Luncheon this Wednesday...

FIRST COME, FIRST ACCEPTED!

Visit Buffalo Niagara is holding its annual awards luncheon in the Buffalo Convention Center this coming Wednesday, May 1st, and a table was donated to Graycliff.  There are just three seats at the Graycliff table at the Beacon Awards still available, so if you'd like to join us, whoever responds  first via comment below gets first dibs.

Among the honorees is Phyllis W. Pierce, a wonderful person, neighbor of Graycliff, and major financial supporter of Graycliff's landscape restoration.  This should be a fun event...and will also disprove the old adage that there's no such thing as a free lunch!

Hope to see you there...if you're relatively speedy, that is.  All best--Reine

University Express Program

University Express Program is sponsored by the Erie County Department of Senior Services.  As part of this program one of our own, June Justice Crawford, a docent and co-chair of the Wright-on-the-road at Graycliff, is doing a presentation on Tuesday, May 14 at 3 pm titled, Buffalo's Grain Elevator.
This will be at the Orchard Park Senior Center.  Call 662-6452 to register.  Classes are free and open to all seniors 55+ years.  That unfortunately includes most of us!  You can pick up a brochure with a complete listing of classes at other Senior Centers in Erie County.

SAVE THE DATE

We have posted about it before, but don't forget the presentation on May 1; that's just next week!  I have also been informed today that the speaker, Scott Perkins, has just been offered and accepted the  position of Director of Preservation at Fallingwater. 

 

 

Please save the date of May 1, 2013 7 pm.  As part of the Graycliff Lecture Series there will be a presentation by Scott Perkins at the Burchfield Penny Art Center titled;

   Opening the Envelope:

Porches, Patios, and Terraces

Remember, you heard it here first!  Further info on the presentation will be forthcoming.

National Volunteer week

  

Congratulations,  folks!  It is our week: National Volunteer Week.  So, on behalf of the Graycliff Conservancy, thank you all for your volunteer efforts in support of the organization.  Without you, there would be no Graycliff,  and your volunteer time, efforts and commitment are greatly appreciated and valued.

WELCOME TRAINEE DOCENTS

A  new docent training group will be starting on 4/27, and running Saturdays  9-noon until 6/15   with a break for Memorial Day weekend. We would like to welcome those trainees to the Graycliff family and hope that they find their involvement with the Conservancy as rewarding as the rest of us have.  A hearty welcome to: Kathleen B., Dan & Gail S., Don & Susan W., Nancy D., Phillipa G., Michael P., Mary Y., Joe-Susan E-W., Dale N., Linda Mc., Margaret S., Tom J., and Marilyn Mc.  It is great to have you join us.

I hope that you find this blog useful and informative.  You can comment on any posted article by clicking on the comment section after any article on the blog (this comment section apparently does not show up if you get new blog postings on your email, you have to actually sign on to the blog.) or address any question of concern of any kind, or ideas for postings to George Struebel at

                                                      gds2146@hotmail.com

The purpose of this blog is to be a source of information and communication for all Graycliff volunteers as a way of making us a tighter, more cohesive group.  Please feel free to contribute and comment.  By the way, if you have not met your trainers yet, Marion is the lovely lady in the first picture in the blog heading. .Having gone through the training myself just a year ago, I can tell you that you are going to have an enjoyable experience.  And I can guarantee that at the end of the training you will have so much Frank Lloyd Wright/ Darwin & Isabelle Martin information inside your head that it will be busting to get out and be shared on tours.  You will definitely become an expert.  Welcome to the Graycliff family!

Graycliff --Landscape Restoration Underway at Last!

We aren't really under siege, but the place looks a little like it as the attached photos indicate.  We are heavy into the process of removing  trees, removing the asphalt and re-creating the historic driveway, major improvements to the pond (including a new circulation system and real concrete liner, so that many of you will not have to wade into the pond several times a year to fix the plastic liner currently in place)  and other exciting activities in an effort to return the site to the original 1931 landscape plan.  Only non-historic trees are being removed; historically significant trees are being carefully protected.  Some  trees are being removed  to allow a large crane access to the bluff to remove and save the bridge  to the tower, and reinforcing the tower, which will be happening in the next several weeks.  All the trees in the circle have already come down including the dawn redwoods.

 I was there Tuesday morning when these pictures were taken and by the time I left at 11:30, more than half of the driveway circle asphalt had also been removed and I suspect the rest may have been gone by the end of the day. It's always sad to remove trees, but the good news is that once construction is finished, new trees and shrubs will be installed to replicate the original landscape design.

This restoration will provide challenges to conducting tours and I suggest you arrive early if you are leading tours and survey what the situation is like on the grounds prior to starting your tours.   Historic renovation at Graycliff is always an ongoing process and guests--and we-- are fortunate to be able to view parts of that process.  Invite guests  back in the future to see how the place changes. Just be aware of the process and be prepared to work your tours around it (rerouting may be necessary) and work the preservation process into your presentation.

PS  Was there Saturday 4/20 and the walkway from the kitchen stoop was removed making it a pretty big jump down to leave , be careful there.  The driveway is not yet completely removed, some work is going on at the pond. the cut trees have been removed from home grounds and stored elsewhere so less of a messy look in that respect.

Two Volunteers Needed for May 1st!

Graycliff's first lecture of the season, "Inside/Outside: Transitional Space in the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright", is scheduled for Wed., May 1st. 

 The lecture will begin at 7:00 PM at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. 

 As of today, nobody has signed up to volunteer for this event.  There is a sign-up sheet for this and other 2013 Graycliff events posted on the bulletin board in the Volunteer Lounge at the site.  

We will need two volunteers for this event, to check people in for the lecture.  Reporting time would be no later than 6:30 PM.  If you are interested in assisting with this lecture, please let one of the Volunteer Co-Chairs know:


     Phyllis Spears -email Phyllis 
     Kathy Mehltretter - Email Kathy