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 –

– The Van Dyck, 237 Union St. Schenectady Stockade –

– a great place to celebrate Father’s Day or the Summer Solstice today –

Although they’re still awningless [but see the June 22 update below], the MacDonalds are unveiling their new and improved version of The Van Dyck Restaurant & Lounge today, with a “preview concert” of the Pan Jazz Festival, at 4 PM and 7:30 PM.  (See Daily Gazette, “Van Dyck ready to make its debut“, June 19, 2009) Here’s the blurb about the preview concert from their website’s Entertainment Page (where you can go to purchase tickets for all shows):

Enjoy the jazz sounds of  Caribbean steel pan drums. The Pan Jazz Festival performers are appearing at the Van Dyck following their Lincoln Center performance. Featuring:Othello Molineaux – Steel DrumManolo Badrena – Percussion Andrew Atkinson – Drums Nicky Orta – Bass Rich Lamanna – Synthophone $25

Because I’m often at 246 Union Street, the headquarters of Family & Child Service of Schenectady as a volunteer, I’ve been watching all the reconstruction activity directly across the street at The Van Dyck the past couple of months.  The entire staff of FCSS is anxiously awaiting the rebirth of The Van Dyck and welcomes manager Jeff MacDonald and his family and staff to our end of the block on Union Street.

. . . . . . . . 

When I stopped by around 9 AM this morning (Sunday, June 21) to see what might be going on as the Van Dyck’s preview day begins, I snapped this shot of the Van Dyck’s front door, and inadvertently caught the reflection of Family and Child Service across the street. [This reflection could, of course, have never been captured if the new awning were already installed.]

Van Dyck front Door, early on preview day, reflecting FCSS across the street

. . . .

The two Stockade institutions have been facing each other across Union Street and serving our community — in important but very different ways — since the 1940s.

. . . I also found two early bird staffers unloading a van-full of framed artwork into The Van Dyck, and expect they will be well hung long before concert time this afternoon:

On June 29, The Van Dyck will officially re-open for lunch and dinner, with entertainment Thursday through Saturday. It’s great to have The Van Dyck back and I hope it will be thriving and jiving, and making our community an even more diverse and enjoyable place to live and visit, for many decades to come.

p.s. For more about the “new” Van Dyck, see Beverly Elander’s article on page 2 of the May 2009 edition of The Stockade Spy.

update (June 22, 2009): The Van Dyck’s classy new black awning with gold script was installed this morning.   Here’s the face that the “new” Van Dyck will show visitors and passers-by:

. . . and a closer look at the new awning:

..   ..

. . . 

A cherry tree is down this evening behind 18 – 24 Washington Ave, here in the Stockade.  But, we can’t blame our mythically-honest, hatchet-wielding President.  The culprit was a line of powerful thunderstorms that swept through the region this afternoon, dropping a lot of hailstones, and leaving thousands without electrical power in Schenectady County (see Daily Gazette, “storm brings wind, hail,” June 15, 2009).  Just two weeks ago, we showed the same tree in front of 1 Cucumber Alley, in our posting about colorful houses here and in Takoma Park.  Compare then and now:

…..   

– front view of 2 Cucumber Alley, May 29, 2009 (l) and June 15, 2009 (r) –

. . .

That tree will be missed by many of us who live (or park or stroll) along Cucumber Alley — for its grace, its blossoms and cherries, and its shade.

Tonight, it is lying peacefully in front of several garage stalls, and I bet quite a few of my neighbors got a surprise when they returned home today and had to scramble to find the Elusive Stockade Parking Space.

While gazing at and bemoaning the loss of the cherry tree, early this evening, we failed to notice the demise of a lovely linden tree in the sideyard of 1 Cucumber Alley.  Around sunset, I was viewing the downed cherry tree with Sylvie Briber, when we turned toward her little riverside cottage and she noticed a strangely diagonal tree trunk.  This afternoon’s wind apparently pushed over the linden tree, which can be seen here, leaning against the side of 1 Cucumber Alley:

– Sylvie and Lollipop survey the damage –

No damage was obvious to either of the affected structures on Cucumber Alley.  I’ve lost far too many of my favorite trees in the years that I’ve lived along the Mohawk.  I guess I need to practice Buddha-like detachment, and simply enjoy and appreciate the trees (and the neighbors and neighborhood) a day at a time.

update (June 21, 2009):  Six days later, the remains of both toppled trees have been removed.  The cherry tree at 2 Cucumber Alley disappeared on Saturday, while Tom Killeen’s crew did a quick job with the triple-trunk linden at 1 Cucumber Alley on Wednesday.  Here are the resulting scenes:

. . . 

– the large cherry tree is gone from Cucumber alley –

. . .

– the magical spiral staircase at the rear of 1 Cucumber Alley is revealed, with the loss of the linden cluster this week –

p.s. Although distracted by toppled trees, I did remember to spend a little time enjoying tonight’s sunset (Monday, June 15) at the rear of 1 Cucumber Alley, along the Mohawk River.  Actually, it was even lovelier from that same spot, yesterday evening, June 14, 2009:

– more shots from sunset on June 14, 2009 (some rather strange), here –