Five Things to do in September 2015

Luna, circa 2013
credit: paulathompsonfreelance.com

September is a time for harvest events, music, craft beer and theatre – plus the long-awaited opening of a new exhibit at the Buffalo Zoo. Just because school is back in session doesn’t mean you can’t fill up the weekends with fun!

Arctic Edge at the Zoo – we’re all hoping sweet little Luna will be making an appearance at the Buffalo Zoo when her new home, the Arctic Edge, is opened to the public on Saturday, September 12. It’s a 1.5-acre exhibit with two polar bear enclosures and underwater viewing areas for Luna and her mama, Anana. Also housed in the exhibit are American bald eagles, Eurasian lynx and arctic wolves.

Celebrate fall – autumn in the Buffalo-Niagara region is beautiful, and there are a number of places to celebrate the season beginning this month, including Becker Farms in Gasport, the Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence and Pumpkinville in Great Valley (near Ellicottville).

Music Is Art with the Goo Goo Dolls – the Music Is Art Festival, Saturday, September 12, is in its 13^th year, and this year is extra-special, as it’s headlined by Robby Takac’s band, the Goo Goo Dolls. The festival, at Marcy Casino in Delaware Park, features more than 100 bands, DJs, performance artists, a kids’ zone and much more – and admission is free! Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Buffalo Beer Week – actually, more like 10 days, but when you’re celebrating beer, who’s really counting?! From Saturday, September 26 through Monday, October 5, beers from Buffalo and around the world will be celebrated with a number of events, including the Ballpark Brew Bash on September 26. Find out more about the festival here.

Curtain Up! – Buffalo’s theatre season opens up with this downtown celebration on Friday, September 18. The 34^th annual event has three “acts”: dinner and cocktails at a restaurant in the Theatre District or at Shea’s Performing Arts Center; a show at one of the area’s theatres; and a street party when the show is over. There are 15 theatres participating in the event, with “curtain up” at 8 p.m. at all of them – find a complete list and more information here.

BfloGirlGarden presents Garden Week: Just flowers

I just love flowers – the process of growing them, their bright colors, the ability to pick them and brighten up your home as well.

I’m very fussy when it comes to picking flowers for my gardens and containers – I like certain colors, I like unusual combinations and I like certain types of flowers, favorites being impatiens, cannas, dahlias and calibrachoas.

Here are some of my beauties from this year: 

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

BfloGirlGarden presents Garden Week: Container gardening

Container gardening is one of my favorite things when it comes to my gardens – especially on my front porch, where I have an awesome corner plant stand that fills in with lots of color. My favorite plants to use in containers are coleus, to which I add petunias, calibrachoas and exotic impatiens.

 

Garden experts always talk about “thrillers, fillers and spillers” when it comes to container plantings. I don’t always subscribe to that theory – I just like mixing flowers up and seeing what happens throughout the summer.

One of my go-to combinations for the last couple of years is Wizard Coral Sunrise Coleus with Fusion Peach Frost Exotic Impatiens – I used this on a few containers this year.

I’m always amazed at how “drapey” a Trailing Coleus like Chocolate Drop can get, easily filling out a shady area almost by itself.

This little cutie is part of the Proven Winners collection I received earlier this year – I just love the look of the Lemon Coral Sedum in this little faux-rock planter.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

2015 UB Bulls Football schedule

credit: freedigitalphotos.net/John Kasawa

• Saturday, Sept. 5 – v. Albany
• Saturday, Sept. 12 – at Penn State
• Saturday, Sept. 19 – at Florida Atlantic
• Saturday, Sept. 26 – v. Nevada
• Saturday, Oct. 3 – v. Bowling Green
• Saturday, Oct. 17 – at Central Michigan
• Saturday, Oct. 24 – v. Ohio
• Thursday, Oct. 29 – at Miami (Ohio)
• Thursday, Nov. 5 – at Kent State
• Wednesday, Nov. 11 – v. Northern Illinois
• Saturday, Nov. 21 – at Akron
• Friday, Nov. 27 – v. Massachusetts

Get tickets and more information at www.ubbulls.com.

Three things to do this weekend: August 28-30, 2015

credit: freedigitalphotos.net/arztamui

Historic Lewiston Jazz Festival – Friday and Saturday, August 28-29 at a number of venues throughout Lewiston. In addition to the music, there’s plenty of food and wine available throughout the village from some of the area’s finest restaurants and Niagara Wine Trail wineries, the Premiere Jewelry Show at the corner of South Fifth and Center Sts., and a classic car show on Saturday. For the complete schedule, visit www.lewistonjazz.com.

Buffalo Irish Festival – Friday through Sunday, August 28-30 at Buffalo RiverWorks, 359 Ganson St. in Buffalo. Celebrate everything Irish with live entertainment, food and beverage, raffles, the Parade of the 32 County Flags of Ireland (Friday at 5:30 p.m.) and more. Entertainment will include The Eileen Ivers Band, The Glengarry Bhoys, Emish, Seamus Kennedy, Pat Shea and the Blarney Bunch. Hours are Friday 5 to midnight, Saturday noon to midnight and Sunday noon to 10 p.m. – find out more at www.buffaloirish.com.

