Delivered after the old, cracked, overstuffed bin was collected.

Binished Fusiness

Blue Bin success. My weekly garbage and recycling collection this morning in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood came with a delivery on the back end. When my dear wife Karen left for work, she poked her head back into the Little Bitty and declared, “the new blue bins are here!” After two months of…

The bruise will remain on the Orange, no matter

The big and heavy anvil dropped from the NCAA sky and landed flush upon the head of the Syracuse community Friday. After nearly a decade of investigations regarding multiple instances of running afoul of its rules, intercollegiate sports’ governing body released a 94-page report that ripped into Syracuse Univerity officials over that period of time…

Photo 101: Everywhere you look, there’s a way to connect

Moments after you are born, somebody cuts the cord. Doctor, nurse, midwife, parent or friend takes scissors to sever the line that hooked you to your mother’s life-giving nourishment. After that, we spend the rest of our days making connections. Day One of Week Two of this Photo 101 class, Cheri sent out the message…

There’s no place like this older folks’ home

Dev Patel battled himself this weekend. Chappie the Robot vs. Sonny the retirement hotel keeper. Oh, yeah, the crazy business world inhabited by Vince Vaughn was opening, too, this weekend, a trio to choose from at the Regal chain in the mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex of Destiny USA. My dear wife Karen and…

Photo 101: A gallery for Sammy

The weekend assignment for Photography 101 was to set up a gallery. Friday night I shot plenty at the Syracuse Area Music Awards at the Palace Theatre. In fact, I had two previous years of iPhone photos from the Sammys stored in my iPad Air, too. Sammys Gallery, here we come. You can click any…

Catching up with Julia Goodwin’s story

I told you how excited I was about my latest piece of freelance writing for Central New York The Good Life Magazine. Baker High School junior Julia Goodwin’s smiling face makes the cover extremely attractive, does it not? And I think editor Linda Bien and graphic designer Peter Allen put together a most memorable package…

The past and the present embrace Syracuse’s big music

Generations of Syracuse music hugged Friday night at the Palace Theatre on James Street. Literally. Nick Zobrio, winner of the Best Jazz recording Sammys Award, couldn’t make the ceremony to honor the best, so he sent his father to read his hand-written note, which acknowledged his teachers, his parents and his siblings. Nick Frenay, winner…

CNYJO returns for a rare public performance

They enjoyed the vibe at the Oneida Scholastic Jazz Fest so much that the members of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra decided it was time to make their music for the public of Syracuse again. The cool ensemble will play at 4 p.m. Sunday at Jazz Central at 400 E. Washington St., Syracuse. The…

Photo 101: Finding solitude a third of the time

Day five of Photo 101 brings from Cheri the combination of Solitude and The Rule of Thirds. This first Friday in March being a day for a big three: Picking up the monthly prescriptions from my friend Jen at Dougherty Pharmacy 35 miles down the road in Morrisville, writing a magazine feature story and attending…

I had to recycle my Blue Bin story on the phone

My dear wife Karen and I try to be good citizens of our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood and our dear planet Earth. So we follow the spirit of our local recycling laws, tossing our plastic and paper and cardboard and glass into the city-provided Blue Bins, which are picked up along with the regular…