Annual Sunny's Roost Open House and Lewiston Christmas Walk

  There is SOOOO much going on in Lewiston this weekend that there is no way I could condense it to a couple of paragraphs and convey the spirit of the season.  I am hoping to add just a little bit to the excitement with a photographic scavenger hunt.  I went into 10 of the stores on Center Street and, with the owners approval, took a picture of an item.  Came home and wrote about that item, included the store name, and will hand out that page of descriptions to anyone willing to participate.  Those who find the items and send me photos of all 10 objects will have their name put into a drawing for two free nights at Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast plus a gift certificate for Cheri Amour.  I am hoping that while people are looking for the item I photographed that they will see what great boutiques we have in Lewiston and will shop now, or whenever they need a gift or something special for themselves.  

We are decorated and ready for our annual Open House commemorating 12 years in business.  I will have a full house for the Christmas Walk and Tour of Homes so only the downstairs will be open but we will have scones and hot beverages available for you to enjoy when you stop in to pick up your scavenger hunt directions.  We decorate the whole house and even have a Rooster Tree filled with only rooster ornaments - no duplicates!  All gifts from my sister, Kentucky must have cornered the market on rooster ornaments.  I am not as lucky (read that prolific) finding pig ornaments for her tree.

Phillip and Aberly

Christina with Aberly

Took a little vacation this past weekend to visit with new granddaughter (and her parents and other grandparents) in Virginia. On the drive down we stopped at a little place in Letchworth named The Rainy Day Cafe and Bake Shop for a late breakfast.  All entrees had a weather related name; Bob had the Black Cloud (an everything omelet)  and I had the Sprinkle (pancakes).  We took cookies to go but only because the cheese cake and other treats would be too difficult to eat in the car.

The falls at Great Falls State Park VA

 Aberly is a very alert little girl and was not afraid of us at all.  She seemed to enjoy being passed around as long as she was part of the "action".  During one of her naps we were able to enjoy a walk through Great Falls State Park with Charles (her other Grandpa) and have decided we need to go back to walk more trails.  A beautiful area.  We squeezed a lot into this two day visit: a visit to the pumpkin patch in Foggy Bottom, sitting around the fire after a relaxing soak in the hot tub, great meals and lots of visiting.  Looking forward to a time in the future when they come visit NY to see our Falls.

A Little Halloween Treat

October heralds the Scarecrow Expo in Lewiston, Youngstown, Ransomville and Sanborn.  I put "Brooster the Rooster" out front of Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast and had to take him in and dry him out after all the rain we had at the beginning of the month.  (He is still soggy in the picture).  What do you think of my little mascot?  We drove down the main drag in all the other towns and picked out a few other scarecrows we really liked. We caught sight of
Mrs Hal O'ween in front of the Frontier House in Lewiston and the reader in front of the Youngstown Public Library.  Then there was this "gentleman" sleeping it off in front of a house in Ransomville and a wagon load of friends on their way to the Autumn Fest in Sanborn.  There were plenty more scarecrows to be seen so come on out for a Sunday drive and choose your own favorite.
Judging will be handled by the Lower Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce sometime between October 14 and 18.

A visit to Donovan Orchards/BlackBird Cider Works

Last Sunday we took a trip out to BlackBird Cider Works in Burt NY. This was a much awaited trip as we had decided to present our guests, those coming for a special occasion anyway, with a small cake from the Village Bake Shoppe and a bottle of hard cider.  I had to make sure that I could legally do this before getting all excited and making an announcement I had to retract.  I have been presenting the cakes for some time for events such as honeymoon, anniversary, birthday, but hadn't found the right accompaniment.  I have now!


I remember a tart tangy cider from growing up in New Jersey and the sweet cider they sell in the supermarket was a big disappointment to me. I have found the taste I was looking for in  these Black Bird Cider Works ciders, and now I will be able to offer some to my guests.  I can also imagine offering my guests a chance to sample some cider while relaxing on the front porch some warm summer evening.

BlackBird Cider Works is part of the Niagara Wine trail and, like the other members of the trail, they grow their own fruit for their ciders.  When we were there we saw two new flavors that only the staff will be sampling until they have it right..... but Bob is hoping that by our trip out in October one in particular of the ciders we saw will be available, at least for taste testing.

A slow walk through Art Park

hut by Herb Parker

Summertime is a great time to wander through the bird sanctuary up at Art Park.  I've seen everything from Blue herons to eagles and hummingbirds.  Too bad I am not a better photographer!  I am much too busy looking to get a picture.   This year when you check out the birds you will also run across lots of interesting art work on the grounds of the state park.  Art Park is celebrating their 40th anniversary and many of the artists from those first years have come back to create art for this year's celebration.  The big open house is this Thursday, the 25th of July, but the art work will be there to see for some time to come.  Several of the artists stayed with us here at Sunny's Roost and so we had a sneak preview of their work.  Herb built the hut from scratch, you really need to walk through it to see all the time and work that went into this.  Miho's flags are an adaptation of a Buddhist ceremony.  I do not know who built the little (what I call) onion dome village, but it will bring a laugh when you see it.   There are so many more to see, and more are going up this week.  My current guest is building an Eiffel Tower near the ticket office!

