“My favorite Olmsted landscape? Close to home is Symphony Circle. It’s often a destination in neighborhood walks with my son, to collect horse chestnuts or just to sit in the shade and watch people as they go by.”

“My daughter and I travel each day down Richmond Avenue on her way to Leonardo DaVinci High School at D’Youville. For the first few weeks of school I would quiz her on the names of the circles and parkway that we pass. We’ve decided we both adore Ferry Circle, but we like to think of it as ‘Fairy Circle’ with its fluffy ornamental grasses, happy flowers and imaginative appeal. It’s a magical, marvelous Olmsted landscape.”

“I have wonderful memories of when my dad would take my sister and me ice skating in Humboldt Park (now MLK Jr. Park).”

“My favorite Olmsted landscape? Delaware Park and Lincoln Parkway … screams Olmsted!”

“When I was four-years old, I got my foot caught in the ‘monkey tree’ at Cazenovia Park. All of my friends ran home to tell my mom … she brought her trusty bottle of Crisco oil and was able to ‘set me free.”

“While an urban garden and well-kept house are joy, there is a unique connection to nature in the large spaces of land and water in Delaware Park. As a child I sledded on its hills, listened to the park zoo’s elk bellow during fall football practices in the meadow. Even today as I walk my dog around the lake I can see snapping turtles, herons and flocks of goldfinches that remind me of the larger reach of nature that sometimes is forgotten in the surrounding streets of the city.”

“One of my favorite things is that when you walk around Hoyt Lake, there are several spots where you can’t see anything but trees and water; no power lines, no cell towers, just nature. You might as well be out in the country, even though you are right in the middle of a major urban city.”

“There is no better restful and relaxing area in Buffalo than Delaware Park, a place we take for granted. I learned to golf there with my father in early teenage years. I played basketball and ran (a little) cross-country there during high school. I introduced my children to Shakespeare on its hill, overlooking the Lake, then later coached soccer in the Meadow for many, many years. Not to mention bike rides or simple strolls on its paths. And every once in a while, I simply stop at one of its inviting spots, under an oak or elsewhere gazing at its landscapes, and ruminate about what is yet to come.”

“Thanks to our amazing staff, everything is possible.”

“I’m getting paid to do what I love to do. It doesn’t get any better than that.”