This is your dad, reminding you temperatures are dropping so it’s time to check your car tire pressure. Also, if you've been wildly frustrated with finding a good tire gauge like I was, here's your answer […]

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

#BandcampFriday! All $ to artists! Tribute album to #syracuse's The Flashcubes!! https://bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com/album/make-something-happen-a-tribute-to-the-flashcubes First new Los Straitjackets material in years: https://losstraitjackets.bandcamp.com/album/somos-los-straitjackets […]

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]

I love not only your wish and that your wife passed on it to your crafter: I really love the result. That's the way we should live together. Please pass on my compliments to your wife as well as the leather crafter. As I adore this way of living!

No Kings protests for Oct. 18. #stopfascism #antifa #antifascist https://www.nokings.org/#map

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

Sometimes I think I should be saying more here, trying to engage, finding more connections . . . but I've been here a couple of years now, and apparently, this is as much as I'm looking to get out out of it. Still, I appreciate Mastodon and the #fediverse.

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.

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

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

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]

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]

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]

So preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. 1918 #albany #newspaper #oldnewspapers #albanyny

Hit some limits on my website hosting that I'd never worried about before. First I started running out of filespace – so, no worries, I'll go back and reduce the file sizes for the many images I host. Then I found out about bandwidth limits . . . and then I found out how much my sites are […]

Paddling under a great deal of overcast is just ideal. #kayak #kayaking #paddling #summer

Bonnie Raitt – Nick of Time https://vinyldistractions.com/bonnie-raitt-nick-of-time/

The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely https://vinyldistractions.com/the-raconteurs-consolers-of-the-lonely/

Last night in the grocery store a kid was randomly calling out "hee haw!" as if she were Sam Wainright.

1895. I say he had it coming. #oldnewspapers #troy #troyny #newspapers #headlines

Parliament – Osmium https://vinyldistractions.com/parliament-osmium/

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]

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]

Ads from the summer weekly student newspaper where I worked, offering typing services. 1980. It was truly a different world. Not a lot of people typed, or needed to, and a typist could make decent side money. None of these ads were mine, but that's […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Pacific Gas and Electric – Wade in the Water https://vinyldistractions.com/pacific-gas-and-electric-wade-in-the-water/

I regret to inform you that Mattices' has long since closed, and despair is now an option. #oldnewspapers #advertising #upstateny #upstatenewyork #troynewyork #troyny #collarcity

Odetta – Odetta and The Blues https://vinyldistractions.com/odetta-odetta-and-the-blues/

Mejor De Los Nuggetz (’60’s Garage And Psych) https://vinyldistractions.com/mejor-de-los-nuggetz-60s-garage-and-psych/

One of the most iconic buildings in Waterford, NY is the 1893 Ormsby Textile Company mill, built in 1893. Underwear, lace trim, and eventually automobile fabrics.Then, it became home of Ursula of Switzerland, famous "mother of the bride" fashions. I've got […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

The Nomads – She Pays The Rent https://vinyldistractions.com/the-nomads-she-pays-the-rent/

The Mystic Moods Orchestra – Highway One https://vinyldistractions.com/the-mystic-moods-orchestra-highway-one/

Muddy Waters – “Unk” in Funk https://vinyldistractions.com/muddy-waters-unk-in-funk/

Muddy Waters – McKinley Morganfield a.k.a. Muddy Waters https://vinyldistractions.com/muddy-waters-mckinley-morganfield-a-k-a-muddy-waters/

Muddy Waters – Fathers and Sons https://vinyldistractions.com/muddy-waters-fathers-and-sons/

Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters Sings The Songs of Big Bill Broonzy My vinyl Muddy Waters collection has been, I must admit, somewhat lacking. I had a big 3-CD compendium ("Blues Legend"), and a bunch of Muddy contributions included on the Willie Dixon Chess Box […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

What if Scotia, NY's Glen-Sanders Mansion had no Glens, no Sanderses? That's what happened in 1963, when Mrs. Pearl Sanders sold the historic house dating to 1713. For years, it looked as if the mansion could be lost at any time. In my latest post, I take a […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers It's a tale as old as time itself, at least for me. Someone I know and whose taste I trust gushes endlessly over some musical genius. I pay such gushing little mind. Ten, 20 or 30 years later, I finally catch on to what […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Morphine – Bootleg Detroit One more from Morphine – a really excellent document of their live performances, which by all accounts were electrifying. Listening to this, I'm now completely bummed I never even knew about Morphine, let alone had the chance to […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Morphine – B-Sides and Otherwise I talked about my late discovery of Morphine last time. I think I talk about my late discovery of someone every time. That's just how it is. Morphine B Sides and Otherwise front cover I actually got this before I was able […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Morphine – Cure For Pain If there's a consistent theme to my record collecting since, oh, say, 1979, it would be getting very, very into artists years after their time. It started with The Beatles and then the whole British Invasion, with me haunting Desert […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Do other #cyclists experience the phenomenon of the roadside washcloth? Okay, this one's more of a handtowel, but still . . . for the more than two decades I've been #cycling, I have always observed discarded/dropped/lost washcloths along the roadside. I […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Twice today I was tempted to comment on a stranger's post with a counter to their point. Twice today I remembered that that never goes well no matter how I phrase my counterpoint, and chose to remain happy instead.

Had the privilege this weekend of listening to an amazing singer-songwriter, Anna Spackman, whose most recent songs are beautiful, cutting, insightful, and somehow hopeful. Just released a live album from another show this year, "Sunlight Returning: Songs of […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

George “Mojo” Buford – Mojo Workin’ This album answers the eternal musical question: what happens when you cross a Chicago bluesman and "Surfin' Bird"? Very shortly after picking up Mojo Buford's Chicago Blues Summit, this album popped up when I was doing a […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Having a fairly successful #cycling season, up to 912 km (566 miles) on the year so far, despite missing out a bunch of June due to work and rain. Last year was not great at 1473 km total, so I'm pretty certain to beat that but need to keep telling myself to […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

George “Mojo” Buford – Mojo Buford’s Chicago Blues Summit Okay, let's start with this – before I saw this record in my favorite record store, Forever Changes here in Phoenixville, PA, I don't believe I'd ever heard of Mojo Buford. That didn't really matter – […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

I went home again, back to where I once belonged, and wrote about what it means to paddle the river channel where I learned to love the outdoors and being on the water. #memoir #memories #kayaking #paddling #kayak #upstateNY #UpstateNewYork #PersonalHistory […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]

Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson – The Reissued 1963 Blues Festival 1963 Blues Festival cover Okay, my big challenge with this one is: Where am I gonna file it? I don't sort things on my shelves by "various artists […] [Original post on mastodon.sdf.org]