With Thanksgiving 2025 arriving tomorrow, and wintry weather in the forecast, my spirits need to re-experience the pleasures of summer and early fall.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
Cazenovia Park
Nearly six feet of snow fell at my South Buffalo home between January 13 and 19. It was a week of shoveling and little else as my world was reduced to my driveway, my house, and a view of my across-the-street West Seneca neighbors. I did feel extremely fortunate to have a warm and cozy place to call home. But I dearly missed my daily walks in Cazenovia Park and the freedom of driving to Wegmans, Office Depot, or wherever whenever I wanted.
[View from my front porch door 01/19/2024.]
[My back yard bird bath 01/15/2024.]
[Feathered friends at my window feeder 01/16/24.]
Mountains of snow and buried cars were eventually removed from nearby streets by the end of the day Saturday, January 20. The next morning the wind chill was a bone-chilling one degree Fahrenheit when crawled out of bed at 8 AM. I impatiently waited a few hours and, seeing that it had warmed to 10 degrees and a “feels like” temperature of zero, I bundled up and headed out my door to walk five blocks to Cazenovia Park.
I wasn’t disappointed. The contrast between the stunning azure skies and the pure white fields and hills (with crisscrossing boot prints and signs of sled tracks), snow-covered picnic tables and bleachers, and suddenly iced-over Caz Creek, was a joy to see and experience after a week of shoveling and “cabin fever.”
I’m not certain if the team of Olmsted landscape architects had South Buffalo winters in mind when they designed Cazenovia Park, but I’m pleased that this four-season gem adorns and defines my neighborhood.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
I have taken walks through South Buffalo’s Cazenovia Park virtually every day the past eight years. That welcomed ritual includes an admiring glance at Cazenovia Creek from the vehicular bridge on Warren Spahn Way. Not surprisingly (now that my eyes are wide open), the view changes dramatically depending upon the time of day, weather, presence of clouds, autumn hues, etc.
I’d like to share with you my favorite baker’s-dozen images from the past 80 days or so, working backwards from November 30.
[11/30/2023, 7:47 am]
[11/26/2023, 11:04 am]
[11/25/2023, 5:34 pm]
[10/24/2023, 8:35 am]
[10/22/2023, 5:03 pm]
[10/4/2023, 5:19 pm]
[9/11/2023, 7:47 am]
I hope you enjoyed the view from the Caz Park bridge.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
The vibrant hues and views that customarily greet me on my walks in South Buffalo’s Cazenovia Park were obscured today – September 11 – by a veil of fog. That seems appropriate on this date, the twenty-second anniversary of 9/11.
Of the images that follow, the first one touches me the most: a weeping willow tree to remind us all of the many weeping widows and widowers who continue to grieve their painfully personal and tragic loss.
The past two months have been a bummer for me. Sciatica has prevented from taking my daily walks through my South Buffalo neighborhood and, most importantly, Cazenovia Park, accompanied by my trusty camera (a/k/a, iPhone). This afternoon I broke free from the confines of my home, and took the liberating stroll I’ve been waiting for.
That walk – and this posting – is dedicated to one of Buffalo’s remarkable nonagenarians, Mrs. Raymond G. Peterson. (Hopefully, her daughter will figure out a way to share this collection of photos with her).
By popular demand, I will keep my words to a minimum, and let the images of springtime in Caz Park speak for themselves. I hope you’ll enjoy their beauty, and feel their inherent energy and optimism in the weeks and months ahead.
The past few days have been noteworthy (in my mind, at least) for the recognition being shown to the culture and history of Western New York’s first inhabitants, the members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy – the nations of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora – and their ancestors. [I admit my cultural ignorance, and offer this link as a useful primer reprinted at the website of the Syracuse Peace Council, “Understanding Haudenosaunee Culture.”]
The July 18, 2022 print version of the Buffalo News includes an article by Mark Sommer entitled, “WNY exhibits celebrate Haudenosaunee culture.” [Here’s a link to the on-line version under the headline, “3 WNY exhibits celebrate Haudenosaunee art, culture, history.”] Mr. Sommer reports on: (1) The Buffalo Maritime Center’s “The Haudenosaunee and the Erie Canal,” at the Longshed at downtown Buffalo’s Canalside; (2) The Buffalo History Museum’s “Haudenosaunee Resurgence: Marie Watts, Calling Back, Looking Forward“; and, (3) An art exhibition at SUNY at Buffalo’s Center for the Arts and Anderson Gallery, which celebrates the 50th year of UB’s Indigenous Studies program by displaying the work of around four dozen artists of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
Three days earlier, July 15, I witnessed something gratifying on a pleasant summer evening in South Buffalo’s Cazenovia Park. As the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Olmsted 200 Celebration” concert was about to begin, Stephanie Crockatt, executive director of the Buffalo Olmsted Park Conservancy, did something that had not previously been done at a BPO concert or BOPC event. She read the following statement to the assembled crowd:
Land Acknowledgement for BPO Concert at Cazenovia Park | July 15, 2022
Before we begin this concert, we would like to respectfully acknowledge
that the land on which we gather is part of the aboriginal territory of the
Seneca Nation and the Tonawanda Seneca Peoples. Their continued
presence on this landscape is affirmed by The Dish with One Spoon Treaty of
Peace and Friendship, and the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, between the United States Government and the Six Nations Confederacy. This region is both the traditional and the current home of the Seneca, Haudenosaunee, Erie, Wenro, and a host of
countless communities over time.
