It’s OK when Pixar plays head games, Inside Out proves

Please do go with your kids to see Inside Out. I spent the pre-lunch hours of my Father’s Day delightfully with my daughter Elisabeth taking in the stark emotions of Joy and Sadness and the many shades in between in the full Regal Cinemas theater for matinée showing of the 15th Pixar picture from Disney.…

Oh, to be 4

Spiderman leads leaps over blocks as high as their heads Silly string shoots straight taking turns to build webs on the big old tree Pizza and fruit salad and chips and dip feed all the old people in shifts Eyes light up for singing because then comes Cupcakes Three flavors of cupcakes and yes to…

Does your dad need a doohickey for Father’s Day?

I thought my only object of attention at the local hardware store was a bundle of brown paper lawn refuse recycling bags. But some stocker knew better than that. Next to the register sat The Doohickey. Didn’t your dad used to call anything with a name that somehow escaped his mind that wonderfully sounding nonsensical…

The Chief

A year ago, my friend without a blog, Paul Curran, wrote a guest post here about his mother. Mum was sensitive, intelligent and well-received, as is all of the work Paul authors from his home in Ottawa, Canada, and spreads around the WordPress world via guest-blogging. You can find Paul’s memorable Mum piece here. I…

A slice of near-Solstice sun for Dogamous Pyle

One day from the Summer Solstice in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, and Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle knows exactly where to go on her 7 a.m. get-out into the backyard of the Little Bitty. Let there be light, indeed. Lots of light. According to the charts in The Post-Standard, our sun rose at…

Sunny golf day, and a wait at every tee

There was happiness and there was discontent this week at the Little Golf League That Could. The sun was shining as I returned from our week at the Happy Cottage in Cape Cod to rejoin our two foursomes that now make Monday night home for a weekly round of nine holes at Northern Pines Golf…

Allergic to the Letter ‘E’ Challenge

My good friend Colleen at Silver Threading reached out and tapped me in the Allergic to the Letter E Challenge. Oh, BloggyVille, what have you wrought this time? If I don’t write a paragraph without using my old friend ‘e’ I will be banished to the page of lame. Oh, no, not for me! Here…

Meet the Mets, Doc and Lenny, at the Chiefs game

When my terrific daughter Elisabeth texted me earlier this week with the simple question: “Do you want to tailgate at the Chiefs game this Saturday?” it took me two seconds to type back some combination of the word Yes and Saturday. The night before, my dear wife Karen had flashed a Syracuse Chiefs Facebook promo…

While we were away, birds ate, waste was hauled and new blooms emerged

Meanwhile back at the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood … Remember I reported that just prior to departure to Cape Cod and our annual pre-tourist rush week in the Happy Cottage that I noticed red fruit on the branches of our just-transplanted front-yard Snow Fountain you all helped name Cherry Cherry?…

Tools of the trade, I’d like to reintroduce you

I’ve worked hard since the January 2013 layoff from the big daily to become more relevant in the infrastructure of BloggyVille. Lift up the hood and know as much as I can about making this baby here hum, so to speak. And so I’ve learned to speak rudimentary Apple. As you know if you’ve read…