Father Christmas

click to enlarge pics

'Father Christmas' was at our city's annual Victorian Street Walk.
And 'twas a cold/windy night!!!

^_^

Relections... frost - snow

Still have to make fake snow and frosted windows,
for shop window decorations.
No real snow yet.

"The Best!"

Click on photo, for larger

'Bruegger's' claims it has the best bagels, north of New York City!

Big Wreath...

Yes, that's a BIG wreath...


on the bank building!

~~~

Holiday window and reflection

Holiday display window in Toy Store. Plus reflections,
if you look to the left of the picture.

Old Fashioned Penny Scale

Click on pic, for larger view

When was the last time you saw an old fashioned 'Weight-Yourself-For-A-Penny' scale? It's been a long time, I'll bet. This one is in our Family Corner Drug Store. The tiles on the step of the scale, are the same tiles as the floor. Which {floor} was installed when they built the building in 1871.

Christmas decorations...

The 'McMansion' Christmas decorations, front view at night.

Click on photo, for larger view

Not "Alien X's"... "Alien-Eyes"!!!

I've seen photos of odd reflections make by sunlight, before. But I can't find an example, to link to. :-( Seems someone called them something like "Alien X's." The effect of an 'X,' made by sunlight reflected off of windows.

The pictures I've seen, were reflections on building walls. But all I could get was a reflection on a fence. The effect on a fence, isn't as complete and so, not as good. Sorry... But maybe someone will have seen these... And can take one, which shows the effect, in a better way than this one. :-) Meanwhile, I'll keep looking. ,-)

~~~~~~~~
An Addition...
Thanks to Julie, I now have the link to the blog where the term 'Alien-Eyes' was coined. Please click here and scroll down and find wonderful examples of this reflection.

It's Thanksgiving...

It's Thanksgiving.
Still need stuffin' mix? It's still in the grocery store...

Still need a turkey? They're still in the grocery store...
Our stuffin' and turkey are in the oven.

And the homemade Pumpkin Pie is just out of the oven.
It's on the kitchen counter. :-)At dessert time, all that will be needed is for the whipping cream to be whipped. And a dollop of whipped cream placed on each slice, for serving.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to those who celebrate it.

Apologies for multiple pics today. I will go back to just one pic, a day.

A little snow...

First snow... Just a little...

Night lights...

Click on pic, for larger

Downtown shot, from across Broadway. Showing lights which are on a building, all the time {the upper row of lights}. And store front lights. And a couple of street lights, with Christmas decorations. And trees, which have little white lights on their branches, all year long. It's not much of a picture, but it's all I got.

My 'ding-dang' camera was acting up on me last night. Grrrrr.... I saw more shots. I wanted to get. And camera just quit. It does this sometimes and obviously, I need to look into it. Wondering if a little digital camera should be left on its charging dock, all the time? Or if that wears out the inner batteries on the camera? Advice would be welcome. Please and thank you.

The story of the Trout Pond...

Above, is a side view of the Canfield Casino in Congress Park. It has a beautiful large room, which was used both as a ball room and as a restaurant.

Below, is another shot of the pond outside, as it looks today.

The story goes that when The Casino was in "its Hey-Day" {meaning, when it was a very popular place}, the pond contained beautiful trout, swimming happily. If a lady wished to dine on trout, she and her escort could accompany a kitchen person, out to the pond, and pick out 'her' dinner trout. The kitchen person would scoop out the chosen trout with a net, and hurry into the kitchen with it. While the lady and her escort returned to the dinning room to await their dinner. "What unique fun!" "Picking out my own trout for dinner!"

But....

Unbeknown to the lady, when the kitchen person hurried in with the trout, he promptly 'plopped' the fish into a smooth tiled tube, the incline of which carried the fish back out to the bottom of the pond. And he resumed his life of swimming... And the chef fixed an already prepared trout, for the dinner. :-)

Frosted Rose...

Around 25 degrees F. {-3.88 C.} early this morning. And my hands felt like this rose, after doing my "The Dedicated Photographer" stint outside. :-)

Old Wood Work, rescued...

Please click on and enlarge the pictures. To see the original tile floor.

Previously, I told you some, about the beginnings of the Old Drug Store. Now I will show you a bit, from inside this same store, today.

The old wood work, shown here, was the backing of the original soda fountain. Long in storage. And found again, years later. {A little bit like the story of the Signs of the Zodiac windows...} My husband restored broken parts, and refinished the whole. And it is now back where it originally stood . The working soda fountain was removed, years ago. But this beautiful old hand carved wood work is again, in use.

So that's another story of Saratoga Spgs. Maybe someday, I'll tell the story of this being found. :-)

The wall between......

Years ago, there was a terrible fire on Broadway, and a building was lost. {The lot has been used as a needed parking lot, since.} Because of this fire, we can see something unusual... Both the building front, and its side. The front facade is fancier and the wall between buildings is not fancy. It was never meant to be seen.

The walls between buildings are double brick fire walls. And this worked, because it kept that fire from spreading any farther. If not for the double brick fire walls, the rest of this block of Broadway buildings, on both sides of the fire, could have burned.

It is also a scary reminder of how fragile, all of our productions, can be...

From the sublime, to the ridiculous...

From the sublime, to the ridiculous... :-(

Yes, after posting those lovely shots, taken in Congress Park...

