Weekend Snow Shenanigans

It's been a weird winter.  We've had a bunch of small snowfalls, but not much of significance.  I think we maybe had one snowfall of a couple inches where it stayed cold for long enough that it stayed on the ground for a few days, but most of the time it snows barely enough to cover anything and whatever limited sun we have melts it the next day.  That has happened over and over again all winter.  I'm not a big fan of snow, but after a while it actually starts getting annoying.  I mean, snowy landscapes are pretty.  I have windows to watch it build up, which I don't have as readily when I'm in the office.  Brown and gray get rather boring after a while.  The kids need some sort of outlet for their energy, and muddy grass doesn't cut it.  I've been ready for a decent snowfall since Christmas, and the other day, we finally got it.  

We ended up with about six inches of lake effect from Friday into Saturday.  It was super pretty midday Friday when I went out to a doctor's appointment, with all the snow resting perfectly in the trees, but the wind picked up a bit and that was short lived.  But the snow has hung in there for a couple days now, and we had a perfectly placed weekend to go play in it.  Unfortunately, it's not great packing snow, but on the bright side it meant our reintroduction to shoveling wasn't too bad.  Of course, I still felt it this morning, but I opted to hop on the elliptical anyway, which may have been a mistake based on our afternoon activity today.  But first...yesterday!

Jacob has been begging to play a game of family football, which is really just two-on-two in the yard and almost guaranteed touchdowns each time.  Jacob made it his mission to mark off the yardage in the backyard.

We played a solid game (Jacob and me vs. Craig and Carter) and ended up tied.  It's harder than it looks to run in snow and catch with mittens!  I needed to run to Wegmans so we had to cut this session a bit short, but Jacob and Craig wrapped things up by kicking field goals over the swing set.  Jacob made it his mission and finally got one!

When we got back in the house, Carter had an unfortunate, chilly surprise hiding in his sleeve!

Our plan on Sunday was to go sledding in the afternoon.  We've never been, believe it or not.  I don't quite know why.  For a long time I didn't have snow pants, not that that would have stopped us.  I think it was just the matter of not knowing the best spot or hitting the timing quite right.  Of course, it probably didn't help that we really only had one sled plus one weird "snow slider" that basically just fits your butt and you need to hold your legs up, which isn't easy.  It worked okay going down snow piles in the yard, but I figured it would be harder on a real hill (and it was).  We never really prioritized getting another one, until today.  We tried a few different options to find another sled, but apparently there was a run on them!  Our last shot (after no-gos at Walmart and the CountryMax down the road, which had a ton online but none in store) was Target, and I happened to grab the very last saucer!  It was a little beat up (those white marks that plastic does when its bent a bit) but it was fine otherwise--and super cheap!  Crisis averted!

We decided to check out a nearby hill someone suggested on Craig's Facebook.  It really needed a few extra inches of snow because the reedy grasses that normally grow on this hill were poking up in a lot of places, but it was a good hill.  We went down to a less busy area right on the edge of the park property, and probably did a dozen runs each.  It was a hike back up, that's for sure!

It was a cold day but I wasn't really at all cold.  I think we were all bundled up really well, and the hike up the hill was enough to keep you warm!  It was hard to find a good route down where ruts didn't take you way off track, but we did manage to have some good runs and have a good time.

Here's a run where Craig and Carter tried to race Jacob, and they somewhat collided--but notice how Jacob just keeps going!

Here are Jacob and Carter going on a run.

Here is Craig on a crazy run!  He just keeps going and ends up in the weeds!  I did the same thing twice, too!  Those rides were great.  The saucer really did its job!




This is the spot where we kept ending up!

We had a great time, and the light was already starting to dim when we left.

If nothing else, this little outing renewed my desire to make it back to the snow park I went to on my trip to Quebec in high school.  I have never had so much fun in the snow as I did that day, in frigid temperatures and an abundance of layers to counteract temperatures around zero.  They have so many tubing runs and they're so exhilarating.  They also feel a lot safer than sleds because the runs are groomed and the tubes absorb any bumps a lot better.  It's a nice bonus they have lines that pull you up the hill in your tube, so no long hikes up like today.  There's also a run you do in a white water raft and that one had a crazy drop--to the point they told you to sit on the seat, not the floor, because you'd hurt your butt (or likely your tailbone) when it landed.  The place just popped up in a video by one of Jacob's favorite YouTubers, who visited the Ice Hotel as well.  Whenever we can get across the border I would absolutely like to go there and make a fun long weekend of it because it was such a good time when I was 17.  I suppose we could try the tubing place about 40 minutes away, but I think I just want an adventure!  But now that I know the kids have fun with it and our snow clothes kept us comfortable, I would totally give it a shot!

We came home to the double disappointment of the Green Bay Packers losing to Tom Brady, and the Bills crapping out pretty badly against the Chiefs.  So not only don't we get to go to the Super Bowl, but Tom Brady does...again.  Ugh.  As I said on Facebook, I'm taking this loss as a sign we're just not ready yet, and God is sparing us from losing a fifth Super Bowl and doing it to our biggest adversary, whose exit from our division finally paved the way for us to actually make the playoffs.  Losing to him in the biggest game possible would have been extra hard to stomach.  So maybe it's better this way for now.

I tried to ease the pain by making a tasty dessert for tonight--Instant Pot S'mores Cakes!  I used the new ramekins I bought at the Corning Museum a couple weeks ago to make single ones for each of us.  It was pretty darn tasty and while it did take a little work, it was surprisingly not too hard!

So, I guess despite the loss it was a decent weekend of family fun, which is admittedly hard to come by around here most of the time.  Let's hope the snow keeps up a bit and we can try again another week--though maybe we need to buy sled #3 first!  

Our Growing Boy

I got a message today from my friend Heather with adorable pictures of my sweet godson and the message that he's officially in 0-3 month clothes and moved up to size 1 diapers.  I smiled, only because I know those are the first big milestones in a very long line of growth milestones.  Ironically, this week, my first baby hit a milestone of his own--he's officially taller than me.  

It was confirmed at the doctor's office, which he has perpetually accused of measuring him short, so it pretty much has to be true.  I was still doubtful when he told me, but we did back-to-back in sock feet and Craig confirmed he had me beat.  His hair is pretty tall right now, but even if we're even, he'd likely pass me within weeks at the rate he's growing.  I guess it's time to give it up.  It's over.  It's just Carter and me in the bottom half now.

Much ado was made over our Christmas card photo since he appeared significantly taller than me, even though part of it was the angle and me being a bit hunched under Craig's armpit.

He definitely looked taller than me here at a pumpkin patch, but that was the difference between his thickly soled sneakers and my very flat flip flops.

And yet, just over a year ago, we had these:

(Carter was on a box here)

That's a lot of growth in a year!  It's a wonder we haven't been buying pants every couple months!  I guess we did have a hint when last year's school uniform pants weren't even close to going on back in August, but still.  It's crazy when you think they start out like this:

And yet before they hit teenagerhood, they could easily surpass the body that brought them into the world.  His feet passed me more than a year ago, and now the rest has followed.  I still outweigh him by a solid 25-30 pounds, for better or worse, but I have a feeling that won't last too long either.  And yes, in just over five months we will hit the teenage years officially.  I'm still not quite sure how that's possible.

The funny thing is, as a parent who--until this moment--has always been physically bigger, it takes some mental adjustment to live in this new reality.  For example:

• Up until recently I was giving him a kid knife at dinner.  That was maybe less a result of his size and more just his lack of dexterity with a knife, but still...he gets a real one now.  His hands are about the same size as mine, after all. 
• Up until sometime this fall, I hadn't really taken a recent look at the guidelines for riding in the front seat of the car, so he sat in the back.  When I realized he was not only old enough to be up front but also nearly my height and therefore theoretically big enough to handle the airbag, he immediately came up front when riding alone.  
• He can no longer be assumed to take up less space in restaurant booths (not that it matters right now) or living room furniture.  Wherever he's expected to fit, I should expect myself to fit there as well.  
• When he falls asleep on the couch and won't rouse enough to go to bed, I have no choice but to leave him there.  I can't carry someone my size upstairs, after all.
• I have lost most of my leverage for physically removing him from altercations with his brother or spaces I don't want him in.  Yes, I still outweigh him, so I can sort of pull him away with one big pull, but I really don't have a lot of recourse beyond that.  Gone are the days of physically carrying him away from a fight or tantrum to forcibly send him to his room.

