Posted by: David Giacalone | January 13, 2016

backyard scenes

IMG_0210 Twice this week, on Sunday and then Wednesday, I noticed from the rear of 16 Washington Avenue unusual scenes that seemed to beg for a camera. Our yard borders the south bank of the Mohawk River, near where the Binnekill (Creek) flows into the Mohawk, alongside Cucumber Alley, and just east of Gateway Landing and the Great Western Gateway Bridge. On Sunday, just before sunset, the light made piers of the Bridge seem to be ablaze with fire. On Wednesday, a family of Canadian geese was grazing on the riverbank and the yard among a flurry of large snowflakes, with a big spiral staircase lying on the ground next-door. In between, the Tuesday scene was “merely” a bluish River filled with thin ice floes and reflecting a gorgeous blue sky fill with puffy white clouds.

Here’s the scene looking east toward the Gateway Bridge from the rear of 16 Washington Avenue in the Stockade in Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively:

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… click on an image for a larger version …

And, another look at the burning bridge:

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The above photos and several others taken on Sunday and Wednesday, January 10th and 12th, are included in the following Slideshow.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | December 31, 2015

first snow at the new Play Lot

IMG_0159ladybugcameo Thanks to a gentle reminder on Tuesday from Schenectady Corporation Counsel Carl Falotico (who should not be confused with the good luck Lady Bug to the left), I captured the first snowfall of the year the day it happened (Dec. 29, 2015), at our new Riverside Park play lot. Carl recalled that I had wondered aloud if the new play lot would be as charming as the configuration we had come to know and love. Although there really wasn’t enough snow for a truly fair comparison, I will admit that I am still “nostalgic for the Old Play Lot” (click on the nostalgia link to see why; and see our FCSS fundraising 2016 Play Lot Calendar, which has monthly photos of the old and new versions).

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Nevertheless, the batch of photos presented in the following slideshow, proves you can find quite a bit of charm at the new play lot on a snowy day — especially with the Mohawk River nearby. (To see a  larger version of a slideshow image, pause the Show, and right-click on the image; then choose Show Image in a New Tab.)

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Happiest of New Years to all the young at heart who I hope to see at the Play Lot in many seasons of 2016.

 

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Posted by: David Giacalone | December 25, 2015

snow, no snow, spread some Stockade joy!

 w1stStorm15Dec2013 We don’t need snow to have holiday cheer in the Stockade, but I’ve decided to post a few photos below from the winter of December 2014.

Update: With a few inches of snow and some wintry mix, December 28, 2015 was the latest first-snow on record

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Washington Ave. at Front St.

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Green Street seen from Lawrence Circle

. . above and below – storm of December 10, 2014 (see more here) . .

. . Lawrence Circle, Dec. 10, 2014. .

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Posted in Stockade Views

Posted by: David Giacalone | December 22, 2015

one-page 2016 Stockade Calendars to download

 suns along the Mohawk wishes all of our visitors (regular, irregular, old or new) a hearth-warming Solstice, Merry Christmas, Meaningful Holiday of your choice, and a most Happy & Joy-filled New Year 2016.  We’ve baked a batch of one-page 2016 Stockade Calendars, that we hope you’ll like enough to download. They come formatted in four print sizes, as indicated under each image: 8″ x 10″, 7″ x 5″, 4″ x 6″, and 8.5′ x 11″. You may download them and use them for any non-commercial purpose

  • click on a calendar image below to open a large, high-resolution file suitable for photo-printing

2016CalSuns5x7above: formatted for 5″ x 7″

2016CalSuns8x10above: formatted for 8″ x 10″ print

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Calen . . . 2016CalSuns-Letter

[R] formatted for 4″ x 6″; [L] formatted 8.5″ x 11″

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. . with Aunt Grace in 1953 . .

Here at suns along the Mohawk, we often say Happy Holidays, because there are quite a few of them from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, and we are more than happy to celebrate or recognize them all. Nonetheless, a special “Merry Christmas” goes out to my Mama G,. Big Sister Linda, and twin brother Arthur, along with a lifetime’s worth of joyous “Merry Christmas” thanks to Aunt Grace.

 p.s. If you would like to see more Stockade photos in “hardcopy” at home, or need a special Christmas gift for a Stockade devotee or yourself, please don’t forget our two fundraising gifts on behalf of Family & Child Service of Schenectady: a 12-month desk calendar featuring old and new versions of the Riverside Park Play-Lot, and a 24-page photobook of the Stockade and Mohawk, with linked haiku poems. For full details see For FCSS.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | December 10, 2015

the Tree and the Circle at sunset

 

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1IMG_0104 – The photos in the Slideshow above were taken just after sunset on Thursday, December 10, 2015. The Stockade 2015 Tree Lighting was held on Sunday, December 6. –

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Posted by: David Giacalone | December 3, 2015

two holiday Stockade photo gifts

As we explain on our for FCSS page, suns along the Mohawk is celebrating the Holiday Season with two Stockade gift items created and offered to benefit our Stockade neighbors at Family and Child Service of Schenectady. The promo collage below gives a brief definition of our 2016 Play Lot Calendar and of the photo-book Haiga on the Mohawk. Please click here or on the FCSS tab above for full details.

 Help FCSS while pleasing your friends and loved ones with the beauty of the Stockade!

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– click on the collage for a larger version – 

 

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Posted in Stockade Views

Posted by: David Giacalone | December 1, 2015

the Stockade 2015 Holiday Tree arrives

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The 2015 Stockade Christmas/Holiday tree, a lanky-but-shapely balsam, arrived about 10 AM today, and was up and decorated with a simple string of lights by 11:00. Thanks again to the Saratoga Tree Nursery for donating the tree, and to its Stockade staffer Susannah Hand for her good taste choosing this year’s beauty. A big nod to Colleen Macauley, who handled the arrival, erection, and decoration of the Tree for the Stockade Association.

The 2015 Stockade Tree Lighting will be this Sunday, December 6, at 5:30 PM at Lawrence Circle, followed by an Afterglow Party at 1st Presbyterian Church’s Mekeel Hall. Go here to see our coverage of the “2014 tree lighting“.

This Slideshow captures the City’s jolly crew putting the Tree up for us, under Colleen’s watchful eye, and with Nick Crane again doing the honors placing the Star and stringing lights from the bucket, and Herb kibitzing from ground-level.

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1ststorm15dec2013 By the way, looking at our 2013 and 2014 holiday displays here at suns along the Mohawk, I noticed we did not get our first snowstorm until December 15 in 2013, and that last year we had a beautiful winter-wonder-land thanks to a substantial nighttime snowfall on December 10, 2014.  The photo to the left of this paragraph reminded me that as a photographer I’ve very much enjoyed playing around with the balls on our Stockade Tree the past couple of years, with or without snow.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | November 14, 2015

first look at completed Play Lot

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. . above: [L] cleared lot on Nov. 2, 2015 & [R] completed lot on Nov. 11 (click on each for a larger version)

As of Wednesday, November 11, 2015, the mulch was spread and the yellow “keep out” tape taken down, making the new Riverside Park play lot “open for business” and play. The Slideshow below contains photos taken on November 11 under a gray sky and on November 13 under a very blue sky.

To see what the Old Play Lot looked like, go to “already nostalgic for the old play lot” (Nov. 5, 2015).

  • For a larger version of an image in the Slideshow, pause the Slideshow on that image, right-click, and choose Open Image in New Tab, OR find its thumbnail in the Gallery at the end of this posting.
  • Share this posting with the short URL: http://tinyurl.com/NewPlayLot

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This Gallery contains each of the photos found in the Slideshow above.

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