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cjonthehudson.bsky.social
@cjonthehudson.bsky.social
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cjonthehudson.bsky.social
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely https://vinyldistractions.com/the-raconteurs-consolers-of-the-lonely/
August 20, 2025 at 1:11 AM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
August 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
1895. I say he had it coming. #OldNewspapers #Troy #TroyNY #newspapers #headlines
August 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
My latest #LocalHistory post is essentially an excuse to look at a very, very pretty map – a 1910 Sanborn fire insurance map showing the confluence of the #MohawkRiver and #HudsonRiver at #cohoes

#UpstateNewYork #UpstateNY #CohoesNY #map #maps #historicalMaps

https://hoxsie.org/2025/08/10/the-co
August 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
I was about to not bother bringing #kayaks on our short weekend trip back to the old hometown, but then our grownkid said they wanted to paddle with us . . . and we had the most delightful afternoon on the #MohawkRiver in a section I didn't used to paddle that much.
August 9, 2025 at 12:21 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
We used to have a reason not to despair:

#LocalHistory #UpstateNY #UpstateNewYork #TroyNY #CollarCity
Newspaper advertisement from 1850 that says "Never despair while J.C. Mattices' Wholesale & Retail Clothing and Furnishing Establishment is in existence at 210 River St. Troy"
August 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Waterford, NY: the 1893 Ormsby Textile mill. Underwear, lace trim, automobile fabrics, "mother of the bride" dresses.

The history of Ursula of Switzerland and the Ormsby mill at my blog:
hoxsie.org/2025/07/28/u...
#Localhistory #UpstateNY #UpstateNewYork #waterfordNY #histodons #history
Photograph of a brick mill building, a five-story building with a series of windows on every floor, and a taller tower in the front of the building, capped by a delicate weathervane. A black clothing tag, inside a black garment, for Ursula of Switzerland.
July 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
What if Scotia, NY's Glen-Sanders Mansion had no Glens, no Sanderses?
At the link, the history of the mansion – the very symbol of my hometown – from 1963 until today.