We haven't come across this yet, and likely it'll be a while before it's at a critical point, but I know the day is coming where we'll need to get in a car and I will once again be relegated to the back seat because I fit better.  That will be quite a moment to reckon with.  On the bright side, maybe someday I'll need my stool in the kitchen a bit less.  Ironically, he still doesn't eat as much as me--at least not at dinner.  He eats his own weight in snacks each week, I think, but at meals he's not a huge eater yet.  I think his ADHD meds reduce his appetite on a regular basis but boredom wins out during his free time, hence the snacking.  I guess I should consider myself lucky for now, until I have to revamp my dinner portions to accommodate his teenage appetite.  It'll be a sad day when we have to add a third pizza crust, use the whole box of spaghetti, or crack open another bag of shrimp.  We do go through cereal like crazy already, so it's only a matter of time.

Parenthood is definitely full of odd paradoxes.  Probably the most prominent of those is that you want your child to grow but are a little sad when they actually do it.  It starts with that bittersweet feeling as they move out of the newborn phase and catching yourself crying as you pack away another size of clothes, and it moves into marveling with a tear or two over each new year of school or level of sports.  And before you know it, you're looking up at them (or maybe for dads, looking them straight in the eyes) and sending them off into the world.  It's all good--seeing them grow is not a privilege all parents get, sadly--but it's definitely hard to process sometimes.  When your baby is born, you can barely envision their first birthday, let alone starting school or becoming a teenager.  But before you know it, you're there.  With your first, every milestone makes them seem so big!  But the perspective tends to change with kid #2, when they always seem so much younger just because you're inevitably comparing them to their older sibling.  With Carter trailing behind by five years, it always amazed me how young he seemed in comparison at the same ages.  This was Jacob about a month before his eighth birthday, during a school concert.  Interestingly, Carter wore that exact same shirt today.

He looks so much more grown up to me.  He probably was an inch or two taller and probably had a slightly more serious air to him most of the time, but I'm guessing the differences aren't as big as they seem.  But the perspective is just so different from your first to your second.  And when you realize your youngest has surpassed so many milestones you thought were a big deal when kid #1 passed them, it's mind-blowing.  That's when you really start to realize just how fast this time goes.  

I'm sure I'll obsess over this growing-up thing a bit more in four weeks when Carter's birthday comes around, but since the milestones are few and far between these days, I figured Jacob surpassing me in height was probably blog-worthy.  We've come a long way, (big) baby boy.

The Great Escape, Part 2 (a.k.a., Two Small Towns and a Sweet Baby)

After my long afternoon at the museum, the plan was to find a pizzeria in town that a work colleague recommended.  Little did I know the area I was going to was literally a two minute drive over a bridge to a quaint Main Street-type area, though it's actually called Market Street.  I practically could have walked there--and might have if the weather was warmer and I could have changed into different shoes!  I ended up getting a spot on the street just a few storefronts away from the pizza place.  The area was so quaint that I decided to wander a bit before going in and ordering.  The architecture was adorable--gorgeous, well-maintained old buildings housing shops and restaurants for blocks.  Right around the corner from where I parked was this beautiful clock tower. 

I could see there was more beyond it, and sure enough, there was a pedestrian bridge over the Chemung River.  I walked out a bit on to the bridge, and the view was worth it.  On the left is the Corning headquarters.

The view when I turned back around was also very pretty.  Even better in green tree season, I imagine, although I guess you see more without the leaves.

I should note here that we had absolutely no snow at home, so the smattering of snow you see struck me a little funny, and it was even charming when combined with Christmas lights in the trees on Market Street.  Binghamton, on the other hand, still had feet of snow left from the four (!) they got the week before Christmas.  It was so strange considering we had none at home, but still not out of place considering we should have a ton this time of year.

I'm not sure what the purpose was of this pergola right near the bridge, but the vines wrapped around the supports were impressive, and I bet it's really beautiful with foliage.

When I walked back into the square with the clock tower, the view was so pretty with the tower, the hills, the Christmas lights, and the color in the sky.

Another block or so over was the entrance to Corning's headquarters.  This arch was a really imposing structure.

You can see some of the mosaic detail here, particularly if you click on the photo to zoom in.  The shimmer on the letters was so pretty!

There were tile mosaics on the inside of the arch on either side.  This is one of them.

The headquarters itself was also very pretty, particularly with the Christmas lights.

There was a time capsule out front that was placed in 2001 and will be opened in 2051. 

