ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It’s three hours before kick-off, and the party has begun. Barrel fires are cracking to life. Grills are clicking on. The parking lot at Ralph Wilson Stadium smells like Sunday: hot dogs, sausages, breakfast toasted on thick pans over hot coals, a touch of whiskey to stay warm. Never mind that… Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Even in the dead of winter, the Buffalo Zoo’s Rainforest Falls exhibit stays verdant. Vines creep. Birds nest in a green canopy. Flowers bloom in a firework of color. The caretakers of this elaborate, indoor garden include Steve Mead, the zoo’s director of horticulture and maintenance, and Dave Goehle, zoo groundskeeper. The two… Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the shade of snakewood and trumpet trees, a new day is beginning in the indoor rainforest at the Buffalo Zoo. Newly freed from the holding cage where he spends the night, Machado, a black howler monkey and father of two, is perched on a branch in a corner exhibit. His head raised,… Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Even if you know nothing about the oboe or the clarinet, about how these instruments are made or how they make their music, you would know that the heartwood of the African blackwood tree is something special. The material is dense and dark: black like coffee or molasses or the armor of… Continue reading
BUFFALO, N.Y. — On July 13, 2003, several UFOs appeared above Buffalo. The objects, five or six bright lights, hung weirdly in the summer sky. Each was a luminous disc, strange but unmistakable. The man who spied the UFOs was a 29-year-old carpenter named Jack Szeglowski, who was playing with his daughter outside of their… Continue reading