Ava plays with her chicken wing

She dreams of the real thing? Happy rescue cat Ava definitely likes the toy inside the latest monthly installment of her catnip gift box. It’s a chicken wing. No, say Elisabeth and George Three, she cannot have the real thing. I am looking forward to George whipping up a batch on that smoker that came…

Pieces still fit

My dear wife Karen proved Cape Cod is not the only place where she can piece together the puzzle. When you need a lot of ice cream to relax, go for the big picture! And, yes, we are mentally prepped for this year’s Cape Cod getaway and more puzzles with Elisabeth and George Three.

Flowers on the strawberries

Coming toward fruitful. Terrific daughter Elisabeth noted progress in the rows of strawberry plants placed in the garden by George Three. Flowers have appeared in their year one, we see in her text photo. None yet in our clay planter on the back deck, we must report.

Waiting on the west end

Wanted: players. My walk to the Willow Bay section of the big Onondaga Lake Park reminded me that families who life out that way don’t have to make their way to my part of the community to find a nice playground for the young ones. There were no takers at this snippet of time, though…

Y knot leave it standing?

I’m still standing … This little tree will draw my glances as the season progresses. I want to know if it’s gone gone, or if life clings to those limbs that remain at the Y.

Log on the lake or something more mysterious?

My mind works in mysterious ways. Out there on the lake emerged a form. Logic told me a piece of wood has emerged part way from the water. My brain told me, wait, in another park to the south, that sure would be a gator. Why can’t it be some sort of big creature here?…

Fall leftovers

Leave us alone. How that great, big clump of dried leaves made it from autumn to spring on the shores of a lake is beyond me, I thought as I walked past the short tree And saw no other signs of such stubborn behavior. Nature sure is something.

Shadowy figures

Sun blocker. Walking around Onondaga Lake Park, it behooves this retired guy experiencing his first months away from the working days to stagger the hours visiting this grand expanse so close to my house. Different angles of the sun bring different views of the world to my senses (and iPhone).

You’re welcome

Stuck in the corner. Bird-nesting season has reached our side alcove, my dear wife Karen and I notice during our weekday late afternoon wind-downs on the futon. It’s a robin, we’ve been able to spot. We can’t cede the alcove to the birds, though, and mama takes flight often when we open and close the…

Practice, practice, practice

Nor completely random. I spied while walking over the pedestrian bridge back to the official parking lot after the Food Truck Battle, an interesting three-line pattern on unused lot below. And now we know where the painters practice their middle-of-the-road lines before traffic is stopped and they go out to put the important yellow or…