#localhistory #scotiaNY #schenectady #SchenectadyHistory #ScotiaHistory

hoxsie.org/2025/07/10/t...
1934 black and white photograph of Scotia, New York's Glen Sanders Mansion. It is an old house with an appearance of white stucco or plaster on the exterior. The lower story facing us shows two large windows (12 lites each), a narrower window next to a broad door that also appears to be glazed with 35 lites, and two more windows to the right of the door. All the windows on the lower story have shutters.Above this in iron are is the date "1713." Above that, four windows are spread acros the facade, with 25 lites each. A third story features a hipped roof and three dormers, and a decorative rail at the top of the roof. There is a light coating of snow all around the grounds, and several gnarled old trees in the foreground.
July 11, 2025 at 3:14 AM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Ohhhh . . . yesterday I paddled what I'm pretty sure is my new boat. Made by Melker of Sweden, committed to sustainability (it ain't easy), this baby is laid up with cork; the deck is made of flax. And resin that's at least partly plant-based. And it paddles like a dream.
#paddling #kayak #kayaking
Photograph of a kayak on a dock. The kayak is light brown in color, made of cork and flax. There are three hatches, two in front of the cockpit and one aft, and the areas surrounding the hatches are bright white. The cockpit is shaped like a guitar pick. A white-bladed paddle rests on the back of the kayak.
May 9, 2025 at 1:35 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
After writing about #UpstateNewYork carpet heiress/big game hunter/POW in Germany, here's her famous polo player brother, once on the cover of Time Magazine, & once fined for bringing too many ducks into New York State:
hoxsie.org/2025/04/28/p... #localhistory #AmsterdamNY #UpstateHistory
The cover of Time ("The Weekly News-Magazine") from March 31, 1923. The name of the magazine and its tag line are within thin ruled boxes at the top of the page (three boxes, each within another, as well as a heavier outlines that goes all the way around the page. Decorative elements are in columns running left and right of the drawing that is the focus of the cover. The drawing, apparently graphite, depicts Laddie Sanford, a white man in three-quarter profile, wearing a light-colored fedora with a dark band. His face is pleasant and neutral; the top of his body is shown, wearing a lapelled overcoat, white shirt collar and dark necktie. Underneath he is not identified, but a slugline says "Observed by Europe / First American to win the Grand National – see page 25"
May 5, 2025 at 1:20 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
If I'd had to guess which member of an #AmsterdamNY family had ended up on the cover of Time Magazine, I would not have guessed Laddie Sanford.But I wouldn't have guessed he got fined for bringing too many dead ducks into New York, either.
hoxsie.org/.../polo-pla... #upstateny #LocalHistory
The cover of Time ("The Weekly News-Magazine") from March 31, 1923. The name of the magazine and its tag line are within thin ruled boxes at the top of the page (three boxes, each within another, as well as a heavier outlines that goes all the way around the page. Decorative elements are in columns running left and right of the drawing that is the focus of the cover. The drawing, apparently graphite, depicts Laddie Sanford, a white man in three-quarter profile, weraing a light-colored fedora with a dark band. His face is pleasant and neutral; the top of his body is shown, wearing a lapelled overcoat, white shirt collar and dark necktie. Underneath he is not identified, but a slugline says "Observed by Europe / First American to win the Grand National – see page 25"
April 28, 2025 at 12:22 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Fascinated to learn that a local heiress who had gone to work for the O.S.S. in WWII ended up as a POW in Nazi Germany in the closing months of the war – Story here:
hoxsie.org/2025/04/24/a...
#LocalHistory #AmsterdamNY #CapitalDistrict #history #WWII
Photograph of a woman, Gertrude Sanford Legendre, in a women's military uniform with jacket, shirt and tie, and skirt, standing next to a concrete post and in front of a building with shutters around its windows. She actually appears to be smiling at the camera, but this was taken while she was a prisoner of war in Germany in World War II.
April 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
New post up at VinylDistractions.com: Catching up with the six John Mayall albums I've collected since the last time I wrote about John Mayall, starting with the epic "The Turning Point."
vinyldistractions.com/john-mayall-...
The Turning Point front cover – Underneath the title (in red type on blue background) is a stylized black and white mezzotint photograph that shows, in very abstract high contrast, a man holding a microphone cupped in his hands before his face. He appears to be surrounded by the folds of a curtain. This is probably from a photograph of John Mayall playing harmonica into a microphone, but the harmonica is not visible.
April 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Friday the 13th fell on a Thursday this month, but you can celebrate whatever the 14th is with me at 260 Bridge Cafe. New songs, old songs, tea and pastries! See you tomorrow night, 7 PM.
March 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Once upon a time this was my blog's tag:
Text in a box that says I can write better than anyone who can type faster. I can type faster than anyone who can write better.
March 4, 2025 at 3:42 AM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
I’ve been reading this book for 40 years—like most of my favorites, hard to say why—but the paperback binding is finally coming apart.

Technically, it’s still in print (more’s my surprise), though the demand has to pile up before they’ll actually produce a few.

#literature #reading #books
Cover of Muriel Spark’s novella, “The Girls of Slender Means,” which is simply a black background, Sparks’s name in script in a silver band across the top, and beneath that the title in a green box in a very gentle deco font. Title page of “The Girls of Slender Means,” with nothing but the title in a small capital font.
March 2, 2025 at 12:49 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Continuing thoughts on my own history – I came across an image from 1977 that represents a remarkable moment in time for me, as well as a challenge. I was never satisfied with how this printed – but times and technology have changed. So have I.