Man on Flagpole Project by Miho Sawada

Another of those wonderful sites on a road less traveled

        I just happened to catch this anniversary date and knew it was something a bit out of the ordinary and worth a second look.  Located at 180 Thompson Street North Tonawanda NY,  the Hershel Carrousel Factory Museum is celebrating it's 30th anniversary on  July 14, 2013.  Summer hours are 10:00-4:00 Monday through Saturday and 12:00 to 4:00 on Sunday.  There is a nominal admission to help with the upkeep of the factory, HOWEVER, in honor of the anniversary, this fee has been waved!

        This is not a dull and boring museum of pictures and artifacts in glass cases.  There are stations of restoration works in progress to be seen, with all the steps explained by a restoration specialist. You will see some of the more unusual carrousel animals that have been made, beautiful pieces, and there is a working carrousel on the property for all to ride. This is Allen Hershel Company factory, founded in 1915.  I don't have a picture to include with this copy of Chicken Scratch.  I thought I had some, but I seem to have lost them,  however, if you will check their web site http://www.carrouselmuseum.org you can see pictures, read the history and check out the store.  And if you take some great pictures you don't mind sharing, I seem to be in need of a few.

A walk through Historical Lewiston

 "There is no town in the county richer in picturesque scenery and historical interest than Lewiston" so says  the 1878 Sanford's History of Niagara County, and we in Lewiston take pride in our history.  

Red Brick School 1901-1904 now houses the Village offices

The Historical Association of Lewiston produced a walking guide of 50 plus historic sites in the Village of Lewiston some years ago.  As of this year you can take the tour using a hand held audio wand.  The devices look similar to an old mobile phone with a wrist strap for easy carrying and the information contained within is more in depth than the paper brochure. 

By using the wand and the codes provided in the brochure, you can learn about places, people and events.  Best of all, these devices are free to borrow and come with a map so you can easily locate the buildings and the codes you are most interested in.

The old St Peters RC Church 1901 built of local stone

 As soon as I have a quiet day here at the B&B I plan to take the walk again myself and see what new information I can pick up.  

Is there a Rooster in the house?

Grandma's Roosters

My guests always assume I have been collecting roosters for years and are surprised to learn that the collection is only 12 years old and is really all a fluke.  I had no intention of calling my breakfast Sunny's Roost when I started out.  I planned a fantasy theme (in order to get Bob behind my idea) and had thought to call it "Matthews Keep,"  partially because we had moved so meany times over the course of our married life and I wanted to "keep" this final location until we went out in wheel chairs and partially because a keep is also a castle and we all know a man's home is his castle.  That first business plan was pretty good for not having attended any college classes for nearly 25 years, it earned me a B in my business class. Several months later I took another class that required a business plan and I decided upon Pegasus Aerie (Bob had a small collection of Pegasus figurines and was partial to books with fantasy creatures) and an Aerie is a nest and a home and ...well, you get the idea.  Hey, I was catching on to what I needed to include in a business plan, this one garnered a B+.  I was riding high and real excited, ready to scout my location, and took one final business class and you guessed it...I had to write one more business plan. I was out of names!  Sitting in the kitchen, staring at the wall and worrying about coming up with another name I finally focused on the two cast iron roosters from my Grandmother's house.  OK, they come home to roost, all birds come home to roost, there was my catch phrase.  But The Roost was a name already copyrighted by someone else for another business...Well, I had the nick name of Sunny since I was 13, so how about Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast.  I could have bird houses all over the yard in the trees and feeders and I was on a roll.  It didn't get Bob's interest but I didn't expect to really use that name anyway.  I received an A on that plan.  Not just an A, an A+.  SO Sunny's Roost Bed and Breakfast became the name.

Oh, The collection?  Well, I started looking for places for this bed and breakfast of my dreams and while doing so visited my sister in Massachusetts where she took me to a little country store.  There, behind other baskets and boxes I found a stained glass of a rooster that I fell in love with.  When my sister asked why I wanted this item I told her it was for the B&B, Sunny's Roost.....and the rest, as they say, is history.  She bought me rooster things, guest bought  me rooster things, friends and neighbors finally found a place to unload those rooster items from their parents and grandparents houses and now, they are everywhere!  The place is a virtual "Wheres Waldo" of rooster gifts and people have fun trying to find the one they left here (I rearrange every time I deep clean, change out decor for a holiday or change of season.)  Want to join the fun?  Add a rooster to my collection!

