Blogopolis

Quite a night for us denizens of the Capital District blogosphere - a whole bunch of us gathered in real space, namely the sun terrace of the City Beer Hall in central Albany.  Why?  To celebrate the fourth birthday of a local internet institution, All Over Albany.

AoA offers a ready round-up of all that's going on in and around the Capital District.  For more and more people it's the go-to site for useful info on days off, meals out, news, views, what-to-dos.

I am an occasional - accidental - contributor, thanks to a weekly segment "In the Neighborhood".  Greg and Mary (the brains and everything else behind AoA) picked up on this blog somewhere along the line (via the Exile, I imagine).  On weeks when they think I've written something worth sharing, that post is added to a collection of best-ofs by all the other local bloggers.  Ha - I don't seem to have dazzled them much over the last couple of weeks then... (But that's ok.  Really.  There's perhaps only so much people want to know about bread books.)

AoA is a nice, polite site - trolls and other nasties not welcome there - and the birthday bash tonight was a real-life reflection of its online loveliness. Lots of smiley people enjoying the delightful company, delicious snacks (even the deep fried mac'n'cheese) and powerful Chatham Brewery beverages.  The Man and I were there together - briefly (had to get back to the kids), but appreciatively.  Nice to meet you, G & M, and many thanks for the invitation.

Here's a photo - no doubt you'll be able to find something similar on about twenty other blogs tonight.