This very site where we listen to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra,
Cazenovia Park, once held the Seneca Town of Buffalo Creek. A few blocks
away from Cazenovia Park at Buffum Street, is Seneca Indian Park, originally
the Seneca Indian Cemetery. The Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1842 eliminated
the Buffalo Creek Reservation. We sincerely hope that by recognizing the
historical wrongs that have taken place here and far, we will begin to try
understanding and healing the traumas that have been inflicted on the
Indigenous community, and to celebrate their rich culture and time on
Turtle Island. Please join us in showing gratitude for this opportunity to
share music and the natural environment of this beautiful land today.
These words of acknowledgement and respect were most fitting given both the location of the concert – the heart of the Buffalo Creek Reservation – and the BOPC/BPO’s stated desire to present “music inspired by nature and nods to the rich tapestry of cultures that make up the Buffalo community.”
A sliver of the crowd at the BPO’s Olmsted 200 Celebration, Cazenovia Park, 07/15/2022.
“Seneca Indian Park” on Buffum Street, site of an ancient Indigenous burial grounds.
The introductory statement – if my understanding is correct – came to timely fruition thanks to the receptiveness of the BOPC’s executive director, Ms. Crockatt, the focused efforts of BOPC’s marketing communications specialist, Zhi Ting Phua, and the guidance from Joe Stahlman, director of the Haudenosaunee cultural center in Salamanca, NY (known officially as the Seneca-Iroquois Museum).
My thanks to all involved.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
Okay. Perhaps I seemed a bit overly confident with yesterday’s posting, Signs of Spring 2022 in South Buffalo. And, just maybe, I tempted fate by whimsically suggesting that even the verdant meadow was whispering, “Yes, spring is here.” [I sincerely apologize for twice saying something that corny.] Worse of all, it now appears rather unwise to have gently dissed the Buffalo News’ use of the cliche “pretty in pink” (when referencing the cherry blossoms at the Delaware Park Japanese Gardens) by ending my April 26th post with the phrase: “Wonderful in white.”
I/We paid for all of my April 26th lapses with the wintry reprise that greeted us this morning. The verdant meadow wasn’t quite as green:
And the golden bush lost – at least, temporarily – much of its sparkle:
Nonetheless, I still think that Cazenovia Park looks wonderful in white:
And, I’m fairly confident that spring (or, as the Italians say, La Primavera) will ultimately prevail in this annual battle of the seasons.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
P.S. When I posted my April 26th photos, I hadn’t yet visited the Japanese Gardens adjacent to Buffalo’s History Museum. I made a brief visit to see the cherry blossoms (post-Monday’s substantial rains) yesterday evening on my way to my beginners Italian language class at Centro Culturale di Buffalo (at the corner of Delaware and Hertel avenues). My biggest takeaway was a sense of disappointment – not with the blossoms on display – but with the apparent behavior of many members of my own species. Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy should not have to plant dozens of the following signs throughout the garden:
I haven’t yet journeyed to Buffalo’s northern environs in search of springtime blossoms, but two Buffalo News photographers have. Derek Gee and Mark Mulville share their lush “pretty in pink” photos from Delaware Park’s Japanese Gardens in the April 26th print version of the newspaper.
My “gallery” is predictably a bit less splendid, lacking Messrs. Gee and Mulville’s professional eye and equipment. But I thought you might enjoy some of the images that caught my eye earlier this week as I walked and bicycled through nearby South Buffalo neighborhoods.
This first beauty (I’ll let you all identify the species) greeted me on Indian Church Road, just steps from my Oschawa Avenue home:
Minutes later, Cazenovia Park – my favorite Olmsted gem – offered these vividly reassuring signs that winter is behind us:
And, somehow, even the verdant meadow beyond the leafless branches seemed to whisper, “Yes, spring is here”:
A day later, my bicycle provided the means to easily check out what was happening a mile or two from home on McKinley Parkway. I wasn’t disappointed:
As I pedaled down Lorraine Avenue on my way home, I couldn’t resist taking a photo or two of a symbol a bit less natural, but just as inspiring as spring blossoms. Adorning the lawn at P.S. 72 (where I substitute taught a few times in 2018), is this monument to the school’s anti-bullying campaign:
I also lacked the self-control not to stop – at the edge of Cazenovia Street and Caz Park’s Warren Spahn Way – to capture these images:
Wonderful in white!
