suns along the Mohawk

My good friend Yu Chang (who, in fact, gave me my first “real” camera a few years ago) drove over to Washington Avenue on Tuesday (April 23) to capture some of the early cherry blossoms for me while I’m away visiting family.

 Here’s a compilation I’ve constructed of his photos to remind me of what I’m missing, and to motivate me to get back to the Stockade before the cherry blossoms disappear.

– click on the collage for a larger version –

Prof. Chang (Union College, Electrical-Computer Engineering Department) is a world-renowned haiku poet who was an Honored Guest Poet for several years at my now all-archive weblog f/k/a. I’m proud to have him as my first Honored Guest Photographer here at suns along the Mohawk.  Here’s one of his haiku poems that appeared at f/k/a:

shutter lag –
just bees
on the blossoms

………….. by Yu Chang – from Upstate Dim Sum

My very first web post about our Stockade cherry blossoms was in 2008 at f/k/a; click here for an array of photos and of haiku about cherry blossoms.  I hope to be back to Washington Avenue before a replay of this poem, which I wrote in 2008:

windy day
more blossoms at the curb
than on the tree

… david giacalone

Blossoming Bonus:

Roberta Beary, one of my best friends and a much-honored haiku poet, responded from Washington, D.C. this morning to my request to use some of her poems on cherry blossoms in this webpost, by sending a generous bouquet of haiku.  Please enjoy them, along with more of Yu Chang’s photos from this week on Washington Avenue:

shaking off
cherry blossoms,
the deaf dog

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cherry blossoms-

dusk slips in

uninvited

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tourists gone —
a night breeze
stirs the blossoms

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. . . . by Roberta Beary, from various publications

Click to see Stockade blossoms from the past few years :

• 2012 cherry blossoms
• 2011 cherry blossoms
• 2010 cherry blossoms
• 2009 cherry blossoms
• 2008 cherry blossoms

  No grand themes for this posting, just a little show and tell of pictures taken in April here near Cucumber Alley in the Schenectady Stockade.  The Slideshow below has the “show”; for the “tell”, scroll over the thumbnail images in the Gallery at the foot of this posting, and click on the image for a larger version of a photo.

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 . . . update (April 21):  . . cherry blossom preview

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Walking to my garage the other afternoon, I looked up to see this cloud formation and had to fish out my little Fuji camera to snap the shot.

Enjoy the Gallery for more show and tell:

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Read More…

– blossoms seen on Washington Ave. on March 22, 2012 [doubleclick to enlarge collage] –

 A year ago today, Washington Avenue surprised us with premature blooms on cherry trees, forsythia bushes, magnolia trees, daffodil plants, and more, due to a week of extraordinarily warm March weather.   We posted about the event in “early heat brings early blossoms” (March 22, 2012).  Today’s expected temperature high is 44 degrees lower than last year, when we had the record high of 81 degrees. Here are two comparison collages (double-click on each for a larger version):

 . . . 

.  However,

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it was a little chillier this week here in the Stockade –

 Dog walking and snow removal provided most of the colors this overcast Saturday morning in the Stockade (Feb. 9, 2013), after about six less-than-forecasted inches of snow. (see Times Union article)

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. click on any photo below for a larger version; scroll over it for a description .

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– 26 Washington Ave. gazebo, with Gateway Landing gazebo in background –

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– a view up Union St. from N. Ferry St. about 9 AM –

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– at Green St. I found Lawrence resting and “snow angels” Dale and Owen shoveling –

 .  this collage brings 10 of this morning’s Stockade images together .