suns along the Mohawk

The sunset last night was especially lovely and unique, with shades of orange illuminating small portions of an overweening mass of clouds and shining through a bit of open sky.   I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, and successfully resisted the temptation to go back home for it.

. . orange sunset with safety cone (June 23, 2009) … 

Nonetheless, another type of orange glow was again visible yesterday down the length of Washington Avenue, and especially right out my window at the intersection with Cucumber Alley.  [click to see the actual view through my window screen]  It was the Safety Orange hue of the cones, signs and shirts brought to our block by a National Grid work crew, which was installing new gas pipe on our street.  (see the post last week, “my NiMo sunset“)

Over the past few days, I captured a few safety orange images, as they proliferated out my window and at “my” corner of Washington Ave. and Cucumber Alley. [As usual, you can click on a photo to see a larger version of the photo.]

Here are a few shots taken yesterday morning (June 30), just as the workday was beginning for the crew:

. . . Men Working Sign ready to start the day – June 30, 2009 . . .

. . the same sign gets crowded by the huge trench wheel . .

At the end of the afternoon yesterday, we had a major thunderstorm and rain event.  I arrived home just in time to see the workmen rushing to close up shop as a light rain leading the storm began to fall.

. . .

– two views, just as an imminent thunderstorm ended the workday, from the porch of 16 Washington Ave. –

– quiet before the brunt of the storm –

. . . detail: with the windows of 21 Washington Ave. aglow reflecting the safety lights –

At 6 AM this morning (July 1), a few more cones caught my eye, as I walked down to the Washington Ave. deadend, and back, to see what ended up being an only slightly foggy Mohawk River. (Radio personalities had mentioned fog in the Capital Region quite a few times as I lay prematurely awake in bed.):

. . . safety cones at 6 AM, July 1, 2009, near a foggy Mohawk River . . .

. . . cones by 10 Washington Ave., 6 AM, July 1, 2009 .

Admittedly, I’d rather see an orange sunset, like the one in our Masthead.  But, some days you just have to take your orange glow where you find it.

update (July 2, 2009): It seems I’ve been ignoring the orange sights at the other end of Washington Ave. and from the southside of the street.  Here are a few taken this morning to make up for that oversight, plus some of my very favorite perennial examples of Stockade orange.

. . . 

. . . Nature provides a Stockade orange to enjoy every summer:

. . .

– another kind of crew finds Stockade orange behind Washington Ave. –

– at 8 AM it was too early for these orange daylilies to be fully awake –

p.s. A year ago, I was also intrigued by Safety Orange images in the Stockade, but never finished an imagined project finding numerous interesting perspectives on the “blazing orange” color.  Since it might not happen again, I’ll take this opportunity to show you a few safety orange images from 2008 in the Stockade:

– in the bright sun, in front of the Riverside Condo, on Front Street, Sept. 2, 2008 –

. . .

. . along with grave markers, 1st Presyterian Cemetery, Labor Day 2008 –