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cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Carl Johnson
@cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
31 followers 2 following 240 posts
Local history writer, music fan, beginning musician. Plus other stuff. Oh yeah: he/him. My grownkids are LGBTQ. Long-term addiction recovery. From […]

[bridged from https://mastodon.sdf.org/@cjonthehudson on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
My latest #localhistory post has more than a tiny element of #personalhistory, as it's about my elementary #school (and its predecessor of the same name). I was lucky enough to find some great #classphotos and shots of the #playground, where I spent […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
1981 black and white photograph of the Mohawk School playground in Scotia, NY. The school, two stories of brick (with a half-story windowed basement below) looms in the background, with very tall windows that are mostly glass block. In the playground there are metal-framed swings with rubber seats, children swinging on them and significant divots in the sand beneath them from years of swinging feet. A slide, monkey bars, and other climbing equipment are all visible, and there is a basketball court in the background.
December 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Ramones – End of the Century https://vinyldistractions.com/ramones-end-of-the-century/
The Ramones, four young white men with long dark hair, here posed with the tallest, Joey, behind the other three. They are facing the camera, certainly not smiling, wearing various colors of T-shirts against a red background. Posterized image of the band, here clad in their traditional leather jackets
December 7, 2025 at 8:34 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Imagine my surprise to learn that the daredevil Bobby Leach, the second person to go over #niagarafalls in a "barrel," did some "dry runs" for his attempt years earlier at #CohoesFalls. He got pretty banged up, which may be why 12 years passed before he took […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
A photograph of a man in a cloth cap, white shirt with bow tie and light colored suspenders, wearing dark trousers and dress shoes, sitting atop a steel tank with riveted sections, a hole in the top, and handles to the side, just a bit larger than the man himself. He is posed on this tank before the mists of Niagara Falls. In his right hand is a cane, presumably necessitated when he broke his knees going over the falls in this barrel.
December 2, 2025 at 6:42 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Ramones – Road To Ruin https://vinyldistractions.com/ramones-road-to-ruin/
Road to Ruin front cover – cartoony artwork this time showing the four Ramones in typical black leather jackets and torn blue jeans. Joey is front and center at the microphone; Johnny is to his right, DeeDee on bass to his left, and Marky on drums is behind and between Joey and DeeDee. Massive amps flank them, and a circular motif with a cityscape backdrop behind them all ties the composition together
November 25, 2025 at 1:20 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Ramones – Rocket To Russia https://vinyldistractions.com/ramones-rocket-to-russia/
The band The Ramones, four young men all with longish dark hair, all wearing tattered blues jeans and leather jackets over T-shirts, leaning against an industrial door set in a brick wall, staring at the photographer. The image is in black and white, in what I think is mezzotint, which was a photographic treatment that rendered a very high contrast, gritty image.
November 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Ramones – Leave Home https://vinyldistractions.com/ramones-leave-home/
Cover of "Leave Home," showing four young men in the lower portion of the picture, standing against a large steel beam, and underneath another one that leads up and out of the picture. They are all wearing leather jackets and blue jeans, with T-shirts underneath. All have long dark hair.
October 21, 2025 at 12:08 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Ramones – Ramones https://vinyldistractions.com/ramones-ramones/
The album cover, photographed by Punk magazine's Roberta Bayley, features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City. They are all dressed in leather jackets and denim jeans in various states of distress, all with moderately to quite long dark hair, the two center members wearing sunglasses Back cover featuring album credits over a belt buckle featuring an eagle emblem
October 16, 2025 at 4:28 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Essay question: Please explain this tree's root structure. Cite your sources. You may use an additional answer booklet if you need more room.

(Seventh Lake, Fulton Chain, Adirondack Park)

#adirondacks #adirondackpark #gnarly #upstateny #upstatenewyork
A photograph of a very tangled set of roots to a tree (or trees) that has long since toppled over on a lake's edge, and is now bleached by the sun.
October 14, 2025 at 3:35 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Going back a month to our #adirondacks vacation – one of the best-built trails I've ever seen, the Powerhouse Trail for historic Camp Sagamore in the vicinity of Raquette Lake #trail #trails #hiking #adirondack #upstateny #upstatenewyork
A trail through the woods, lined with round logs and occasionally broken with stone channels that allow streams to pass through the trail without swamping it.
October 8, 2025 at 3:05 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Thanks to the wonders of AI, my various self-hosted #websites have been in various states of offline for the past month. They all appear to be back up now.
But at least I got a new (rare) blog post out of it, full of blogspots and cron jobs:
#technology […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
An image of my self-hosted blog from 2011, the peak of my web design talents. It shows a clunky banner with the blog's clunky title, My Non-Urban Life, below which is an article centered on an image of an ad from the 1870s promoting a fraudulent cancer cure.
October 3, 2025 at 12:52 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Told my wife I'd welcome a #fountainpen case for my birthday, and showed her some options online – but she went down the street to a local leather crafter and had this beauty custom-made for me:

