Joseph Henry

The monument to Joseph Henry set against a spring-blue sky in Academy Park.

Chalk Kitten

A cheerfully-colored cat sketched on the sidewalk near the Lark Street Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop.

59 North Pearl Street

This building at 59 North Pearl Street is best known these days as the former site of Jillians.  But the structure itself (obviously with some alterations) has an interesting history well beyond the former nightclub.  It was built around 1792 by a local merchant, Goldsbrow Banyar.  From 1819, it was the home of Governor DeWitt Clinton.  He died there in 1828, a fact noted by a plaque in the sidewalk outside. 

The building has been heavily altered over the years, including the addition of a fourth floor and the large storefront.  But there are still some wonderful older details along the building's Steuben Street side and, on the Pearl Street facade, the windows still boast elegant old lintels like this one.

High Up and Looking West

While the gargoyle is what usually catches one's eye from street lever, the west side of the tower on St. Peter's Episcopal Church features still more carved faces.  Here, another six of them stare up State Street towards the Capitol.

The Sweet Potato Follies

A trio of sassy sweet potato ladies show off their curves in the produce department of the Honest Weight Food Co-op (which happens to be one of my favorite places ever).

Ready To March

A wolfhound waits for the St. Patrick's Day to begin on Central Avenue.

Armory Emblem

A crumbling State seal on the former National Guard armory on New Scotland Avenue.  When I was in grade school, this was the site of an annual Shrine Circus. 

Found By Chance

This lovely stained glass window appears to have been salvaged from a church or chapel and mounted on an addition to the back of a house on South Lake Avenue.

While I've passed this house before, I had never noticed the window until a casual stroll this past weekend when I turned a corner at random and there it was.

The Shoe Window

A display of knick-knacks in the window of a shoe repair shop on New Scotland Avenue.  They include a bottle shaped like a glass slipper, elegant ladies boots, and a large Dutch clog.

Branches, Buds, and Blue

It might be a bit overcast today (and they're predicting rain tomorrow), but yesterday was just wonderful.  Warm with bright blue skies and soft, light clouds.  And buds on the trees in Washington Park.

A Wolf In A Painted Garden

It's been many, many years since wolves roamed what's now downtown Albany, but a painted wolf lurks amid tulips in a little courtyard in E-comm Square (just off Broadway south of Division Street). 

Trinity Windmill

The Lark Street entrance to the massive Neo-Gothic Trinity Church is framed by an arch which is embellished with a variety of symbols, including this charming little windmill.

Found On Lark Street

When I was very little, we'd sometimes go shopping at the massive old Montgomery Wards out in Menands.  Once, I picked up a penny off the railroad tracks that ran across one of the parking lots.  At least one train had passed over the coin and bent it into the shape of a taco shell.  I kept that unusual penny for years, somehow lost it, and wish I still had it.

This penny, however, is the most battered I've ever seen.  At first, I thought it was just caked with dirt, but a closer look shows how damaged the cent is.