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Le Roy resident's Game of Thrones-inspired Adirondack featured in national magazine

By Howard B. Owens

Gus Bertrand, a Le Roy resident, and woodworking hobbyist, said he isn't particularly a fan of "Game of Thrones," but his wife, Jen, is and when he needed an idea for an anniversary present for his wife, he hit upon the idea of making Adirondack chairs modeled after the iron throne on the popular HBO television series.

After he posted about his creation on a woodworking forum on Reddit, "Popular Woodworking Magazine" editors asked him to submit an article about his creations.

Read the whole article here.

Photos: Plastic model conference in Batavia

By Howard B. Owens

Plastic model hobbyists from throughout the Northeast were in Batavia today at the Quality Inn & Suites for their convention, NOREASTCON, which included displays, vendors, demonstrations, and contests that provided awards in multiple categories.

Batavia to host regional plastic scale model show May 19 & 20

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

NOREASTCON 46, a scale model show and contest, will take place on Friday, May 19th and Saturday, May 20th at the Quality Inn, 8250 Park Road in Batavia. NOREASTCON 46 will be cohosted by the "Buffcon Boys" of Buffalo and the "Roc City Scale Modelers" of Rochester -- both chapters of the International Plastic Modelers Society (IPMS).

This amazing display of scale models will include aircraft, military vehicles, automobiles, ships, fantasy figures, space vehicles, junior categories, dioramas and more. NOREASTCON is held each year in a different Northeast location. The event features the best of the best modelers from as far away as Maine, Virginia and Eastern Canada.

"From past history to modern day to future visions, the models on display will be of interest to those of all ages. The attention to detail, the delicate workmanship and the over 80 different categories provide a unique and miniature look at the world around us," said event spokesperson Armand Miale.

A variety of hobby supply vendors will be on hand and there will also be an awesome raffle of hobby kits, books and supplies scheduled to take place. Demonstrations and seminars on building better models are scheduled for Saturday. For those who choose to enter models, the $20 fee is for unlimited entries. Awards will be presented. General admission is $10 per person and is good for both days.

For more information on NOREASTCON 46, visit www.noreastcon.com

Visit model train display in Oakfield during open house Dec. 3

By Howard B. Owens

Photos: File photos

Press release:

The Genesee Society of Model Engineers will host the club's Annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, Dec. 3rd, at the club's facilities at 50 Main St. (Route 63), Oakfield (above the M&T Bank). The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

The club's facilities feature operating layouts in O Gauge (Lionel), HO & N scale as well as push trains for the little ones. Refreshments will be served and club members will be available to answer your model railroading questions. Fun for kids of all ages. Stairway access only.

"The Christmas holidays seem to bring back those childhood memories of a model train around the Christmas tree," says club President Mike Bakos. "Our members are keeping the traditions of trains and the holidays alive. We invite you to visit and enjoy one of Genesee County's best kept secrets." 

The Genesee Society of Model Engineers is located at 50 Main St. (Route 63), Oakfield, (above the M&T Bank) and is open Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. Business meetings are held the last Tuesday of each month. Visit www.gsme.org.

Color all of your worries away

By Howard B. Owens

If you haven't heard yet, coloring books are now a thing. OK, sure, we all had coloring books as kids, but now that we're all grown up, we're finding coloring books again, but not the "see spot run" type of coloring books, the pirate-on-the-ship coloring book that 3-year-olds scribble on, but books with pages of complex designs, fine lines and thin strips of blanks awaiting our choices of ruby, ginger or burgundy.

Adult coloring books are the hottest item at Karen's Yarn, Paper, Scissors, said owner Karen Crittenden. Her Saturday morning coloring sessions are popular enough that reservations are required and she's added a monthly evening session. This Saturday, more people than anticipated turned out for a coloring group at the Richmond Memorial Library.

"I find it very soothing to take a thing that is just black and white and turn it into something that is beautifully colored," said Lynn Bartlett Taylor during Saturday's event at the library. "Even though I'm not an artist, it makes me feel like I am in my own way."

Read articles or talk to participants and the common themes of why adults color in coloring books are it's meditative and it's a stress reliever.

In a recent article for Parade Magazine, psychologist Alice Domar, Ph.D., executive director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health in Boston, said one reason adults find coloring so relaxing is it engages the entire brain. It's impossible to multitask or worry about kids or money when both sides of your brain are absorbed in coloring between the lines. 

“It’s impossible to worry about dinner or the laundry or anything else when your mind is completely engaged,” Domar explains. “With knitting or other crafts, you can watch TV or multitask, but coloring really requires you to be in the moment. And that makes it meditative.”

