The muddy prints of a 4-year-old

Somebody young was traipsing through the muddy backyard of our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood during this holiday week and then heard visitors arrive inside. They wanted in. Badly. But they couldn’t quite figure out how to work the tricky handle of the French door. We did not have a toddler visiting…

What are you doing here?

An unexpected guest showed up at our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, and just five days from the New Year yet. I noticed the visitor loitering in the corner of our backyard when I let Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle out for her morning Saturday romp. OK, I have to admit that…

I ‘present’ my top 10 films list for 2014

As you savor the mood of a post-holiday Friday, I offer you this gift. Over on the Syracuse New Times site is my Top 10 list of my favorite films from 2014. OK, I’ll give you No. 10. That would be “The 100-Foot Journey,” the pretty delightful Disney offering featuring Helen Mirren as the French…

A wet, green Christmas was OK here

So much sentimentality is hung upon the concept of a White Christmas. Sorry, Bing, not this year in Syracuse, N.Y. I did not mind at all that in the front of our house in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, the lawn once again had returned to green. OK, I will admit that at the…

Yes, Santa did

My dear wife Karen outdid herself this year. From the grandest gift to the simplest gift, she knows how to make everybody in the house happy. I think so. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle thinks so. