A garden that bursts with beauty, love and hope

I took the photographs, wrote this post, and scheduled it to publish today before my sister Fran died last week. I’ll return soon to look with new eyes. I’d pass the Butterfly Garden of Hope every time I drove up or down the Onondaga Lake Parkway and think that someday I’d like to stop and…

Behold Trumbo and his superhero power of … Writing!

Behold the newest member of the Marvel Universe. He wears big glasses and a bushy mustache not as a disguise but as part of his everyday Hollywood attire. Trumbo slays the evil empire by … Wait. I’m mixing studios and genres here, obviously. But director Jay Roach certainly took John McNamara’s script based on Bruce…

My sweet middle sister Frannie gave and got much love and friendship

We’re back from our trip to Long Island for the services for my middle sister Frannie. She passed away at the age of 51 last week, sending shock and sadness through her husband Jack, my little sister Dory and myself and our beloveds, and everybody else who she touched through those years on our planet.…

Perfectly powzer

To help celebrate Labor Day here in the U S of A, I saved some of my fireworks display photographs from Star Wars Night put on by the Syracuse Chiefs baseball squad at NBT Bank Stadium here in Central New York. Happy day to all. Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on…

Our daylilies get their moment in the light

What a lovely butterfly garden in the backyard of our cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood my dear wife Karen has cultivated this summer of 2016. I took these photos more than a month ago. They’re too pretty not to show off. Sweet time of year, indeed. No matter how you…

I’m Sorry

The man apologizes in his headline. After what he went through last week, the one thing he picks to top off the tale of his return here for his Sunday guest column is to say he’s sorry. Wait! There’s more to it than that. That’s our Paul Curran. Welcome back, good friend. Read on. Welcome…

I think they used to have the same address

On a recent walk around the blocks surrounding the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood with my dear wife Karen and Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, a recently painted house caught my eye. Hover over either gallery photo for a description. Click on either image for an enlarged slide show. Two recently…

Rest in peace, my sweet middle sister Frannie

When the phone buzzes at work a couple of times in a row with voice messages from your baby sister, you check it. When her concerned voice asks you to call her back immediately, you do. And then she has to tell you words a big brother doesn’t ever expect to hear. Our middle sister…

From Dinosaur to goats, there’s plenty for State Fair roamers to gawk at

Meet at the Regional Market parking lot for the bus to the State Fair, my dear wife Karen and I agreed before we left for work. And then when I pulled past the final Syracuse Chiefs baseball game of the year and to that handy, dandy satellite parking destination that we’ve been using for more…

The young and the formerly Beach Boys at the New York State Fair

The New York State Fair is always a place for all ages, even when they open the gates for free for those over 60 on one of their senior days. That was the case Monday when my dear wife Karen and I took our one trip this summer of 2016. That’s when we were free…