By this point I was pretty much ready to get some dinner, so I wandered back to the pizza place.  Until I walked in and the hostess asked me if I was eating in or not, I literally had no idea whether I was going to eat in or take out.  I wasn't thrilled with the take out option because my next destination was about an hour away, and I didn't want my food to get cold or soggy, even if the microwave at the hotel might have been able to resurrect it.  But I'm still not really comfortable with eating in restaurants, either.  However, I decided in the moment that I'd likely have to sit there and wait anyway, and it would just be easier to grab a spot and eat quickly.  So I wandered upstairs to the bar and found a seat at the end, in chairs presumably purposely pushed to the end to keep social distancing.  I was a weirdo and kept my mask on the whole time I waited, other than sips of water.  There were a decent number of people there, and despite a bit of distancing from other bar patrons and tables of guests, I figured there were enough people there that it couldn't hurt.  Indoor dining there didn't really seem to be affected, so I assumed they weren't in one of the state's cluster zones--and they're not, although there is one about 20 minutes away.  I felt a little funny diligently masking because my guess is people outside the zones are a little less neurotic than those of us that come from an active zone, so I probably looked a little crazy.  Oh well.  My pizza was delicious, though, and after a couple slices I packed up my leftovers and left.  My plan was to drive to the hotel, settle in a little, grab a snack from the A&W Restaurant down the street, and then enjoy a quiet evening alone on my king-sized bed!  And that's just what I did!

I watched a movie I love that I bought a year ago and hadn't had a chance to sit down and watch.  I did my nails and didn't have to do anything that would mess them up, as inevitably happens when I'm home.  I drank my root beer float (yay for a random A&W down the street!), browsed on my phone, placed an Amazon order, and just relaxed under the covers while waiting for the heat to ramp up.  It was so relaxing and completely out of the ordinary to have such a quiet night.  

The next morning I woke up plenty early and ended up having a full hour to get breakfast.  Much to my dismay, we can add Holiday Inn Express cinnamon rolls to the list of things the pandemic has ruined.  My favorite breakfast was not available, and while the hotel supposedly had a couple options upon request, I figured getting a McDonald's Egg McMuffin was rare enough that I should just go get one across the street.  And indeed, it was very good and made me miss the cinnamon rolls a little less.  After that I packed up, checked out, and drove 10 minutes through the cute main drag of the little town to the church for the baptism.  

I've been to this church before--turns out it was about 10 years ago, which blows my mind a little!  Time really flies!  It was great to see Heather, her husband, her mom, and of course baby Mason.  I also got to see Heather's brother, his wife, and their daughter, none of whom I'd seen in a number of years.  All three of her brother's crew were also godparents, and considering there was another baptism the same day, we made for quite a crowd at the front of the church!  The baptism itself was really a special moment.  I couldn't help but think back on all the years Heather and I have known one another, the many memories we share, and realize that it probably never occurred to little girl or preteen me that three decades later we'd have stood up in each other's weddings and I'd now be a godparent to her child.  For the record, we stuck to two godparents for each of our kids and opted to keep it in the family, but I'm pretty sure she would have been next in line had we had a third.  But it was such an incredible honor to not only be a godparent, but to be there for this wonderful moment for a miraculous baby.  And he did such a good job!

   

I promise, the masks only came off for momentary pictures!  

All of the excitement must have tired him right out because when we got back to the house to have some lunch, he was OUT!

The man of the hour slept through our entire lunch, in fact, and even though you never wake a sleeping baby, eventually Heather took a risk and grabbed him so I could hold him for a bit before I left!  He was so much bigger than he was about six weeks earlier when my mom and I visited!  I even got to feed him, which was something I haven't done in a while!  Eventually he got a little bored with me so I handed him back to mama, which instantly made him much happier!

What a little doll, no?

He's such a sweet little guy, and I cannot wait to see him grow up!  It made me so happy to be there for him that day and to get some time with Heather, too.  I'll admit that parenthood has made visiting a bit harder over the years, but now that my kids are a bit bigger and her little one will only be little for so long, I hope the timing will be good to change that trend a bit.  

