Church Dedication

  This past weekend I attended the dedication of the new parish hall of St. Catherine's of Sienna church in Ithaca.  It was the church Mary Ellen was a member of and they started planning and fundraising for the new hall around the time she became ill.  She supported it during her remaining life, and after she died Frank and others made significant contributions in her memory.  It is a beautiful and functional space that will surely serve the members of the parish well for many years.

Church Dedication

  Frank came up from Maryland for the dedication and had a seat on one of two benches the will be adorned with plaques commemorating Mary Ellen's contributions to the parish.  The project is not quite finished, the ribbons and stakes will be removed and a nice garden planted in the space behind Frank.

Migration

  Got a chance to go to Derby Hill on Lake Ontario recently for the spring bird migration.  When birds are flying north and arrive at the lake they typically turn east and fly along the shoreline rather than cross the open water.  The Onondaga Audubon Society has a location at a bluff north of Mexico, NY with a nice view to the west to see the oncoming birds.  We went on a day billed as "epic" for Broad Wing Hawks and while it didn't shape up to be record-breaking, we did get to see hundreds, along with dozens of other species of raptors and swarms of Bluejays.
  The regulars and serious birders have amazing scopes, and even with just their eyes can often tell what is far away.  We were next to a guy who came from Connecticut for a few days who would tell us to pay attention to a kettle (a large gathering of hawks swirling around each other using air currents to soar) because there were Bald Eagles or something else to pay attention to.
  At one point some clouds moved in and we were treated to a ring around the sun.
Here is the report for the day: