The peak and the porch

You don’t own your house, your house owns you. Or something like that. Anyway, the darned peak of our vinyl siding fell off the top of the front of the Little Bitty again. Damn, I wish that phone number of the contractor who put the stuff on the house worked. That guarantee he sold us…

You’re on a diet, Ellie B

My dear wife Karen took our cherished rescue mutt Ellie B to the vet last week for her scheduled shots, check-up and nail clipping. I had a late meeting at the library, but managed to squeeze into the examination room before it was all over. Yes, despite my increased walking routine in the park and…

My ukulele-playing fingers don’t bend like that

My Saturday assignment at the Liverpool Public Library fit neatly into my bucket list. I took photographs and shot videos at the monthly Ukulele for Beginners workshop led by Pat Doherty. Earlier this year, my dear wife Karen surprised me with the gift of a ukulele because I’d told her I’d like to learn to…

Me Before You Carries Much More than Romance to the Table

Love stories should come in all shapes and sizes. I’m glad when we get one that dares to stray from the oh-so-popular, inspired-by Nicholas Sparks and The Notebook formula, trickling down for 20 years now. Me Before You brings its share of stereotypes, yes. Scripted by Jojo Moyes from her own novel of the same name…

Fiction: The kid and the job search

The car pulled up to the front of the big box store, and the young man jumped from the cold pavement into the warm passenger seat. He looked over at his mother, who smiled genuinely as only somebody who loved and protected this fiercely could. “How’d it go, Stevie?” she finally managed through a tight…

David’s Offer

My dear blogging friend Paul writes about snowstorms in June for today’s weekly guest column. I always said he’s one cool Canadian. We dig Paul, right, like a snow shovel cutting through drift. Leaving the Hospital in a Snow Storm Welcome to the weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your…

A Taste of the 20th year

A couple of weeks back, Rick from Syracuse radio station TK99 sent me a Facebook request for a few minutes of my time. Could he talk to me for a show he was putting together for the 20th anniversary of the Taste of Syracuse, please? Sure, I replied. Then, I thought: Has it been that…

Peony gone, roses step in

The peony season indeed went fast in front of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Syracuse. When I got home from the board of trustees meeting at the Liverpool Public Library on Wednesday night, my dear wife Karen had even picked up all the fallen blossoms from our lawn. Two weeks, not…

Good dog, you

Normally when Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle comes across another canine in our walks around our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, she goes at least a little off the center stripe. But not when the old dog above crossed our path. Or didn’t bother to get in our way, rather. And I don’t know if…

Not so mighty tacos

The new addition to the Central New York takeout food parade caught my attention as I drove down Route 11 coming home from the store one day. Mighty Taco. Didn’t you have those out in California?, I quizzed me dear wife Karen. She concurred. We went this past Saturday of our three-day holiday weekend, after…