Before I finish off the rest of the trip, I wanted to share the gifts I gave, because one has a really cool story.  So, a year ago, my office had a holiday bazaar.  They have one every year (until this year) and it's always fun to go browse.  I don't tend to buy a lot (other than this yummy stuff called White Trash from someone's mom!), but last year I was obsessed with this one booth that had amazing crocheted stuff.  I was originally looking at the cute baby hats for a little first Christmas gift for my cousin's daughter, but my attention turned to a couple of the stuffed animals.  They were SO cute!  And super reasonable, as well.  But I was like, who would I buy this for?  My cousins' daughters already had an overload of toys, and I didn't really have any other babies to buy for.  All afternoon I sat at my desk thinking about the cute animals, and at the end of the day I wandered back up.  I just couldn't help it--the face on this lamb was just priceless!

He was so soft and sweet, and I just had to have him.  So I bought him, and he sat in my drawer for a year.  Periodically I'd take him out, think about him, and wonder.  And even when another cousin had a baby, it still didn't feel like the right fit.  Oddly, once Mason came along, I didn't even think about the lamb.  Maybe because it was so sudden, maybe because life has been a little wacky for the past few months, maybe because I didn't go in that drawer until I had to stash Christmas gifts.  But when I was asked to be a godmother, I realized it was the perfect gift for this extra special baby.  And at that moment it occurred to me--that nagging feeling I couldn't shake that made me go back up and buy this lamb was God's way of telling me that something special was coming.  A whole year ahead of time (and long before that), He knew that Heather's long wait would be coming to an end, and I would need a special gift like this.  I feel like it's such a cool sign of God being in control, answering prayers against all odds, and knowing what we need even before we know we need it.  Pretty cool, isn't it?  I topped off the gift with a personalized laser-engraved picture frame (edited here for privacy).  The picture of us from the day I met him (again, only briefly unmasked--someday that kid will see I have a whole face!) was just a placeholder!  Oh, and I got a sweet personalized frame of my own to bring home as my godmother gift!

Before we knew it, the sun was starting to get low in the sky and it was definitely time for me to go since I had a long trip back.  Fortunately, because it was another rare sunny day, it meant the sky stayed much brighter for much longer than usual.  The sunset was actually quite pretty and made for a rather enjoyable first half of the drive.

Even though the Thruway is a slightly shorter drive, I decided to take back the same route I took in, mostly because there are more landmarks and fewer long stretches between exits.  The last hour and a half of the Thruway route is tough, especially at night.  For a full hour you can go at least 15 minutes between exits, with little else to mark the passing of time and space.  It can be hard to stay awake.  Then the last half hour is a pretty routine drive, but by then I'm just impatient to be home!  At least the other route past Geneseo has good memories for me, and I know pretty much exactly where I am between exits at any given moment for the last stretch.  All of that helps when you're tired and ready to be done!  The drive was pretty uneventful, and it was good to get home.  Even better was that I had the foresight to take Monday off, which meant I could be a little more relaxed with the unpacking, get random household tasks done, and finally de-Christmas!  In fact, I got all of the de-Christmasing done that day and just had a few tasks like vacuuming and moving furniture to finish up over the course of the week.  So we're pretty much back to normal now, other than more toy rearranging, which is probably never-ending anyway.  

I can't even really express what a great weekend it was and how desperately it was needed.  The time to think complete thoughts, listen to my own music uninterrupted, wander around one of my favorite places for hours, see so many gorgeous things, survive a harrowing Bills' playoff win, have a night on my own in a hotel room, and be present for a very special moment for a very special baby (and a very special friend) was all just so amazing and heart-warming, and so life-giving after so many challenging months where special moments were in very short supply.  I love my family, but sometimes you can get too much of a good thing!  And admittedly, my kids aren't always the easiest, so being unable to get any extended breaks from the constant noise and frequent battles over the last 10 months has been mentally challenging.  Part of being human is being able to grow and explore, and that has felt very stifled lately, which has likely contributed to extra grumpiness and a shorter temper.  I won't say this trip fixed everything, but it was so wonderful and at least gave me something to smile about for the past week when other positive things were in short supply.  I'm so grateful I was able to go.  

Now I guess it's onward to Carter's birthday in exactly one month!  How is my baby going to be EIGHT?!

