Summer thoughts; downtown Rochester

[vaneramos]

Gary; a parking garage in downtown Rochester







High Falls


(Another image is posted in doorwindowwall.)

I caught the 10:30 bus this morning from Toronto to Guelph. Alone for the first time since Thursday, I sat staring out the window for the first two-thirds of the trip. My mind turned to the upcoming summer and how to occupy my daughters. I will need to start the season by laying two ground rules:

1. No cursing at anyone.


2. No hitting or kicking.

I'll try letting these stand alone, but if we run into persistent problems I'll consider consequences.

Marian has the idea that she would like to hang out in Toronto with people she likes. I don't have the energy to kick around Queen Street every day, and I'm not comfortable about letting her go out much alone. She is only 13.

In Milton I figured I had done enough worrying and pulled out the purple scarf I'm knitting. This weekend saw considerable progress.

Back home I settled heavily into solitude.

These shots were taken Saturday afternoon. Gary took us to the top of a parking garage offering wide panoramas of downtown Rochester. We descended to explore the historic district, which reminded me of Toronto's recently rejuvenated Old Distillery. Then he showed us a hidden gem, High Falls.

Comments

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

great images
I really like the one in door window wall

b well

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks Mr C. I liked the pics of you and E, too. Major hugs.

Cheers.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

That one of Gary is really cool.

I wonder how *we'd* do with those rules :) I think I might have trouble with #1.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Well, I specified not cursing "at someone," i.e. one another. These things are never easy, but it's not a "three strikes, you're out" kind of thing (my worst problem has been raising my voice at them, but I only did it twice last summer, a big improvement from the past). The flip side is I need to encourage healthier ways of expressing anger. That will require some creativity on my part.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Well I was mostly joking, but yeah it is a serious issue and I hope you find a good solution.

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to visit Rochester, methinks.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

If architecture intrigues you, Buffalo is even more fascinating, and a little easier to get to. But Rochester is worth the trip.

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was one of my favorite vistas of Rochester. They used to do laser shows down in the gorge at night during the summer...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I saw all the lights sticking out of the rock on the west side of the gorge. It must be gorgeous.

[thewindrose.livejournal.com]

I love the photo of High Falls! It's so odd to me to see such a large waterfall in a city.

You know what it reminds me off? When I was a young girl I used to dream that one day I would just turn a corner and see a magical place, a bit of Narnia, I suppose. This photo makes me think of that - as though to everyone else there would just be a big city, but to the chosen few they could see the magic. Hmmm... sounds like the beginning of a children's novel.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I was surprised, too. I was struck by how different it looks from Niagara Falls, which, viewed from the Canadian side, has nothing in the background to give it scale.

As a child, I had a similar fantasy, but about people. I kept imagining that one of the characters I had created in writing would appear somewhere: on the street or in a restaurant. Once or twice I saw people who looked how I imagined them, but I never had the courage to approach them. This suggests some interesting plotlines, too.