Castle Cleaning & Oriental Rug Company LLC

10/02/2026

operetta SALAZAR

On a winter day in 1980, producers were scrambling to finish 'Christmas in the Stars', a bizarre, charming Star Wars holiday album overseen by disco legend Meco Monardo. One track, “R2‑D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, needed a youthful, energetic lead vocal, but none of the singers they’d tried sounded right. In the middle of this scramble, someone remembered the kid sweeping floors at the Power Station studio: an 18‑year‑old janitor named John Bongiovi, nephew of studio co‑owner Tony Bongiovi.

Tony brought the teenager into the booth, telling the producers, essentially, “Let the kid try.” Jon had never sung professionally, but he stepped up to the mic and delivered exactly the bright, pop‑friendly tone the track needed. His voice cut through the novelty arrangement with surprising confidence, and the producers immediately knew they had their lead. That single take became his first-ever released recording, years before 'Runaway', years before Bon Jovi was a band, years before stadiums were chanting his name.

The moment changed his life. Jon realized he didn’t just 'want' to be a musician, he could actually do it. The Power Station became his second home, giving him access to gear, mentors, and recording time that most teenagers could only dream of. That odd little Star Wars Christmas album, a footnote in pop culture, ended up being the spark that launched one of rock’s most enduring careers.

10/02/2026

08/13/2026

dolores shaul

Most Schoharie County locals know Vroman's Nose as the flat-topped hill that dominates every view of the valley, but not everyone realizes you can actually hike to the top of it, and the summit view might be the best-kept secret hike in the whole county. 🏔️

The climb itself takes less than an hour round trip, a steady but manageable trail through hardwood forest that opens suddenly onto open rock at the summit, with the entire Schoharie Valley spread out below in a patchwork of farmland and winding creek. The hill gets its name from the Vroman family, who received the land from the British government in the early 1700s, and the site has quietly anchored local history ever since, from Iroquois trails to Revolutionary War skirmishes fought in its shadow.

It's the kind of landmark you can see from miles away without ever thinking to actually climb it, until you do, and wonder why you waited. 🌄

Follow Wild NY, and tell us: what's a landmark near you that you drove past for years before finally hiking it?

08/13/2026

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Wishful Living is open from 10am until 5pm today in downtown Berthoud. Stop in and be inspired!

08/08/2026

GINNY AUSEREHL

08/03/2026

ANNA BISAILLON

In late 1938, as N**i Germany prepared to occupy Czechoslovakia, a 29-year-old British stockbroker named Nicholas Winton canceled a planned skiing holiday to visit Prague after a friend alerted him to the dire refugee situation. Recognizing the immediate danger facing Jewish families, Winton set up an impromptu office from his hotel room and organized a rescue operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport.

Over nine months, he cataloged children in need, forged transit paperwork, lobbied the British Home Office for entry permits, and raised funds to secure foster homes across Great Britain. Between March and August 1939, he successfully arranged eight trains that carried 669 mostly Jewish children through N**i territory to safety in the UK. When World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, a ninth train carrying 250 more children was blocked, and Winton quietly returned to daily life, telling almost no one, including his own family, about the operation for nearly half a century.

The story finally came to light in 1988 when his wife, Grete, uncovered a scrapbook in their attic containing lists of the children, their parents' names, and the host families who took them in. She passed the records to a Holocaust researcher, prompting the BBC program That's Life! to invite Winton into their studio as an audience member, completely unaware of their plans.

During the broadcast, host Esther Rantzen revealed his story on air and asked if anyone in the room owed their life to Nicholas Winton, at which point dozens of adults sitting around him stood up simultaneously to honor him. The emotional broadcast reunited Winton with hundreds of the rescued children, now adults with families of their own, leading to widespread international acclaim, a knighthood in 2003, and the Czech Republic's highest honor before his death in 2015 at age 106.