The Great Escape, Part 1 (a.k.a., Glass Galore)

When my friend Heather asked me to be her son's godmother, I was so honored and thrilled.  But in the back of my mind I also knew that would mean I'd have an excuse (the best possible excuse!) to get out of town for a day or so.  When I got the date in January and confirmation it would be in her adopted hometown of Binghamton, it actually made for a nice post-Christmas rebound because I had something new to look forward to during the January doldrums.  I could actually leave Western New York for the first time in ages--10 months, in fact, unless you count the day trip to Watkins Glen in July, which got us to the outer reaches of the Finger Lakes region.  But I'd even get to stay overnight on this one, since a three-hour drive on a Sunday morning followed by a three-hour drive home sounded like a bit much for one day.  As thrilled as I already was to be a godmother, the idea of a 36-hour escape from my pandemic radius sounded pretty amazing, too.  

When you really start thinking about our extreme lack of significant activity over a 10-month period, it's pretty sad.  But on the bright side, it made a trip like this sound as exciting as a legit vacation would sound during normal times.  Of course, leading up to it, I was a bit anxious.  Not in a bad way, but in a "will this actually happen with all the different things that could go wrong" way.  I mean, the Christmas COVID scare was enough by itself.  But then I started having daily Facebook memories pop up around the New Year recalling every illness under the sun that befell me or the kids during that post-holiday week.  I was still paranoid about COVID.  I was oddly nervous at the thought of being away from my house and my kids, which have been nearly constant presences in my life for the last 10 months.  The idea of getting away from it all sounded great, but it also sounded almost impossible--or at least like something that could be easily ruined.  It was this amazing thing I was going to be able to be a part of, and I was so worried about the sadness I'd feel if something spoiled it.  

My plan was to get a rapid COVID test that week to 100% make sure that nothing cropped up in the last few days of our 10-14 day window after Jacob's isolation ended.  I figured that given the timing of our two negative tests, all should be well, but when you're dealing with an extra special tiny baby, you want to be sure.  But then I panicked about the accuracy of the rapid tests--in either direction.  It's one thing to get a false negative, but I also worried about a false positive that might prevent me from going.  I should have scheduled a regular test earlier in the week, but I got all mentally paralyzed, especially when I had an oddly sniffly day early in the week.  Thankfully I think it was just allergies, but I was fortunate to find a free county rapid testing site later in the week.  It came back negative and that seemed to throw the door wide open to make sure my plans would stick.  Of course, then I worried someone would come down with a random stomach bug or something in the 36 hours that followed, but fortunately, between Carter being remote until Friday and Jacob wearing a mask, the annual onslaught of early year sickness held off.  So Saturday morning, I was off!

My plan was to make a full two-day event of it.  God knows this shouty mama needed the break, and it made sense to make the most of the time away.  I took 390 south past Geneseo and headed toward Corning.  Museum of Glass, here I come!  I don't mind that route because part of it (down to Geneseo) is pretty routine, and the rest has enough scenery to keep me occupied.  An hour in, I noticed the coolest thing.  A couple of the hills seemed to have patches of frosted over trees--almost like the top of the hill got a heavy frost or some snow, and it stayed cold enough just there to maintain it.  None of the other hills on the entire route were like that, and while it was nearly impossible to get a decent picture while driving safely, I tried.

If you click on the photo to zoom in, you can see the top of that hill is full of white-coated trees.  It looked even cooler in person.

It was actually vaguely sunny for the first time in weeks, which made for a really nice drive.  I got there around 12:30.  I made the last-minute decision to run through a drive-thru just before arriving at the museum and eat my sandwich in the car.  I figured it was probably safer and cheaper than the alternative of eating in the museum cafe.  I should also mention that another complicating factor of this trip is that the Bills were playing a playoff game at 1pm.  As much as I wanted to watch, my hope was that getting a day on my own out of town was a rarer feat than a playoff game (despite the Bills' very questionable record in that area for the past 20+ years), so I decided I'd just follow it on my phone as I walked the museum.  Had I been smart I probably would have left bright and early so I could get in my full museum time and still catch the end of the game in a local restaurant, but sleep and less crazed packing won out.  After all, I didn't want to jinx things by packing too early, so I only had a day or so following my test when I felt comfortable enough to do it.

Upon arrival at the museum, I was greeted by Pierre the Penguin, who's been their adorable glass mascot since the pandemic shut down the museum in the spring.  He was all over their social media "wandering" around the museum.  Unfortunately he's in a glass case and they covered so much of him with his winter attire, but it was fun to see something that brought me a few smiles during the hardest part of this pandemic.

I tried to be a good citizen by following their one-way directions through the museum, which meant starting in my favorite wing with the modern art.  This was a giant hanging piece, but I loved the up-close detail of the mosaics.