One of the best garage sales ever

Time to empty out the bed of your truck and the trunk of your car to make room for all the treasures you will find at the 10 mile garage sale June 1-2.  I have the kind of job that doesn't allow me to go around on the first day when all the "good stuff" is usually bought. Not only are all the sales pretty well picked over by 3 on a Sunday (after my weekend guests are gone and the rooms set up for incoming guests)  but I have the kind of hubby who takes me to the sale on the back of his motorcycle!  Now, I ask you, how much can you cram into the saddle bags and a back pack?  Certainly not that wonderful lamp that will look perfect in the blue bedroom, or that great rooster planter for the front porch, provided they are still available.  I have developed  a really good philosophy about the situation though, "if I'm meant to have it, it will still be there and I'll be able to spot it as we ride slowly by on the bike AND I'll be able to get him to stop and let me get off for a closer look!"   And just maybe with the Pubfest as well as the Fish and Wildlife Festival at Hyde Park and the Pro-Am Salmon tournament all being the same weekend - I will have better luck than in past years of finding at least 1 treasure I can't live without.

A fun time in the old town

Come on come all to the Village of Lewiston's Pubfest!  The music of 11 regional bands as well as the Trews and USS, rides, games, booths of crafts, food, beverages.  While you are having fun you are also supporting the Variety Kids Telethon, a 51 year old local charity telethon that supports children in need in Western New York.  For more information, visit:  www.lewistonvillagepubfest.com Hope to see you there! 

Living the Dream

By Sunny Matthews

This is the very first blog I wrote, and it never made it past my saved documents page.  I had no idea where to put it!  This year I started listing the 10 most overlooked sites around the Lewiston, Niagara Falls, Lockport area and got hung up when I ran out of pictures and nice weather to taking new ones.  Today I found this and thought I would pass it on:

It had been suggested (in 2009) that I start a “blog” to make my web site more interesting. Being reasonably sure no one wanted to read that today ironed sheets and tomorrow I was going to weed the garden, I checked with someone who has a blog about what to put in this masterpiece. His suggestion was to skip the day to day activities but to talk about what interested my guests. The kind of conversational topics discussed over breakfast.

The question I am most asked by my guests concerns what gave me the idea to run a bed and breakfast.

When my third son was born we lived in a mobile home in a small town in southern Colorado. My parents were invited to stand in for the godparents (who lived out of state) at his baptism. Since they lived 6 hours away, I needed a place for them to stay other then on the fold out couch (tho why they would want to stay in a room of their own rather than with our three boys under the age of 5 I'll never know). Anyway, the places available to them were a bed and breakfast or a small motel. They chose the bed and breakfast. The night before the baptism my mother was laying out her outfit to see if anything needed pressing. She had the hat, the gloves, the matching purse and shoes, the slip, nylons, shell, jacket and....no skirt. It was still carefully folded on the bed at home.

LaVeta was a small town about 62 miles from Pueblo, to the north and 65 miles over a mountain pass from Trinidad. Either way you looked at it, we were 60 plus miles from the nearest shopping center. The owner of the bed and breakfast went into her own closet and selected a skirt that would go with the rest of Mom's ensemble and altered it to fit my mother. (We are talking about a woman close to 100 heaver than my mother, so it was no mean feat.) The rest of the stay fades in my memory, but the way this woman was able to save the day, to make a difference in my mother's day, has stayed with me. I knew than that I wanted to run a bed and breakfast and someday pay that favor forward. And I have! Two years ago we had guests visiting in October when they expected the weather to be cool enough to wear jeans. Instead we had record breaking highs in the 90's. The man on the party had one pair of shorts with him and these he tore the seat out of on the first day of the visit. I was able to borrow a pair of perfect fit shorts from my sons closet for him to wear for the duration of his visit. I know we had stores closer than 60 miles, but in October they were not going to be selling shorts!

WOW! the Votes are IN!

dining alfresco at the Silo

can you eat it all?
at the Lewiston Village Pub

In the process of checking my Facebook page to see if I was a new grandma yet,I found an article stating that the 10 best small towns in America had been posted.  Lewiston was number 5!  You can check it out the link at:  http://www.businessinsider.com/the-ten-best-small-towns-in-america-2012-11#5-lewiston-new-york-6 The source is Rand McNally and USA Today, so you know it is not just posted by a local source.  We had 872 votes in 5 categories,  806 of those were for best food!  We have a couple of personal favorites we brag about to our guests when they ask for dining ideas, but you can read comments from reviewers on the link: http://www.bestoftheroad.com/town.do?destinationId=12055 Then again,  you can come try out restaurants for your self.  For those who travel with their canine companions, several of our local eateries have outdoor seating and water bowls for your traveling companion.  We are a very dog friendly Village.  Hope to see you around!