Elmwood Ave. Festival of the Arts – Saturday and Sunday, August 29-30 on Elmwood Ave. between W. Ferry and St. James Place – find out more here.

BfloGirlGarden presents Garden Week: The big backyard project

A funny thing happens from late July to mid-August – life gets really busy. Trips, events, parties, just hanging out…you know how it is. So instead of trying to catch up on all the garden posts I missed, I’m just doing “Garden Week” (or at least four or five days!).

I’m going to start with the newest project first – my “back 40,” behind the shed. Ever since my fox family left from underneath the shed about 15 months ago, I figured it was time for a change back there – there was too much harborage for the fox family, and while they were cute, they did damage my shed (that was last year’s project!) and that didn’t make me happy.

It’s strange how you find a good thing – the owner of the company that did the backyard job (and later this year my front flower bed) is the step-father of one of our favorite former waitresses at our local pizza joint (she has since moved on :(). Lesson learned: it’s always a good thing to talk about random topics with people you kind of know!

Here are some of the before photos:

And here are a few after shots:

The orange line is for the new shade garden :)

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

2015 National Buffalo Wing Festival: September 5th and 6th

credit: buffalowing.com

The 2015 National Buffalo Wing Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday, September 5^th and 6^th at Coca Cola Field in downtown Buffalo. First held in 2002, the festival serves up more than 500,000 wings annually.

The festival features contests, entertainment, the Miss Buffalo Wing Pageant, and wings and other food items from nearly three dozen restaurants and vendors. Among the restaurants scheduled to participate this year are:

• Anchor Bar – Buffalo
• (716) Food & Sport – Buffalo
• Brick House Tavern – national chain
• Hot Rod Café – Connecticut
• LaNova – throughout Buffalo area
• Legend Larry’s – Wisconsin
• Quaker Steak & Lube – national chain
• RuChDa - Atlanta
• Slider’s Grill & Bar – Connecticut 

Other food vendors include Chrusciki Bakery with Buffalo Angel Wings and Lloyd Taco Truck.

Day one of the festival will include two Amateur Sauce-Offs (Creative and Traditional) and the Amateur Wing Eating Championships, along with the Buffalo Buffet Bowl Eating Contest and the Healthy Zone Recipe Challenge. Day two will feature the Miss Buffalo Wing Pageant, the US Chicken Wing Eating Championship, the College Wing Eating Competition and the Hot Buffalo Wing Eating Contest. Entertainment will be provided throughout the weekend by the Heavenly Chillbillies.

Admission to the National Buffalo Wing Festival is $5 each day – children 8 and under are free. Food tickets are $1 each; beer, soda and bottled water can be purchased throughout the stadium for cash. Hours are noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.

2015 Elmwood Ave. Festival of the Arts – August 29th and 30th

credit: freedigitalphotos.net/arztamui

The 16^th annual Elmwood Ave. Festival of the Arts will take place Saturday and Sunday, August 29^th and 30^th on Elmwood Ave. between W. Ferry and St. James Place.

This year’s festival will feature more than 170 juried artisans in multiple mediums, including ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry, metal, photography and sculpture. There will be three stages for musical performances featuring a diverse line-up of acts as well as the Kidsfest Stage and tents. Environmental Row also returns, located at Elmwood and Lafayette, and Cultural Row will be located on Breckinridge near Elmwood.

No Buffalo festival is complete without food, and this one is no exception. The Festival Café returns to Elmwood and Lafayette and will feature popular area food merchants including Sweet Melody’s, the Lexington Co-Op and Mineo and Sapio Sausage. In addition, check out Lloyd Taco Truck, the Black Market Food Truck and Frank Gourmet Hot Dogs Food Truck in the area.

Hours for the juried festival are Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

BfloGirlSports: Race of Champions at Lancaster Speedway – August 15th, 2015

Matt Hirschman (left) and Team 49 Racing (three on right)
They're unofficial members of Dad's team when they're at Lancaster!

It was a much better showing and a much better race for the Race of Champions Asphalt Modified Tour at Lancaster Speedway on Saturday, August 15^th. The annual Tommy Druar /Tony Jankowiak Memorial 110 was won by Patrick Emerling, followed by Chuck Hossfeld, Andy Jankowiak, Matt Hirschman and Tony Hanbury.

Bobby Holmes

Patrick Emerling

Matt Hirschman

The Street Stocks and 4-Cylinders were also in action, and the crowd on hand was HUGE! It was great to see, since about a year ago the future of Lancaster was up in the air – Modified racing will bring folks from all around!

The Modifieds will be back as part of the US Open in September.

