Thoughts and musings on a Syracuse road trip

Okay, do I have everything? Gotta go through the checklist. Six photos for the New York State Fair Photography Competition.ย  Check. The Cathedral of St. Philco for the dollhouse crafts competition at the State Fair.ย  Check. Seven postcards, one for each artwork.ย  Check. Seven postcard stamps.ย  Check. The signed authorization from my model friend Lauren,…

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The miracle of the purple petunias

My eyes do not deceive me.ย  And neither does the camera on my BlackBerry phone. But there it is.ย  A blooming plant with green leaves and purple petals.ย  I showed a picture of the wild plant to my Facebook friends, who identified the plant as a petunia. But I hadn’t planted petunias. What I planted…

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Best of our TU Independent Bloggers, August 4, 2016: Ten for Thursday

If I’ve learned anything from my nearly seven years in blogging for the Times Union, it’s that the independent and community bloggers have arguably the most intelligent and informative blog posts out there.ย  And it doesn’t matter whether they blog on their own link, or as part of a community link… they’re definitely worth reading.…

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Week 5 of the 2016 Graney’s Stout Summer Trivia League

There’s a good rule about using your safety options in competitive team trivia.ย  Use them if you don’t know something, but hope that you can keep a skip or a double-chance option in your back pocket later in the game. Of course, if you use your options up early in the night … you better…

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BUILT 2016 is coming…

One of my favorite charities during my late-year “Charity Season” is Historic Albany Foundation, and their BUILT: Albany’s Architecture Through Artists’ Eyes auction and fundraiser is an event I totally treasure. BUILT is an amazing charity event, in which Albany’s top artisans create breathtaking artwork and imagery inspired by the architecture – past and present…

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A prayer card

I’ve had this prayer card in my possession for the past ten years.ย  It’s a small little treasure on thin, stiff cardstock.ย  The corners are still sharp, like a fresh Topps baseball card.ย  The date is still visible. August 1, 2006.ย  Ten years ago. That’s when my mother passed away. Paula Lillian Bragg, later Miller,…

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The Results of Summer Bowl VII

It’s a new place for the Summer Bowl trivia championship, as over two dozen teams gathered at the new Pearl Street Pub in downtown Albany.ย  I was there with my Street Academy trivia teammates, and right off the bat everybody knew that this seventh iteration of the summer gathering of Capital District brainsquads would be…

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K-Chuck Radio: When Country Music was Great

Here’s the deal.ย  I grew up listening to country music in the household, mostly when various family members had WOKO 1460AM soldered onto their car radios.ย  So with that in mind, I understand that this blog post will ostensibly “cheeze off” many contemporary country music fans.ย  I don’t care. Because what they’re listening to is…

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Roger Green made me a “Sunshine Blogger”

On his personal non-Times Union blog, fellow blogger Roger Green received a “sunshine blog” request, in that he was challenged by one of his fellow bloggers to answer eleven questions.ย  Green later challenged eleven of his fellow bloggers to create a “sunshine blog” post, with eleven questions that he crafted. Guess who got tagged as…

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