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
P.S. Today is Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th birthday. His parks, parkways, and landscapes have done so much to enrich the lives of the inhabitants of our nation’s cities. What a remarkable legacy!
March 2022 is about to step aside to make room for April. In my South Buffalo neighborhood – that is, the stretch of Seneca Street and Indian Church Road graced by its proximity to Cazenovia Park – St. Patrick’s Day is finally far enough in the rear view mirror to be a mere glimmer in my neighbors’ twinkling blue eyes.
From my perspective, it’s time for local officials, businesses and property owners to set aside the “happy talk” about community pride. It is time to actually demonstrate self-esteem and affection for the neighborhood and its residents by addressing the sights and defects that adversely impact its aesthetics and safety.
Here are several suggestions – each found within two blocks of the Seneca Street/Indian Church Road intersection – for immediate spring cleaning, maintenance or repair. [Unless otherwise noted, the accompanying photos were taken by me on March 31 during my morning walk.]
No. 1. Fix the broken pedestrian signal at Seneca and Indian Church Road. For at least a year now, anyone wishing to cross Seneca St. from Indian Church Road (or vice versa) has been forced to navigate this busy, tricky corner without the assistance of the walk/don’t walk signal. The push button on the west side of Seneca Street dangles uselessly from the pole, and the electronic signal is blank.
No. 2. Repair or replace the decorative trash bin next to Shea’s Seneca. The motto is excellent – “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” [Will Smith’s behavior at this past weekend’s Oscars ceremony is a perfect example] But its decrepit appearance inspires one to look the other way rather than give these thought-provoking words consideration.
No. 3. Attractively address the broken storefront window and facade at Seneca and Cazenovia Streets. For well over a year now, pedestrians, cars and buses passing by, and nearby residents (including those at the upscale apartments directly across the street), have been forced to look at a markedly haphazard and unprofessional effort to enclose a vandalized storefront window. The City of Buffalo’s Online Assessment Roll System (OARS) lists the owner of this property as Hook & Ladder Development LLC at 2111 Seneca St., Buffalo, NY 14210.
No. 4. Find a way to restore the vandalized, weathered wooden sculpture of Red Jacket at Cazenovia and Seneca Streets. The following photos were taken last year and shared with various public officials in hopes of inspiring an effort to show due respect for the Seneca statesman Red Jacket. The condition of the statue has continued to deteriorate.
A brief diversion. My morning observations included more than eyesores. While walking through Cazenovia Park, I did take the time to admire this naked and gnarly masterpiece:
No. 5. Remove or tastefully beautify the rusting, peeling retractable “shield” at 2348 Seneca Street. If you are unfortunate enough to depart Cazenovia Park at its Seneca Street exit, wait for or disembark an NFTA No. 15 bus, or drive down Seneca Street just blocks from the West Seneca/Buffalo border during or before the morning rush hour, you are assaulted by the image of a rusting, peeling sight. It has been in this condition for years. The City of Buffalo’s Online Assessment Roll System (OARS) lists the owner of this property as Donald P. King, 2348 Seneca St. Buffalo, NY 14210.
I am hoping that the individuals, officials, and businesses in the position to ameliorate the conditions noted above will promptly and thoughtfully take action. If you agree, reaching out to the following officials may help:
City of Buffalo Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon, 65 Niagara Square, Room 1401, Buffalo, NY 14202; (716) 851-5169; cscanlon@city-buffalo.com.
City of Buffalo Streets Commissioner Michael J. Finn, 65 Niagara Square, Room 502, Buffalo, NY 14202; (716) 851-5636; mfinn@city-buffalo.com.
State Assemblyman Pat Burke, 1074 Union Road, West Seneca, NY 14224; (716) 608-6099; burkep@nyassembly.gov.
State Senator Tim Kennedy, 37 Franklin St., Suite 550, Buffalo, NY 14202; (716) 826-2683; kennedy@nysenate.gov.
Thank you.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
[Note: Photos from November 15, 2021 have been added to the original posting.]
Buffalo received its first measurable snow fall yesterday, November 13, a few weeks later than the typical year. The heavy layer of white on leaf-clad branches was a burden some limbs were unable to bear.
Nonetheless, autumnal hues could still be seen and admired in South Buffalo’s Cazenovia Park this morning, November 14.
The following Caz Park photos were taken November 15th.
And, this golden-hued beauty greeted me on Indian Church Road as I headed home for Sunday morning breakfast.
With All Due Respect,
Art Giacalone
With All Due Respect 