She suggests coloring to patients who need stress relief, particularly those who loved the activity as a child.

“Coloring brings you back to a simpler time. It’s pleasurable. It’s a chance to sit and be mindful -- and at the end you get this beautiful result. You have a real sense of accomplishment.”

Taylor said she gets totally absorbed in the pictures she's creating.

"It's very meditative," said Taylor, who started coloring with her grandchildren in 2004, then stopped for awhile, then came back to it after hand surgery as a form of physical therapy.

"I can't make pictures of my own but I can fill in the colors for somebody else and everyone turns out different and I can't see the picture when I start out, but as I add the color, it starts coming alive. It's like each picture has its own personality."

For somebody just getting into adult coloring, Crittenden said they have a lot of options, from whether they want to start with complex designs, what themes to choose (mandalas are popular, but there is a host of other subjects available from birds and flowers to fanciful landscapes and seascapes), the medium to use (pencils, markers, crayons) and whether the colorist has enough skill and experience to handle more artistic expressions such as gradients and shading.

"The biggest thing I don't want them to do is get frustrated," Crittenden said. "They'll look online. They'll look in the stores. They'll look at the picture books and say, 'I want to do that,' and a lot of those techniques out there take some time and practice and some skill."

New colorists can also get started cheaply, if they like, or make a pricier splash, depending on their budget.

"There are $4 coloring books and you can get a set of pencils for $7," Crittenden said. "It's not expensive to get into, but you can go upwards. I mean some of these coloring books, like this one, it's an actual book. That's $25, and you can go on up from there."

Part of the thing of color is it works both as a solo pursuit and as a social activity. Across the country, adults get together in small groups on a regular basis to color together. There are Facebook and Pinterest groups dedicated to adult coloring. Colorists loving sharing their work.

But seeing all of this public activity it would be tempting to think adult coloring is just a woman thing, but that's not the case at all, Crittenden said.

"I'm finding that a lot of men are doing it, too," Crittenden said. "The last time we had a set of insect coloring books in, they went out of here fast. A lot of women were buying them for their men. A lot of men color with their wives. They're like secret colorers. A lot of times on Facebook women will post and say 'this one belongs to my husband,' or 'my husband did this one.' The wives are posting about them. It's probably just that more women are open about coloring."

After all, men have stress, too.

Crittenden herself using coloring to relax her mind.

"I have the skill to draw this, but drawing this takes too much of my concentration," Crittenden said pointing to a design in a book. "If I'm coloring this, I'm coloring it at the end of the day. My coloring books are up by my bed with my pencil tin. When I do this, I'm doing this at bedtime. For me, it gets my brain to stop, because I have a brain that doesn't stop.

"It's going like all the time and if I don't stop it at bedtime, I can't sleep because my brain keeps going and going and going and going and going. Ideas just keep flying into my head. If I don't stop, it just keeps going and this helps my brain stop working enough so I can fall asleep."

Photos: RC air show in Stafford

By Howard B. Owens

Heading back from Le Roy yesterday afternoon, I spotted a sign off Route 5 that said "Model Airplane Show."

Well, that sounded interesting.

I followed the signs to Randall Road and discovered an airfield behind a set of barns and met members of the Radio Controlled Flying Club of Batavia.

They were hosting special guests yesterday, professional flyers from Rochester, Devin McGrath and Kyle Stacy.

McGrath, Stacy and club member Don Lefever.

Linden resident still riding easy after 56 years on Triumph bikes

By Howard B. Owens

Linden resident Dick Harris bought is first Triumph motorcycle in 1955, and once he got that feeling of the open road and the wind in his hair, he hasn't spent a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror.

Harris, the son of a preacher, owns several versions of the legendary motorcycle now, including six that run and one he's restoring.  

In the room of his home where he stores the bikes, are pictures of Triumphs and places he's been, a shelf full of trophies he's won and a map of the United States. It traces the route to and from California he took during one of his three cross-country trips on a Triumph.

Just yesterday, the 78-year-old Harris went for a 150-mile ride.

"Every day that's nice, I try to get out," said the Linden native.

He left home at 17 and set out for Arizona, where he lived for a year. When he was 21 and discovered he liked riding motorcycles, he didn't exactly consult his preacher father.

"I didn't get on a bike until I was older, so my father didn't have much to say about it," Harris said.

He did get his dad to take a ride on a Triumph much later, when he was 80 years old.

While Harris didn't follow his father into the ministry, three of his four sons inherited his love for motor bikes. The picture below is of his son Dan's house, also in Linden.

Asked why he's enjoyed riding his bikes all these years, Harris kind of shrugged and said, "I don't know. Freedom, I guess. I like to get out on the road."

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