Summer nights at Art Park

Last time I mentioned one of the walks through Art Park.  Then we had a spate of overcast weather and I did not get to take good pictures of the gorge trail.  Since then Art Park has released their 2013 season schedule.  This is a special season celebrating their 40 year anniversary.  Rather than list all the concerts and events of this special year I just borrowed the link to the article written by Josh Maloni for Niagara Frontier Publications ( http://www.wnypapers.com/artpark-2013-schedule ) in hopes you will check it out.  This weekend we have the promise of "picture taking" weather and I promise to get out to a few of our little known gems to tell you about.  These pictures are of the Tuesday Night concerts from previous years.

A Walk on the wild side at Art Park

Most everyone knows about the concerts and plays at Art Park,

 but how many know about the nature trails?  There is one along the gorge that opens for the season with a  nature guide this Saturday, you can find out more about times and sign up by calling 716-282-5154.  There are other trails at the park though, and Madison and I took part of the Oak Hill  hike today to get some pictures for you (though she had little patience with me when I wanted to stop for one in focus!) 

interesting tree base, a fairy doorway maybe?

There are some interesting tree and rock formations along the trail and you can see the rock foundation of the old 1834 mansion that was named Oak Hill.

Madison on the trail to the mansion

This mansion, commissioned by Seymour Scovell for his family, was also known in later years as the Starkweather Mansion after Scovell's three Starkweather) granddaughters.  These three women were considered "strange" by the locals and apparently also by one of their visitors, the play-write Joseph O Kesselring.  In April of 1974, The Buffalo Evening News identified the women as the inspiration for Kesselring's play "Arsenic and Old Lace". The family, however, will be quick to inform you there were no bodies buried in their basement!

The trail also passes the old railroad bed, an Indian Burial Mound and is a favorite of bird watchers.  We enjoy our hikes here and know you will as well.

Extend you day into night at Niagara Falls State Park

The Falls are lit up every night

weekends there are fireworks over Niagara Falls

Just because it is getting dark, you needn't think Niagara Falls State Park is closing for the day.  Most evenings the falls are lit by a rotating spectrum of colors. However, on special nights they remain all one color, such as blue for autism awareness, pink for breast cancer awareness, and green for Untyes - Donate Life awareness.  As beautiful and breathtaking as the rushing water is by day, seeing it colorful at night is the icing on the cake!  Summer weekends are extra special when the display is capped with fireworks.  If you arrive early you can claim a spot out on the observation tower where the explosions appear to be almost straight up over the center of the gorge.  If you are close enough to the railing of the observation tower or any of the overlooks below, you can also see the colors reflected in the swirling waters below.  Almost like having the fourth of July celebration every Sunday night. In Lewiston we can hear the fireworks as they echo down the gorge!  Something to work into your plans if your stay includes a Friday or Sunday evening.

Yet another hidden treasure

Hidden on a side street in Lockport, just off the Erie Canal, is the First Presbyterian Church with the most marvelous Tiffany stained glass windows.  I had the privilege of being able to tour the building and see the windows from the inside on a bright sunny day.  All I can say is "WOW."  I grew up going to a church with stained glass windows and spent many a dull sermon wondering at the time it took to make those windows and enjoying the beautiful colors.  Not even memory can make them look as special as these do.  And you can tour this church yourself!  There are 10 upper and lower windows, two side by side and the Chancel window, the only one done in conventional stained glass but one commissioned with scenes of Lockport in it.

Lower 7 window "Suffer the little children to come unto me"

Chancel Window

 Be sure to stop in when you go see the locks and the caves and the boats when you visit Lockport.

A second oft' missed site in Western New York

looking south towards the Whirlpool Bridge 

Often times in your hurry to get to see Niagara Falls State Park and the Falls themselves you drive past the parks along the Niagara River.  One of those parks is Whirlpool State Park. There is a small museum here open during the late spring and summer seasons that explains the history of this phenomenon, as well as some pretty gardens. Take a short walk to the edge of the gorge for a view of the whirlpool.  On the Canadian side there is a Spanish cable car that goes over the whirlpool itself, but they do not have our land view.

The whirlpool changes direction during the year with the change of water volume in the Niagara River.  If you are adventurous you can walk down to the rapids, in fact you can usually see people fishing from the rocks down there.  Bring your hiking shoes and plan on hiking in the gorge, you won't be sorry.

looking into the south end of the whirlpool itself

Oft' missed places to go in WNY

This is the Crows Nest at Niagara Falls.  Everyone takes and posts pictures of the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Hurricane deck at the Cave of the Winds, no one seems to post pictures of the Crows Nest.  You can access the path to this walk from the observation tower, same elevator you would use to take the Maid of the Mist boat ride.  Here you can walk right up to the American Falls under Prospect Point, get lost in the mist and feel the roar.  A great place to cool off in the summer.