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Fountain at Franklin Square

The Third Dimension: Onondaga Creekwalk

Looking south, under the Evans Street bridge at the southern edge of Franklin Square, toward Armory Square. There are seven bridges: Evans Street, two West Street southbound ramps, I 690 west and east, and two West Street northbound ramps, before the walk reaches West Genesee. 

Then comes West Erie Boulevard, Washington, Fayette and Walton Streets. Between Erie and Washington the creek runs beneath both Niagara Mohawk buildings and by Water Street, where there is already a currently -gated access from the street.

We have picked trash through here, and canoed from Dorwin Ave. to the harbor. 

There are many architectural and environmental riches to see along the creek. Having this walking and running option will add enormously to the cityscape. 

Now, if the city will only come to its senses and do the master plumbing job that inevitably needs doing, there will never be a time when the walk is an olfactory embarrassment.

A thousand thanks to Aggie Lane and her crew for years of tireless advocacy for the creek!

Sparky Town in Green and Red

Vase from Cape Cod

Thank you, J and A, for this beautiful vase. 

Made by hand at Barnhill Pottery in Chatham, we treasure it.  

Confluence of Chenango and Susquehanna RIvers in Binghamton

The Susquehanna takes a long and winding path to get from Otsego Lake at Cooperstown to this point in Binghamton. The Chenango comes in from the north at the right.

By this point the Susquehanna has already dipped into Pennsylvania for a little stretch near its closest point to the Delaware River along Route 17. 

From here it travels west and then drops back south where it travels almost 300 more miles across 170 miles of Pennsylvania before it comes to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

The entire watershed, this and another great branch, is in great danger from horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, for natural gas and is already feeling the effects of environmental degradation and loss a sense of place as rich agricultural land, forests and small towns become specks on an industrial landscape.

Turkey Vulture

I don't feel the bond with turkey vultures that I do with corvids, but I do admire them.

Think of how they soar, how they love to ride drafts in groups. They are powerful and graceful fliers. I look forward to seeing them stream by during migration. 

Around here they theoretically shouldn't be living "north of the Thruway", but we see them far to the north and ask them if they know just how far north of the Thruway they are? They don't seem to care.

The other great thing about TVs is their ability to scavenge. They keep the landscape clean of carrion. I found this TV on a dirt road in north eastern Pennsylvania, having a meal with eight or ten others. They all flew into the nearby trees and refused to go far. They are skittish and shy but slow to move off when their lunch has been interrupted.

Turkey vultures are New World Vultures, Cathartidae, along with the black vulture further south, and the California condor, recently brought back from the brink of extinction.  

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Green Lakes: First Day of Fall

New England Asters

Grapes IV

Market Street, Corning

This Rollfast bike was modified with a Whizzer, a belt drive powered by a small gasoline engine. It is on display at Corning Bike Works on Market Street. Sweet.

Pine Creek Gorge: The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania

Between Corning NY and Williamsport PA, this is a dramatic long and narrow cut through the plateau of Pennsylvania. It is a spring canoeing mecca, and the hiking is abundant and beautiful.

Ed says that if you have vertigo and make this picture gigantic, step back from your monitor.

Our Old Camp on White Lake

Beautiful clear White Lake is just beyond the rise. I have many fine memories of summers here. No one in our family has owned this place for many years.

The camp is weary and ready to fall down now. The property is for sale. 

The site deserves a modest new camp and dock where other children can develop a love for the Adirondacks that never fades.

Black River Canal Locks North of Boonville

This series of four locks, The Upper Four Combines, is near the point where the Black River Canal began its steep descent toward Carthage after rising equally steeply from Rome along the Lansingkill. 

It sits between the north and south bound lanes of Route 12. Much can be learned about how the locks were operated by studying the remaining hardware.

The Boonville Black RIver Canal Museum site has tons of interesting information:

Boonville Black River Canal Museum

Mill at McKeever

One hundred years ago McKeever, with rail access, was a thriving lumber town on the Moose River in Brown's Tract. Several families lived here, the childred attended school, and many laborers lived in the town and ran the mill. A dam just upriver from the mill supplied power.  

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City Hall

City Hall is built of rough cut limestone. Many corners are rounded. This one on the front right, the south-east corner, is chiseled square.

State Tower Building and Horse

Phoenix on the Hills Building

Rap-Shaw at Stillwater

Rap-Shaw: Nothing Gets By Maxine

Stillwater: Esker

Much of the Adirondacks is covered by glacial remnants. Eskers are tall narrow reminders that water flowed beneath the glacier. 

Glacial till carried by streams was deposited along stream beds, forcing the water higher and carving out deeper, that is, taller, channels along the underside of the glacier. Often you come across a road through the Adirondacks that travels along an esker for a distance with banks dropping off steeply on both sides. 

This particular esker, near the floating bog mat in Stillwater, is eroding more recently by changing levels of this dammed-up  lake.  

Rap-Shaw: Shuffleboard

Labor Day: Dedicated to the People of Beaver River

On Labor Day, this blog is dedicated to the people who work so hard to make a living in a difficult place.

Beaver River has no road connection to the outside. People get there by boat, foot, ski, snow machine, or rail.

These trucks are rigged to ride the rails. 

Rap-Shaw at Stillwater

State Island

Joli at Rap-Shaw

Rap-Shaw: Swim Float

Dan and Danny bring the swim float around.

I Walk Over to Owl...

I walk over to Owl, down to the shoreline, and happen upon an airborne confrontation just ended between an osprey and some crows. The osprey flies away, over my head.


Pretty soon I see an eagle fly out of the tallest pine on Hotel and fly over to a sand bar on the outer reaches of the emerging "golf course".  Then a second. The first flies up from the sand, the second catches up, and they dance around above the water, white hind ends bobbing toward the far shore. They dip and sail and return to the sand, then one flies back up to the pine and lands with a wide wingspread, bending branches. Then it flies back to the sand, and the two do a land dance over some food.


All the while my camera has no memory chip.


Just as well...I might have missed the moment of awe that having a camera in between can objectify.

Theme Day: Syracuse Downtown Tuesday Market

Today, the first of the month, is theme day on City Daily Photo. Yesterday I saw this pail of perfect glads at the downtown market.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants