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 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 by: David Giacalone | April 27, 2025

thank you Steve Caporizzo

. . Mama G. always wanted to fix that errant “O”. .

The Capital District’s popular and much-admired meteoroligist Steve Caporizzo of News10ABC announced earlier this year that he will be “100% retired from TV weather” on June 30, 2025, after 42 years on the job. Steve said he has been living his weather reporting dream and still loves the job every day. At 64 years old, however, Steve wants to devote more time to his two other loves, his wife Lisa and the furry friends they help through his Pet Connection. Just in case moist eyes make it too difficult to type my thanks and praise for Steve at the end of June, I want to highlight at this time the wonderful connection he has made with this website and its photographer.

This gallery shows a few of the Stockade images Steve has shared with his TV and Facebook fans, helping to show our unique historic district neighborhood along the Mohawk.

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. .

Last month, an email inquiry from Steve motivated me to head out into the cold and windy weather along the Mohawk to monitor the potential ice jams forming on the River. I did some mumbling to myself often along Riverside Park, as I grabbed onto anything available to prevent being blown into-onto the Mohawk Here are two shots I would have missed on March 7 and 8 without Steve’s inspiration getting me off my couch.

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I had more fun than agita whenever my last name came out “Giacolone” instead of Giacalone (sometimes both ways on the same broadcast!). See the image at the top of this post. I would threaten to get my Mama G. after Steve for his typos. But, I confess that I have checked my spelling of Caporizzo many times to make sure my paisan’s name had the correct number of Ps, Rs and Zs.

UPDATE: More Honors for Steve: Times Union Best Of Capital Region 2025, May 16, 2025):

/classic

……………….. RETIREMENT PARTY UPDATE (June 27, 2025): “Cap” just posted at his Facebook Page his reaction to the Retirement Party ABC News Channel 10 threw for him last night: “It was absolutely beautiful. My eyes were watering up, being with friends and family and so many well wishes. It meant the world to me. I have been so lucky in my career in so many ways.”

Grazie di Tutto, Steve Caporizzo, for all you do and have done. Very best wishes to you, Lisa, and your fur family.

. . stay in touch through Steve Capozizzo Facebook page and Pet Connection ..  

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Posted by: David Giacalone | April 25, 2025

weeping for joy again at CGOH

. . . . .

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There is a heavenly display of weeping Japanese cherry blossoms again this year at Congregation Gates of Heaven. And the coloration is an especially lovely shade of pink.  CGOH is located at 852 Ashmore Avenue, at Eastern Parkway, Schenectady NY 12309.

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All photos were taken on April 23, 2025. Click on an image for a large verion.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | April 21, 2025

2025 cherry blossoms look promising

. . Earth Day glory. .

.  . update (April 23, 2025): This year’s blossom crop got even better than “promising”. . For example, there was a stunning combination of two of my favorite sights: abundant Stockade cherry and magnolia blossoms during that magical golden hour before sunset on April 22, Earth Day, 2025:

Lawrence Circle
26 Front St.
142 Front St.

. . don’t miss “weeping for joy at CGOH” (April 25, 2025). .  

ORIGINAL POSTING:  to share use: tinyurl.com/blossoms2025

 

Easter sunshine gave a boost to our cherry blossom arrays in the Stockade yesterday (April 20), I am pleased to say.  They may not be the most bountiful displays ever on and around my block, but they are definitely lovely and able to motivate lovers of beauty and romance, as well as cranky photographers, to come out to take a look. Magnolias were also becoming quite becoming.

I’ll be adding more this morning and heading out later today to see what popped out since my first blossom stroll yesterday.

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15 Washington Ave.

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. . N. Ferry St.

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. . 2 Union St. .

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.  . don’t forget to look for driveway treasures . . 

29-30 Front St.
32 Washington Ave.
12 1/2 N. Ferry

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. . . and magnolias coming out .

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.. also at SCHS, 32 Washington Ave. . . 

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. . Front St. east of Lawrence [L] and N. Church south of Front are looking good again this year . .

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. . I’m a lucky man. The above photo shows the view out my front door yesterday, April 22, Earth Day. Beauty, blueskies and a gem of a neighborhood help me to forget about aches or complaints about local or national politics, and to count my blessings, one of which is being able to share my pleasure thanks to my camera and websites. 

. . April 23rd . .

16 Washington Av 23Apr
Cucumber Corner view 23Apr

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. . . . . Bonus: weeping willows at Schenectady’s Central Park Rose Garden not yet at peak on April 23 .

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Posted by: David Giacalone | April 18, 2025

recalling our 2024 cherry blossoms

 

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A year ago this week, we were celebrating the arrival and revival of gorgeously robust cherry blossoms on Washington Avenue and throughout the Schenectady Stockade. 2023 gave us a dreadful crop failure, and we compared it to the great improvement in 2024 in “cherry blossom revival” (April 15, 2024).

For example, here’s the scene at 15 Washington Ave. at the cherry blossom peak of 2023 [L] and 2024 [R]:

 . . 

To know why we’re hoping for an encore of the 2024 blossom array, see all the images at “cherry blossoms are cheering us up again” (April 16, 2024). So far this year, things are still rather drab outside my front window on Washington Avenue, and we won’t be having much sunshine until this Sunday (April 20), but I’ve been practicing optimism this year.

Blossoms looked smashing last year at Congregation Gates of Heaven also, and at our Central Park Rose Garden, as was memorialized in our posting “weeping for joy in 2024“.

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Let’s hope the blossoms of 2025 will soon send us out strolling and schmoozing again this year.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | April 1, 2025

March brought a floe show

. . above: view east from Riverside Park Overlook

March 2025 impressed a lot of folk with all the wind and rain, too. For me, however, the highlight was another chance to see ice floes along the Mohawk riverbank on my block (the rear of Washington Avenue and Riverside Park in the Schenectady Stockade). Rather than a documentary of the build-up, breakup, and flood worries, I just want to share images taken March 7 to March10 that I find lovely or just plain interesting. [This is not meant as an April Fool’s Day post.]

Click on an image below for a larger version.

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