#fountainpens
inside of a leather pouch for holding fountain pens, showing five separate compartments, each with a different pen. It is made of a light colored leather. A leather pouch with a flap cover, rectangular. The flap cover has a circle stitched on with my initials, CJ; that circle covers a magnetic closure.
October 1, 2025 at 6:50 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
While we were on vacation in the #adirondacks last week, someone in the neighboring cabin came over to alert us that the #auroraborealis #northernlights would be visible that night – oh boy, were they! Not to mention a sky full of stars we don't get to see often down here in Philadelphia.
View over a lake and low mountains of the aurora borealis, in this case creating both a strong glow just above the horizon and some very strong vertical bands of light seeming to reach straight up from the landscape and into the sky. View over a lake and low mountains of the aurora borealis, in this case creating both a strong glow just above the horizon, behind a tree-lined island, and some clouds of light higher up in the sky.
September 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Today's dose of #adirondacks – the south inlet of Raquette Lake seen from the end of the Powerhouse Trail from Camp Sagamore. #upstateny #raquettelake #upstatenewyork #adirondackpark
A beautiful northern woods setting, with tall evergreens on either side of an extremely placid river lined with large boulders, so still it reflects both the trees and the glorious sky, filled with light white clouds.
September 15, 2025 at 2:45 AM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
So grateful to be part of a thriving local #music community, and getting to take part in some lovely events like Sunday afternoon's gathering in the woods, where friends played for friends and new friends, and we all just basked in how beautiful it was. #musician #musicians
A white man in a blue shirt playing an acoustic guitar and singing underneath an outdoor structure with a roof and open sides. A blonde woman with a sweeping braid and somehow also a loose pony tail singing into a microphone while playing a keyboard, with notebooks open in front of her. A man with very short hair is at the drums behind her. A trio (but only because the rest of the band isn't in the shot) – three white men, two in the background and in baseball caps and beards. To the left, playing a fiddle, to the right, playing a banjo. In the front, smiling before the microphone, is an acoustic guitar player wearing a broad brimmed hat.
September 10, 2025 at 12:41 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
This one has *everything* – waterfalls, fires, diamond stick pins, trans-oceanic gambling! A landmark hotel opened by an African-American caterer! And, to my great surprise, the discovery of what I believe are remnants of the last version of this long-lost […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
Undated advertisement from sometime between 1870-1912, with a colorful litho illustration of the broad falls of the Mohawk River at Cohoes, showing at the left an impressive but simple three-story hotel with surrounding porch, positioned below the falls. In part, it reads: CATARACT HOUSE COHOES FALLS, N.Y. THE ATTRACTIONS. Parties visiting this section of the Country should make it a special object to visit these "FALLS," it being one of the grandest sights for miles around. The CATARACT HOUSE is beautifully situated upon a bluff overlooking the Falls, and from its Observatory the Country can be seen for miles around. It is one of the most delightful places we know of, the cool breeze from the Falls always mitigating the intensity of the heat. THE FALLS ARE THREE MILES FROM TROY, EIGHT FROM ALBANY, and but a short distance from SHAKER VILLAGE. No expense has been spared to make the Cataract "Excelsior," in addition to the beautiful scenery surrounding the same. The artificial Fall 123 feet, the Falls of the "Mighty Mohawk" 86 feet, the Walk in the Dell, on the bed of the river, &c., &c., combine to make this a very attractive resort. Pleasure Gondolas are on the Pond near the Cataract House; the Scenery from the many windows in the large Billiard Room is surprisingly beautiful, and a spacious Ball Room for the accommodation of Sleighing Parties is attached to the House. [edited for text limits] WM. H. GWYNN, Proprietor.
September 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
I ran across this picture of the most important person in my life and keep feeling all the feelings over it. We were 18, and she was helping me out with a class project, glamming herself up in a way that she didn't ordinarily do then to pose for this picture […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
Photograph of a young woman with bright, wide eyes, smooth white skin, long dark hair pulled back, light makeup and bright lipstick, holding a number of playing cards in front of her.
September 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
I'm definitely shallow, but as I'm about to hit 65 years of age, I was pretty pleased that without really aiming to do so, I set a new record going up a steepish (7.3%) climb today, one I've done at least 100 times before. It's also early in the ride, when […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
Table from Strava showing my personal record for a short climb of one minute, two seconds, at an average of 16.8 kilometers per hour, with four of my previous efforts laid out below, being 6 seconds, 8 seconds, and 9 seconds slower.
September 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
So preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

