The Valley View House brings back working memories to Allen

My trip back in the old Wayback Machine to reminisce about the time my father Frank brought we Bialczaks up to that Polish resort in the Catskills has struck again. I posted The Polish in Me here in May 2014. It stirred up tales, all solid in my memory. Some of the details such as…

Trust

September Sundays end today, so it’s our good fortune to again publish Paul Curran’s weekly Cuppa column. Usual host Willow of willowdot21 has been leaving our Canadian friend’s way with words to us here, direct from Canada. On you go, Paul. Trust me, friends, this is a good one … If We Were Having Coffee…

A new pizza joint opens in my neighborhood

For the past couple of seasons, it’s been comforting to know that a good slice of pie was just steps away from my league play at Bowling Green in North Syracuse. Too rushed to catch dinner with my dear wife Karen, I could visit The Pie Guys. Attached right to the alleys, their little restaurant…

It’s still September, so leave me time to golf

My friend George has a good mind. He wouldn’t let this entire golf season go by without us getting out there for a round. The bridge between summer and fall turned out to be perfect, he with the boys back to school and me with a mid-week morning I could free up from freelance and…

It starts with pie and apples and grows from there

It’s apple-picking time in my home turf of central New York state. Loads of folks gather up the kids or friends and get out there and get their own. Me? I’d rather select a bag or box that somebody else has already rounded up from the orchards. My dear wife Karen and I took a…

Any way you slice it, Yogi Berra was our treasure

It’s over. Yogi Berra left our world, the news show told me this morning. To generations of New Yorkers, the man born Lawrence Peter Berra on May 12, 1925 was forever endearing. For the way he looked, squatted square behind home plate with the gated mask over that likeable mug and lefty stance dangerously over…

Flexing the Quad

For the third game of the 2015 Syracuse football season, my dear wife Karen got to the campus early enough to catch the festivities on the quad flanking the Carrier Dome. Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any gallery for an enlarged slide show. Of course…

Building a downtown party into the right setting

Finally finding the right day, I met my dear wife Karen for lunch downtown Syracuse’s Festa Italiana. Set in big white tents in a major parking lot and city streets between City Hall, Key Bank, a big church and other buildings of architectural note, this festival sets itself apart from the others that call the…

In Black Mass, Johnny Depp has evil down cold

Quite the block in South Boston that was that gave the world the Bulger brothers and John Connolly. Black Mass tells the tale with a deep and horrible chill. Directed by Scott Cooper by a script from Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, this crime drama documentary is 122 minutes full of high ambition and low…

A square with a water view

My dear wife Karen’s email asked if I’d like to meet her for lunch at Festa Italiana. I got there early enough to take out my iPhone 6 to share my view of the fountain at downtown Syracuse’s Hanover Square on a lovely 85º F mid-September afternoon. No mattter that Karen meant the next day…