The locked gate and the damage done

A walk with my dear wife Karen and our cherished rescue mutt Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle through our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood Norwood Park yielded an obstruction on a path that usually stood free for all. Karen has come across the locked gate previously. And she knew why officials had closed things up,…

Finishing the seven-stretch

When I finished my shift at the store Sunday night, I looked at the manager on duty and declared, “I just finished my seven-stretch!” I do believe I may have coined a phrase. For me, at least. I’ve heard my co-workers call it something else. I may have used that other doozie, which ends at…

We started singing, bye-bye American Idol …

I don’t know if you noticed, but American Idol put on one hell of a finale last week. The FOX competition show signed off after 15 seasons of crowning an amateur singer as best of the bunch by winning over the panel of judges and America in voting week after week. The system worked to…

Nothing Is Coming Up Roses

On walk through the blocks surrounding the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood this week, I asked Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle if she would like to stray just a few houses from our usual route to see if the folks who give us a wonderful display of color every summer are…

Escape

It’s time for our weekly helping of Paul Curran, guest columnist from above. Canada, that is, which is definitely geographically north of my home in upstate New York. Take it away, Mr. Curran. Addicted Welcome to the weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your barista today and I’m happy to…

Sticking my neck out

There was a running gag in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 that hit close to home. The elder women, whenever they posed for a photo, grabbed hold of the back of each other’s necks and, just as the taker took, gave the person next to them a little tug of support. Wow, I’ve noticed…

Grisham takes to the mountains to battle Big Coal

Sometimes we fall behind, even on our favorite authors, don’t we? And so after I put down Gray Mountain, I wasn’t totally surprised that John Grisham had released this tale centered around a promising young woman attorney who descends from bustling Big Law in New York City to the mysterious and perhaps not-so-sleepy mountains of…

No lie about that great coverage

Welcome to the club, my colleagues said. That did not make me feel better. I spilled paint at the store. Setting up the scene: My boss handed a work sheet to all in the paint department. One of my assignments was to down stock and fill in two bays in the major paint aisle. So…

Looking fast and fit for football

My dear wife Karen and I have attempted to attend the Syracuse Orange’s annual spring football game, loyal season ticket holders that we’ve been for seven seasons now. It’s not always been so much fun, through the four years under the guidance of Doug Marrone, even though that Orange alum turned a bad team around…