anymore, but sunny, and this Sunday we left early to drive up to Lake Ontario, and follow the 'Lake Ontario State Parkway' to the east, to Rochester.

It's a pretty lake-side area, with lots of small bays and wetlands that branch out from Lake Ontario ..

These beautiful estuaries and swamps are apparently a 'kayak-er's delight', and on a day like this I totally can believe it, peddling peacefully through the reeds and waterlilies ..

We drove into a few of the tiny little 'towns' along the shore-line, where most of the houses are lined up alongside the lake-roads, and have gorgeous views:

We had coffee along the way and reached Rochester in about 1 1/2 hours. Being a Sunday morning, there was no traffic to speak off, and we sailed smoothly through downtown, and straight to the George Eastman Museum.

The George Eastman Museum is located on the estate of George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography and motion picture film and the founder of Kodak.
It is the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, and is attached to a gorgeous mansion owned by George Eastman.
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On Sundays there are various tours available and we were just in time to join a guide for a tour of the gardens.

It was an informative tour, with a lot of information not only about the gardens but also about the various buildings, barns and the 500-seat Dryden Theatre, which shows select movies on specific dates.

Although not extensive, the gardens are well maintained.
Most of the gardens are planted with white flowering bushes and plants, due to the fact that there are many weddings that are using this place for their venue.

We had some (excellent) lunch at the cafeteria after which we went for the tour of the mansion where we learned about the life and many interests of George Eastman, and the history of the Eastman Kodak company.

His life was a curious one - accomplished, very well connected with other talents of his day, a man of grace and talent (and money).

After the tour we went through the additional exhibits that display historical cameras and other memorabilia.

We were disappointed to learn that, although the museum houses entire archives, corporate and individual collections, and the estates of leading photographers, as well as 28,000 of motion pictures and massive holdings of cinematic ephemera, non of these are for public viewing.

We'd expected to see a lot more on the history of photography and film ..

At last we walked into the art gallery that shows photographic 'fine art' and usually shows work of one or two artist especially.

At this moment an exhibition of the work of David Levinthal took up most of one side of the gallery, and the other side showed Gail Albert Halaban’s 'Out My Window'.
We didn't like Levinthal at all, but Halaban's collection of images taken through and into windows of neighbors in buildings in New York City and other big cities around the world, was really fun to see.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable and relaxed day!
For Monday, we'd booked a (god-awfully-early) tee-time of 7.10 am at the Buffalo Tournament Golf Club, a golf course we recently discovered, only 10 minute away from us.

It had a 'summer-deal' of a seasonal membership for $200, which than gives you (unlimited) 18 holes for $15, including a cart.

Not bad, and a lot closer than Attica, so James went for it, and has played several times already.

I didn't sign up for the deal, but I just golf 9 holes, which costs me $18. Like I said, not bad ..

It's a nice, PGA approved course, not too difficult, but still challenging and nicely maintained.

Afterward we had coffee in a newly opened Donuts place in Williamsville, (where we do our weekly groceries at Walmart) named: Peace, Love and Little Donuts:

Talking about a 'funky' place! Your donuts are made to order and have fun names like 'Heath,Wind and Fire', 'Snick Jagger', 'Shaka Pecan', 'Elvis' and 'Almond Brothers' ..

They're a little smaller than normal, and more expensive, but they're warm and sweet and really good!

'Peace man'!

For some reason James looks like 'the 70's have been good to him' in this picture. I wonder what else they put in those donuts?

James spend the afternoon changing the oil of the truck. A job that he would rather 'outsource', and have done by one of the 'quick' lube and change' places, but unfortunately the truck is often too big for most of those, we don't fit on their 'pits' or even in their buildings.