Master Docents: Graycliff at Valentine's Day

Each year over the weekend nearest Valentine's Day, Graycliff offers fun tours that incorporate information on the many loves of Frank Lloyd Wright.  This is then contrasted with the life long love between Darwin and Isabelle Martin.  Following the tour, we give out free hot chocolate and chocolate kisses.

If you've read up on Wright's love life...first wife Catherine; his relationship with Mamah Cheney and its horrific conclusion, his second marriage to Miriam Noel, and his final marriage and rather unusual relationship with with Olgivanna...not to mention murder and mayhem, arrest under the Mann Act, drug abuse, abandoned children, and digging up remains after burial....perhaps you'd like to give one of these tours.

The Buffalo News will be covering these tours, and we typically fill them anyway...so we can expect full tours, which will most likely take place as follows:

February—Saturday, February 15 –11:00  In-Depth FLW Loves Tour;  1:30 In-Depth FLW Loves Tour

                      Sunday, February 16 –1:30 In-Depth FLW Loves Tour

If you are a Master Docent, and you'd like to docent for them (perhaps do a little refresher reading in January...a good time for it)  please email or call.

Care of New Floors at Graycliff

Hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather!

 Our new floors are expected to be completed soon, and we now have information about how to best maintain them.

1)  The wide-plank cypress we are using is a very soft wood.  For this reason, no high heels are permitted to be worn on any Graycliff tour.  This policy was set several years ago, and for those guests who arrive wearing them,we have "Croc-style" shoes in a variety of sizes available for them to wear.  Docents, can you please scan visitors shoes at the start of each tour?  Staff will be doing this as well, but sometimes it's hard to see over the register!

2) All folding chairs and tables must have rubber tips.  We'll be checking our existing chairs and tables this winter to make sure they do...but if you ever notice that a rubber tip has fallen off, please don't use that chair....just put it aside until we can get a replacement tip.

3) The rubber tips themselves will likely cause scuff marks.  So if using folding chairs or helping with set up and breakdown, please be careful not to drag chairs.

4) Historic Housekeeping Team:  If you notice scuff marks, they can be removed with WD-40 and a soft cloth.

5) Eventually the living room will have a carpet covering most of it, so the areas of concern will primarily be in the dining room and the entry...but we will have runners/rugs in those areas as well.

6) Each winter, we'll be applying a refresher coat..probably in late January each year....so there will be a couple of weeks annually when those rooms will not be accessible.

7) Green Team and anyone else who is interested:  We will be removing all live plants from the interior of the building, with the exception of the ferns in the Fern/View Room.  If you'd like a free plant...let us know ASAP.

Thank you for all you do for Graycliff.....including helping to maintain the areas that are already restored.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to all our staff ,and volunteers who make Graycliff a special place.

We are thankful for your smiles

We are thankful for your warm and welcoming nature

We are thankful for your time

We are thankful for your talents

We are thankful for your dedication

We are thankful for your generosity

We are thankful for your flexibility

We are thankful for your willingness to lend a hand

We are thankful for your strength

We are thankful for your ideas and suggestions

We are thankful for your organization skills

We are thankful for your squeaky clean windows

We are thankful for your perfectly pruned plants

We are thankful for your wonderful customer service

And most of all we are thankful for YOU!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Diane Schrenk,President,

Graycliff Conservancy

Restoration Update for 11/21/13 thru Thanksgiving AND Cultural Cards

    Restoration:

 Restoration is moving along very swiftly at the moment, but it shouldn't interfere with tours very much.

      Electricians and Fire suppression installers are hard at work on Graycliff's new misting fire suppression system in the entry, living room and dining room.  At the same time, work is underway on the floor registers, which are being installed BENEATH the floor, as Wright specified.  (Who would have thought of a heated floor back in 1926, but Frank Lloyd Wright?)   There will be registers to conduct heat actually up from the basement.  As you can imagine, most of this work will be taking place in the basement, so there may be some loud noises at times.

New in the Gift Shop:

2014 Cultural Cards

Similar to the Entertainment Book, but looks like a set of playing cards, Cultural Cards provide a variety of discounts for cultural activities all over Western New York.  Of course Graycliff is a participant, and so are the following: 

464 Gallery - 710 Main Theatre - African American Cultural Center  Albright-Knox Art Gallery - Aquarium of Niagara -  Botanical Gardens -Buffalo Arts Studio -Buffalo History Museum Buffalo Music Hall of Fame - p Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus -  Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra - Buffalo Spree - Buffalo Suzuki Strings -  Buffalo Zoo - Burchfield Penney -  Castellani Art Museum - CEPA Gallery - Community Music School -  Explore & More Children's Museum -  Graycliff - e Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum - Infinity Visual & Performing Arts - Irish Classical Theatre -  Jewish Repertory Theatre -  Just Buffalo Literary Center - 2The Kenan Center - Lewiston Council on the Arts -  Locust St. Neighborhood Art Classes - Lucy Desi Center for Comedy - The Martin House -  Mundo Images - Museum of Disability History - Music is Art -  Musicalfare Theatre - Neglia Ballet - Niagara Arts and Cultural Center -  Orchard Park Chorale -  Penn Dixie Site -  Road Less Traveled Productions - Sportsmen's Tavern - Springville Center for the Arts - Starlight Studio and Art Gallery - Subversive Theatre - Theatre of Youth -TR Inaugural Site -  Torn Space Theater - UB Center for the Arts -  Ujima Company -Young Audiences of WNY  Kavinoky Theatre -

Good thru December, 2014, they are $20 per pack.  Available in the Pavilion Shop at Graycliff.

No Restoration Update. But a Few Other Things!

No restoration update this week, as the project manager is out of the country.  Should have an update on Monday.

So a few other things:

Thanks to every one attended the Volunteer Breakfast!  

These are just a  few fun folks:

Dick and Priscilla O'Brien

Linda Weyand, with firefighter helment

Marcy Workman and Cindy Trowman

Phyllis Spears and Kathy Mehltretter

And last but not least, Blogger Extraordinaire, George Struebel

Also, NEW IN THE GIFT SHOP  --JUST ARRIVED:

Bowls, handmade from trees removed during historic landscape restoration.  Each is quite individual...only a few available.  Call Ryan for more information at 716-947-9217.  Only available in the Pavilion Shop, not on line.

Article on Graycliff's Landscape, from the Gardening Perspective

Nice article on Graycliff's landscape restoration, from a different perspective....take a look here:




Buffalo Niagara Gardening article about Graycliff's Historic Landscape

Happening this Saturday, November 9th...

If you haven't RSVP'd for the Volunteer Breakfast at the Wanakah Country Club this Saturday, November 9th from 8:30 am to 10:30 am, please call Graycliff ASAP at 947-9217...it should be fun!

Following the breakfast, for that day only, Graycliff volunteers receive a 20% discount (double the usual 10%) in the Gift Shop on most items (does not include magazine or Buffalo china items, for example...)  Like the new Graycliff jewelry by David Howell.....

Then, at 11:30 am, Charity Vogel will sign copies of her new book,

The Angola Horror: The 1867 Train Wreck That Shocked the Nation and Transformed American Railroads. 

This book WILL be available to volunteers at a 20% discount that day...which is cheaper than Amazon (no shipping charges!)



Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!