On Tuesday night, I returned from a long weekend visiting my hometown of Buffalo, New York. I hadn’t visited Western New York since December 2010. Since my parents moved away last summer, visits are even fewer and far between. The visit revolved around meeting Paige, a seven week old baby belonging to Candace, my good friend from High School as well as seeing family and a few friends, and completing my Suburban Landscapes project. I stayed with Candace and her family for one night, and then spent the rest of the time at my Grandmother’s house.

Baby Paige, at seven weeks old.

My Grandmother’s House

The basement, which has remained unchanged since 1984.

The white tailed deer my Grandfather killed in 1984. One day, I hope to hang this in my house.

My grandfather – this photo was taken in our driveway. It’s always bugged me because the negative is flipped incorrectly in the print.

I took my Grandmother to Woodlawn Beach to see a fireworks display one night. It was beautiful and somewhat bittersweet. I don’t exactly know why…

Grandma and Pedro the cat, who once belonged to my brother Jeff.  All my Grandmother talks about is this cat!

Pedro does not like me.

On Sunday, we drove to Batavia, New York to visit my brother. My Grandmother is recounting a story in which she very nearly burned her house down in the 70s because of a grease fire in the kitchen.

Later that evening, I went horseback riding with my cousin Gloria. She lives across from a horse farm, so we just walked across the street and rode around. My horse was named Zip and he was the tallest horse I’ve ever seen. I felt like I was 10 feet tall in the saddle. In a former life, I’m pretty sure I was a cowboy.

Hummingbird at Gloria’s feeder, right outside the window!