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
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Marc Potzler and Jacob Wickham met in 1988, two young boys in a children’s bug club south of Buffalo. Each was an insectophile, having grown up with a fondness for the creeping critters that other people dismissed as pests. Marc grew up in West Falls, outside of East Aurora, on a… Continue reading