mynonurbanlife.com/choices/

#memoir #essay
1977 black and white photograph. In a darkened room, nearly all the illumination appears to come from a row of vending machines – to the left can only be seen partially, but in the center is one labeled "candies," and the next one is labelled "cigarettes." The upper parts of the displays, panels hiding the actual products, have vertical stripes, with the "candies" machien showing a dish of candy in a circle, surrounded by bubbles. The cigarette machine shows cigarette cartons. Each machine has two rows of buttons or knobs for selections. Standing in front of the candy machine is a young black woman, wearing a white, lightweight formal-looking blouse with tight cuffs and slightly billowy sleeves, and a broad rectangular collar. Below she has on a trim skirt or perhaps pants. Her right hand is leaning on the machine as she studies her choices. He left arm holds notebooks and a newspaper to her body, and her hand clutches what is probably a backpack. The picture is highly contrasty, dark darks and bright lights.
February 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Light challenges last night, but when Nervous Nikki took the front spot I was able to capture her in her retirement-home blazer splendor. Really fun show at Tuned Up in Spring City, PA.
Photograph of a female singer/guitar player, playing a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar (I believe), leaning into the microphone, her mouth wide as she sings. She is white, has long, wavy dark hair, parted on her right side and hanging long over her left shoulder. Her eyes are closed. She is wearing a light colored sweater with thin horizontal stripes, underneath a pink blazer she described as looking like something you'd see in a retirement home. Not wrong.
February 15, 2025 at 2:59 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
I checked my sources, meaning the two globes in my study. Google can, as the kids say, gargle my balls.
A section of a very old globe showing the label for the Gulf of Mexico. A section of a very old globe showing the label for the Gulf of Mexico.
February 12, 2025 at 3:40 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
#AlbanyNY served up about 47 #historicalmarkers in 1886 to celebrate the city charter's bicentennial. Shocking/not shocking that only one never made it to its intended destination – the one honoring Black citizens. The full story is here:
hoxsie.org/2020/10/01/w...
#BlackHistoryMonth #AlbanyHistory
1891 map of Albany's Washington Park (from the Washington Park Conservancy website) with an overlay showing the approximate location of the old burial grounds. The trees that are subject of the linked post were likely planted just above and to the left of the oval where the King Memorial is now.
February 10, 2025 at 6:13 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Thomas H. Sands Pennington was one of the first Black pharmacists, who practiced for many years in #Saratoga Springs just after the Civil War.
Much more on this remarkable man, including some of his own words, at the blog:
hoxsie.org/2020/08/17/t...
#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #UpstateNY
Civil War photograph of Thomas H. Sands Pennington. He is a black man, seemingly small in stature, wearing a cloth coat of a hospital steward in the 20th United States Colored Infantry, with large buttons and a simple collar. His hair is fairly long, processed into waves and coiffed. He has a trimmed sideburns and neckbeard arrangement. He is looking into the distance, his left elbow posted on a newel post.
February 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
First ride of 2025 – January was cold, snowy and icy, as well as busy. Decided to get my old Bianchi out because it has snow tires that haven't been given anything to do in a few years. Felt good but that wind kicked up in the second half.

#cycling #roadbike #roadcycling #cyclist #winter
Me, posed with an ice Schuylkill canal as a backdrop. I'm wearing a helmet with a cloth cover over it, dark sunglasses, a blue gaiter around my neck and a bright yellow jacket, with a rusty steel bridge rail between me and the icy depths of the canal. Ice covering the Schuylkill Canal surrounded by bare trees and scrub. Ice on the Schuylkill Canal, with the crushed stone towpath trail to the left. My 22-year-old Bianchi Strada bicycle, a cumbersome weird upright that I've mostly used as a commuter. It's leaning against a picnic table.
February 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
This 1910 #LewisWickesHine photo of #Albany #newsboys has been popping up, stripped of all information. I took a deeper dive to learn about the lives of these boys who were out selling newspapers on the city streets at 10 o'clock at night.
hoxsie.org/2025/01/29/a...
#AlbanyHistory #LocalHistory
This photo by celebrated photographer Lewis Wickes Hine, posted by the Library of Congress, shows a group of newsboys who were selling evening papers in saloons and stores. It was taken “in an alley in back of the City Jail at 10 P.M” in February , 1910. Many of the Hine photographs lack identification of the subjects, but for this one, we are gifted with full identification. The newsboys are identified as, left to right: Dominick Mardilo, 28 1/2 Fulton Street; Roderick Towle, 44 Sheridan Ave.; William Towle, brother, 44 Sheridan Ave.; Louis Strasburg, 40 Mulberry Street; Max Erlich, 101 Dallius Street. Those identifications seem correct, except Mardilo should be Nardolillo. The boys are all posed facing the photographer, holding up the evening's newspapers – three of which are from New York City, not Albany; only the Times-Union is local. They are all wearing cloth coats and caps, and knickers. Their hands are ungloved.
January 30, 2025 at 4:27 AM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
A portion of a Lewis Wickes Hine photograph of newsboys in Albany in 1910, showing only one of them, Dominic Nardolillo, age 11, holding up a Lincoln's birthday edition of the New York Journal. The caption around him is "Remember: If You See A 10-year-old stealing melons from a Delaware and Hudson freight car, no you didn't." I'm working on a story about his life for hoxsie.org, and one of his earlier encounters with the court system involved stealing melons.
January 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
cjonthehudson.bsky.social
Tomorrow night! Friday, Jan. 23, 7-8 pm at 260 Bridge Cafe in Phoenixville! Join me for tea, pastries and new songs!

#phoenixville #ukulele
January 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM