A Thursday evening drive down a narrow gravel road led to a wooded hillside in Ionia, New York, where the Astronomy Section of the Rochester Academy of Science was holding its monthly meeting. Small observatory buildings dotted the grounds, a vanilla sheet cake marked the club's 145th anniversary, and members in planet-covered shirts discussed telescopes, software, and the night sky. After a presentation on cosmology, everyone drifted outside to point telescopes toward Jupiter while daylight faded over the fields and woods surrounding the observatory.

A Thursday evening adventure to the Geneva Music Festival. A sold-out hall, chamber music from immigrant composers, wine and brownies in the lobby, and a crowd that seemed to know one another. An intimate concert on the beautiful Hobart and William Smith campus overlooking Seneca Lake.