Buffalo

Thank goodness it stays light late into the evening in this wonderful old Great Lakes city! After three days of Scrabbling, Judy, Tom and I did some walking around the neighborhoods near Tom's old Victorian home in Buffalo. Our first stop was the Darwin Martin house, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright gem currently undergoing a $5M renovation.
The complex of two houses is beautiful in every detail, even the chimneys!

It's Wright's most extensive Prairie complex, comprising two houses on a large lot, connected by a long breezeway. It's going to be fantastic when the renovation is completed.
Through Buffalo sweep two parkway systems designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The streetscapes are lovely, and it even looks like you could live there with a dog.



The tulips were in bloom. It's nice to see what they look like when they're not immediately eaten by deer and rabbits! Walking is quite the civilized pastime here.

It would be quite easy to forget how difficult the winters can be here, if it were not for the fact that most of the trees had lost many limbs during the severe October 13, 2006 snowstorm that hit Buffalo last fall, while the trees still had their leaves. That freak lake effect snowstorm brough 2 feet of snow, and consequently the weight of snow damaged most of the trees. Many have been drastically cut back by arborists, and it will be years before they look quite the same.

The city has a great feel. Next plan is to convince Barb and Erin that a vacation here and to Niagara Falls should happen!