Posted by: David Giacalone | September 1, 2025

images from August 2025

. Mabee Farm .. Stockade sunflowers .

. Jazz On Jay (Lamb & Curley) . .  

. . From Stockade sunflowers early in the month, to Arts & Crafts at Mabee Farm, to Jazz on Jay to end the month, August brought leisure and lovely sites. This posting has some of the sights I enjoyed. 

. . Front St. sunflowers . .  

Sweltering heat let up enough to make the Mabee Farm Arts & Crafts Show a pleasant place to stroll and shoot on August 23rd. I enjoyed chatting with docents and handicrafters under blue skies and puffy clouds. 

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. . hydrangeas still impress on N. Ferry St. .. 

. . Lawrence remembers the Zizzis . .

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Meanwhile, all month long, I again got to enjoy large chocolate chip sourdough cookies, and the good vibes of the Bland family, at the Schenectady Trading Company (10 North Center Street). With the added bonus of seeing my photo-canvases displayed, with proceeds from an occasional sale going to Things of My Very Own. [image shows a canvas featuring the St. George’s steeple and a stunning painting by Sherrie Xu from the 2021 Stockade Outdoor Art Show.]

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Posted by: David Giacalone | July 18, 2025

Mernie Brown brings art to the Rose Garden

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Mernie Brown (seen on the left with her son and a portrait she painted of him) is a daughter of the founder of The Schenectady Rose Garden, Col. Charles D. Brown. This evening, Friday July 18, 2025, Mernie filled the award-winning Garden with beautiful paintings, in Gallery 5 Schenectady‘s first outdoor pop-up art showcase. Her artistry and personality brought a special glow to an always special space and appreciative visitors.

Even with many roses past-peak, the art-filled Garden was lovely and the weather perfect.  Here are a few more scenes from a special evening. [click on a mosaic tile for a larger image]

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. . for more images from the event, see the Rose Garden’s Facebook posting . .

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Posted by: David Giacalone | July 15, 2025

face to face with Summer Night 2025

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An hour strolling the blocks of Schenectady County’s Summer Night last Friday (July 11, 2025) reminded me that I really enjoy seeing faces, whether smiling or serious. Here are a few I snapped between 5 and 6 p.m. before it got crowded.

Superman Fan
no sign, but lots of smiles
Trishna Begam of News10

. . click on a tile for a larger, full image . .

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Phil Singer’s Superman
a face down the street

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. . sometimes, you get to imagine the face . .   

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. . for more Summer Night 2025  faces and sights, see

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Posted by: David Giacalone | July 4, 2025

delightful Declaration Day

   I had an inspiring time today (July 4) at Liberty Park/Gateway Plaza listening to, watching and “shooting” people of good will and good cheer celebrating Independence Day by making Declarations asserting the rights of all of us, showing how they/we want our community to treat eachother, and making commitments to act on those assertions and beliefs.  This posting commemorates the Declaration Day events at Liberty Park.

  •   Click on this thumbnail excerpt from the Declaration Day flyer, which sets the serious tone for the day. I hope the Slideshow images and other photos in this posting show the joy and hope of participants.  Many thanks to the Schenectady NAACP Chapter and all the other organizations and individuals who made the event possible.

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  •  For a larger version of a Slideshow image, pause the Slideshow, right-click, and choose Open Image in New Tab. 

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PICNICKING … Big thanks go to Elizabeth and Eric for hosting a fine picnic and potluck meal behind their home at 17 Front Street, along Governors Lane at Riverside Park. I was enjoying myself, the guests, and the food too much to take many photos, but here are a few.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | July 1, 2025

good fireworks across the Mohawk

Last Friday, June 27th, brought a fine fireworks show coordinated by the Village of Scotia, with many special sponsors, including Jumpin’ Jack’s and Brian and Judi Merriam. As I often do, I went to my backyard, at the end of Cucumber Alley. Once again, I demonstrated that I have not mastered the art of fireworks photography.  The results were more like Post-Impressionism than Photo Realism. Nonetheless, I’m posting a half dozen photos just to keep me humble and maybe evoke a smirk or two.

  • for a nostalgic walk down Cucumber Fireworks Lane, click a link or two from our Fireworks Category.

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Posted in Stockade Views

Posted by: David Giacalone | June 28, 2025

General Lafayette returns

The Riverside Park celebration of the Return of General Lafayette lured me and my camera away from Cucumber Corner on June 11th.  The American Friends of Lafayette society has been recreating the tour of America taken by the Marquis de Lafayette two hundred years ago, fifty years after our Revolution. This bi-centenial tour has stops at each of the 28 then-existing states visited by the very popular and esteemed General in 1824-1825. The Schenectady segment of the Return Tour took place on June 11, 2025, sponsored and supported by many Schenectady luminaries. See Kiersten Marcil’s website for a full description of the many activities and participants celebrating LaFayette in Schenectady.

Lafayette at podium
Lafayette arriving

. . above:  Michael Halfert re-enacts Lafayette . . 

. . here are some sights I saw that day at Riverside Park . .

This Slideshow features many more shots from the ceremony greeting Gen. LaFayette.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | May 31, 2025

a friendly nightmare

“Black Light Mural” seen in daylight at Jay Square. . .

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 On Saturday, May 24, 2025, I visited the Nightmare Market on Schenectady’s Jay Street, along City Hall and the Jay Street Marketplace.  Organized and directed by Kayla Ek, it was billed as “A curated night market for the Wicked and Weird”. The thumbnail image at the head of this paragraph shows Front Page coverage in the Schenectady Daily Gazette, featuring Luna Faun’s Fire display; click on it for a larger version (Memorial Day, May 26, 2025, photo by Stan Hudy). 

Here are a few of the sights that were more enjoyable and thought-provoking than nightmarish that evening.

. . Agony the Clown and associate .. 

  

. . Liliko‘s tent was glowing. . 

LILIKO
Signature Fans
and a fan

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. . Jay Street Marketplace 

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. . . . detail, Black Light Mural

looking for a grinch
reading time
more sweet than bitter
DJ Dental at Electric Grinch
not wicked nor weird

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. crowded street, uncrowded pergola .

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Posted in Downtown Schenectady | Tags: ,

Posted by: David Giacalone | May 3, 2025

cherry blossom p.s.

.  . May 2 at Campbell Row

Our Stockade cherry blossoms again demonstrated how fleeting beauty can be, floating to the ground only a few days after we praised this year’s lovely display.  Magnolia arrays are similarly brief. We have to appreciate them while they are with us, and of course take photos to memorialize them, as in our webposting.

Thank goodness for another tradition here on Washington Avenue: a lovely, small and slightly delayed display featuring two young trees on Campbell Row, at #19 and #23. Below are images from April 30 and May 2. The second batch show that taking a second look is worth the effort.

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19 Washington Ave.
23 Wash Ave.
19 Wash Ave.

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And, as seen on May 2, 2025:

19 Wash Ave.
23 Wash Ave.
Campbell Road. May 2

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. . bonus: May 2 alongside 1 Union St . .

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Posted in cherry blossoms, Stockade Views | Tags: ,

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