 

I remembered seeing pieces like this last time I visited, where they were made up of thin threads of glass.  This piece was about a foot tall and I loved the colors, but wanted to share this detail of the threads.

This case cracked me up.  The piece on the left was called "Hugged to Death", as evidenced by the x's on the little guy's eyes!  The piece on the right is a Chihuly.  He did a whole series of cylinders, and this is one.

Nothing like a lamp made out of glass sausages.

This was probably one of my favorite pieces--not for how it looked, but for the process.  It was composed of many layers of glass that had tiny vintage magazine images affixed to them.  It made for this amazing 3-D robot with people climbing, and marine life, and tons of other stuff happening all over.

Here's a tiny close-up of one section.

It was a pretty incredible piece with all the detail and how the artist could visualize how the layers would work together.  I also found myself oddly fond of this mirror.

Eventually I made my way through the many rooms in the modern wing and headed toward the older stuff.  This beauty was just outside the entrance to that wing.  The main Chihuly is in the front lobby, but this one is also quite a sight.

This piece is thousands of years old, but look at that gorgeous iridescent sheen!

I have so many pictures I'm not sharing of tons of different types of glass from all different eras.  It's amazing to see the evolution from the earliest glassmaking to more refined versions.  It boggles my mind how the earliest civilizations figured out how to do it!  There were endless displays of everything you could imagine, from early glass bottles to molded glass dishes, 18th century art glass to amazing paperweights.  Check out this display of snuff bottles:

As much as I love the colors, I was particularly struck by this display of different clear glass.

There were some pieces from Tiffany, including this stunning column.

I happened to finish this section just in time for a glassblowing show.  I followed the Bills game and the glassblowing equally as I sat.  The final piece they made can be seen on the end of that stick.  They promptly put the still-hot piece into cold water so it broke instantly.  They'll recycle the pieces and use them another day.  I guess with the pandemic they're not giving away the pieces they make right now, so most just end up getting recycled.  The cold water shatters them instantly into tiny pieces, almost like ice. 

After the show, I had one more wing to visit, another modern wing.  For some reason I just love this bowl. 

Here's another set of Chihuly cylinders.  They are based on Native American imagery, namely woven blankets.  It's not my favorite type of his work, but when you think about how those designs are embedded in the glass, they're pretty impressive.

I like this "melting" piece...simple as it is...

There are so many others I could have shared but I will spare you!  After that, I just had the store to go.  Outside the store was this tree.  They always have another one around the holidays full of different colors that apparently had already been taken down, but this one was still up.

I also enjoyed this little snowman family!

All I had left was the store and the Chihuly in the lobby.  Well, when I entered the store, the Bills were up 24-10 early in the 4th quarter.  When I checked my phone about 20 minutes later, they were only up 27-24 and I was panicking internally!  I felt indecisive about my shopping (there were so many great sales!) but I could not focus at all once the game was in question!  I headed up to the lobby and found a seat in front of the Chihuly where I could focus on the game updates...and of course there was a hugely disputed play that took forever to review.  I probably sat there for a solid 20 minutes or more, quietly freaking out about the game!  At least I had a good view!

The Bills game was CRAZY in the final minute, with a blown call and a last second attempt to win the game by the Colts.  It was very stressful, especially since Buffalo seems to specialize in last second, heartbreaking playoff defeats.  But, thankfully, they pulled it out!  It took me a second to compose myself enough to resume my shopping, but it still took about 15 minutes for my legs to stop shaking!  I ended up buying a couple super cheap Pyrex pieces for my kitchen, and then bought one thing that will definitely be a gift, one thing I might keep, and another thing that's already on my dining room table.  They had so many pretty bowls and platters for $3-4 and I couldn't pass them up!  I also got a rather large marble (1.5") called a Glitterbomb that's all shiny and colorful that now lives in the shadow box above where I sit for work.  Satisfied and relieved, I headed out into the early evening.  

I definitely think I got my money's worth...a solid four hours of glass gazing!  I swear, aside from the Bills game, my blood pressure was probably down a few notches while I was there.  It was so relaxing and so pretty, and basically a giant feast for the eyes after months of not much more than the inside of my house.  At least in the summer and fall we had outside beauty, but with not much snow and very little adventuring in recent months, I think I was overdue for something outside the norm!

Since this post is long enough right now, I will save the second part of my trip for another post!  Stay tuned!