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

A little update…

There will be some changes coming up here at BfloGirlWorld – like more blog entries! There was a recent parting of the ways with a site I freelanced at (no real explanation given…), so a lot of the stuff I really enjoyed publishing there about Buffalo will now be published here, with a few new category names like “BfloGirlSports,” BfloGirlGarden” and “BfloGirlTravel.”

I’m looking at this as an opportunity, not a parting of ways – I’ve got a few new ideas up my sleeve as well! ;) 

BfloGirlSports: Buffalo Sabres set up for 2015-16 season

credit: Wikimedia Commons/Fry1989

The Buffalo Sabres are ready to start fresh for the 2015-16 National Hockey League season, kicking things off by introducing a new prospects tournament at First Niagara Center and HARBORCENTER.

The inaugural Prospects Challenge will be a round-robin tournament taking place Saturday through Monday, September 12-14, featuring the Sabres, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins. Each team will play two games during the three-day event; tickets for each game are $10 each. Both Sabres games – September 12 against New Jersey (7 p.m.) and September 14 against Boston (7 p.m.) – will be played at the First Niagara Center, while the Boston/New Jersey game on September 13 will be played at HARBORCENTER.

Shortly after the Prospects Challenge is the All-American Prospect Game, taking place Thursday, September 24 at 7 p.m. at the FNC; tickets for that game go on sale Tuesday, September 1, and will cost $10 for 100 and 200 level seats and $7 for 300 level seats.

Pre-season tickets for the Sabres also go on sale September 1, ranging in price from $18-$40 at the box office. Sabres’ home pre-season games are Wednesday, September 23 against Ottawa (7 p.m.); Tuesday, September 29 against Toronto (7 p.m.); and Friday, October 2 against Columbus (7 p.m.).

Sabres’s single-game regular season tickets go on sale Saturday, September 19 at 9 a.m., as do tickets for the Rochester Amerks’ regular season appearance at the FNC. Get more information on the Sabres’ 2015-16 season and purchase tickets when they become available at the Sabres’ website.

BfloGirlSports: Buffalo Bisons end season with Fan Appreciation Night, announce 2016 schedule

credit: Wikimedia Commons/Jfvoll

The Buffalo Bisons’ 2015 Triple A International League season is almost complete, but not before the Herd says “Thank You” to fans with Fan Appreciation Night on Wednesday, September 2 at 6:05 p.m. The Bisons will end their home stand against Thruway rivals the Syracuse Chiefs, but it won’t be your final chance to visit Coca Cola Field, thanks to the Bisons WingFest Fan Appreciation Pack.

Fan Appreciation Night will feature giveaways every half-inning, t-shirt tosses and one last post-game fireworks show. The Bisons WingFest pack will bring you back to the ballpark the following weekend, Saturday and Sunday, September 5-6, for the 12^th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival. 

The fan pack includes four reserved seats for Fan Appreciation Night with the Bisons and four general admission tickets to WingFest for just $49. Individual tickets are also available for the Bisons/Chiefs match-up, and admission to the National Buffalo Wing Festival is $5 each day.

If you’re the type of fan who likes to plan ahead, the Bisons also recently announced their 2016 International League schedule, which will be uncharacteristically summer-heavy, with 49 of their 72 home games being played from June through the end of the season. The Bisons’ season starts in Pawtucket on Thursday, April 7, with the first home game on Thursday, April 14 against Rochester; there are only seven home games in April.

There will be 11 fridaynightbash! games, including four in July, and the annual Independence Eve Celebration will be Sunday, July 3 against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

NY Yankees @ Cleveland Indians in pictures

It’s been an odd year – I only made it to one Yankees game (usually it’s two or three). Crazy summer schedules left me with just Cleveland’s Progressive Field for this year’s trip – my first game PD (Post Derek), but that’s fine – it’s an awesome stadium…with a really great food package (I probably shouldn’t have eaten anything for two days leading up to it!). Again, the best way to get there is on a bus trip (yes, I enjoy bus trips!). Here are some pictures from this year’s game (PD…).

I don't normally do food pictures, but this is just a sample of the eats in the suite!

They really look like they're up to no good...

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

**note – Mom and I went with D&F Travel – all travel was paid for by me, and all opinions are my own.**

Watkins Glen International in pictures

Toyota's cool ferris wheel

Matt Kenseth

I don’t care what some people say – road courses are freakin’ awesome! Especially when there’s one in your “backyard” (i.e. – a couple hours away). Watkins Glen International is that track for me, and the best way to get there – unless you’re staying there – is on a bus trip: dropped off right in front of the grandstand gate, with lots of time to go explore the midway area (but still never enough!). Here are a few pictures from this year’s event.

Newman!

Casey Mears

Clint Bowyer

on pit road

mmmm...M&Ms!

on the starting grid

heading to the green flag

random tire rolling along (yes, the frontstretch was cheering on the tire!)

Joey Logano on fire! (literally)

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com

**note – Mom and I went with D&F Travel – all travel was paid for by me, and all opinions are my own.**