I show a Broadway store front which very sad to say, has looked just like this, for more than a year. We simply can not understand what is going on with this!

Yes, lots of building owners are asking very high rental fees. But ~ This situation seems ~ well, very unusual. And disturbing. No one likes to see an empty store front.

But it does show that not everything is pretty and restored, in my city. Like everything else, there is the ridiculous, along with the sublime. -sigh-

Reflections, window, Casino

Casino window... Looking into the Gaming Room... With reflections of outside...

Reflections in Nature

I'm having computer problems, so please excuse this entry. I'm not sure how it will show up. ~~~ This is a shot of some reflections in a stream, in Congress Park.

More yummies...

Shots taken inside the old Gas/Filling Station, which was moved,
and turned into a Bakery and a Lunch spot.

A story on Veteran's Day...

Please click, for larger

We had a Veteran's Day ceremony in the Park today. But my camera work did not do a good enough job of capturing it. So I put up a photo of the statue in the Park, commemorating our Volunteers in the Civil War.

The story I tell you today, is one I really love. It tells of the founder of our family Drug Store... James Mingay. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the {above} Seventy-Seventh Regiment of local Volunteers. He put his key in the Drug Store door, locked it, went to war, came home, put his key in the door again, opened up and took up business where he had left off.

The store today does not have his name though. Mingay had an apprentice by the name of Fred Menges. They later, became partners. After Mingay's death, Menges became partners with Ray Curtis. The store continues to have their names {Menges and Curtis} to this day.

It has been run by our family for 46 years, and counting. And this is the first time that it has been passed on to a son.

Maintenance... forever maintenance

Always and forever, maintenance...
.

Frost...

More early November frost comes to town... But no snow yet!

Details in brick and stone...

View of the upper part of a building... Built in 1883.
Which you can see in the middle,
if you click on the picture and enlarge it.

Oh Ohhhhhhhhhhh...

Oh Ohhhhhhhhhhh...
'Adirondack Dundee' has been called.
Does someone have a "varmint" problem???

Details, details, details...

I love the carved details, on this old wooden door! It's the entrance to a business on Broadway.
I've lived here many years, and the nature of the business inside, has changed many times. But no one changes the front. Of course, they could not do so, now! We have strict Preservation Laws in this city. Thankfully.

"Rescued"

Isn't she beautiful? And she was sitting so perfectly, for her owner, while she had her picture taken. She is a Rescued Greyhound. I love seeing them, and always have to chat with the owner for a minute, when I see them walking downtown. And give great admiration/attention to the dog too, of course! :-)

We have a family member who is very allergic to dogs, so we can never have a dog as a pet. Or else, the family member would never be able to come home to visit. But if we could, it would be one of these Rescued Greyhounds.

Wondering if readers, are familiar with them?

Reflections...

I love photos of reflections in store front windows. I finally tried for one, myself. It came out sort of 'double' or something. But... it's a start.

As always, click for larger, please.

Fall back!!!

In this city, we set the clocks back tonight. So that in the morning,
we're back on Nature's Time.

Every time I set clocks ahead in Spring, and back in Fall, I think of my Great Aunt Josie. When she had to set the clocks ahead in Spring, she would complain that she "would never be the same again," until they were set back, in the Fall. :-)

The older I get, the more I sort-of agree with her. I prefer to live on Nature's Time. It was good enough for humans, for centuries. It's good enough for me. :-)

"Dinner At 8" ,-)

When one is busy, one does silly things. Like 'Pizza Hut' for dinner...

Since I'm being busy for a time, I apologize for not getting round to everyone's daily photo blogs and commenting. I really hate it, when I can't read/comment, in all the blogs, I would like to. -sigh- And I apologize.

But I'll keep posting. I joined, and I will keep posting.

Signs of the Zodiac...

Of course, these are not my pictures. But I need them, to show the Ballroom of the Canfield Casino... at its best. My little camera could not take these photos! So please bear with me, today. More than one photo and not mine. :-)

Above is the largest capture I could find, showing part of the Ballroom ceiling. These ceiling windows are stained glass Signs of the Zodiac, and are magnificent. ~~~ The Casino's "hey-day" only lasted until gambling was out-lawed. Then it fell into disrepair. Foolish things were done, in those following years. :-( ~~~ By the time we came to our senses and realized what a jewel we had, it took time and money and perseverance to try to restore it, to its former grandeur. ~~~ One of the most weird things done, was done to those beautiful stained glass windows of the Ballroom ceiling. They were leaking. So the order went out, to remove them and throw them away and board up the window holes. ~~~ Thankfully, the man whose job it was to take them to the dump, did not! Instead, he hid them in the hay loft of a barn on his farm. In pieces now, of course. ~~~ A person who eventually bought the farm, found them and called the City. Restoration was done, over several years, and they were replaced in the ceiling. To continue to be enjoyed!!!!!!!!!

Below is a picture of the use of the Ballroom, for a wedding reception.

Below here, is use of it for an evening gathering. At the other end, is a stage where the band for music, can be placed. Much dancing is done here, of course.


Local use of the Casino has been greatly helped by Mary Lou Whitney, who over the years, has had air conditioning installed and has wonderfully updated the bathrooms. I've used them, before and after, and I can attest that.... after is better! :-)