1918 #albany #newspaper #oldnewspapers #albanyny
1918 headline proclaiming "Rotarian Food is Dehydrated – Dried Menu Served and Enjoyed by Club Members at Ten Eyck" The members of the Rotary club sat down to a dehydrated luncheon at the Ten Eyck yesterday and every one of the diners enjoyed the dried food. At least they said they did. The food was furnished the hotel by Mrs. George Curtis Treadwell, who asked the cooperation of Rotarians in making the dehydration plant which is shortly to open in Albany a success. After tasting and eating the food the Rotarians voted their co-operation.
August 30, 2025 at 2:50 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Paddling under a great deal of overcast is just ideal.

#kayak #kayaking #paddling #summer
The bow of a kayak pointed into a milfoil-choked lake under dark, glowering clouds, with a line of trees along the shoreline. The overall mood is foreboding, but in fact I love paddling under the clouds better than under the sun.
August 25, 2025 at 1:29 AM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Bonnie Raitt – Nick of Time https://vinyldistractions.com/bonnie-raitt-nick-of-time/
Photograph of Bonnie Raitt, a white woman with a thick pile of wavy dark red hair, smiling at the camera, standing in front of a backdrop that resembles stone. She has a guitar slung behind her, a wide strap going across her left shoulder. She is dressed in a black jacket with animal print highlights at the cuffs and scarf, black leggings, just the tops of black cowboy boots showing. Her right hand is on the neck of the guitar, to her right (the guitar barely visible behind her), and her left hand is just resting against a very large circular copper belt buckle.
August 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely https://vinyldistractions.com/the-raconteurs-consolers-of-the-lonely/
Front cover of the Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely. Photograph is a very old-timey looking black and white photograph, with men with long beards and wide brimmed hats, as well as a grotesque costumed figure or perhaps a puppet, giving the appearance of a parade float, standing behind a banner that reads "Consolers of the Lonely."
August 20, 2025 at 1:10 AM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
Patrick O’Connor is a tailor and keeps an establishment on Broadway, just below Sixteenth street, in West Troy. Although Patrick is a little on the wane in regard to years, he is still fond of the females, it is claimed, and his wife keeps her eye upon him. He Went to Troy. Yesterday Patrick got a little drunk and, so his wife claims, he went to Troy and sold a suit of clothes, and with the money visited the “Castle,”” on River street, near Ferry street. The Growler. In the meantime Mrs. O’Connor had not been idle. She rushed the ‘growler” a good many times, the neighbors say, and when ‘‘Pat’’ showed up in the afternoon there was a regular ‘“Donnybrook fair,” and Mary threw a pail of water over “Pat.” The Police Appear. Then there was war, and Sergeant McKee and Officer Burke were obliged to proceed to the residence and separate the couple, who were winding up the fifth round. “Pat’’ wanted to continue the “‘mill”’ in the police station, but Chief Collopy refused to act as referee, and both were locked up.
August 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
1895. I say he had it coming. #oldnewspapers #troy #troyny #newspapers #headlines
1895 newspaper headlines reading: PATRICK AND HIS WIFE SHE THREW A PAIL OF WATER ON HIM, Because He Went to Troy and Got Drunk—Then There Was a ‘Scrap’’ for Fair, and the Police Had to Interfere—Mrs. O'Conmor Rushed the Growler, the Neighbors Say.
August 13, 2025 at 6:32 PM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
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 […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
1910 colorful map showing the flow of the Mohawk River into the Hudson river, going through a series of smaller branches around several islands
August 11, 2025 at 12:33 AM
cjonthehudson.mastodon.sdf.org.ap.brid.gy
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 […]

[Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]
Two kayaks on a river, both paddlers facing the camera. The river bends ahead so the two river banks, lined with trees, appear to meet in the distance. The sky is bright blue and lined with thin clouds. The bow of one kayak, and in the middle distance, very close to it, two more kayakers are seen from the back. They are on a wide river, with a long line of trees forming the banks on both sides. The bow of a kayak pointing into a thick mass of aquatic vegetation, mostly water chestnut. Two kayakers, lined up side by side but in opposite directions, both looking at the camera and smiling.
August 9, 2025 at 12:21 PM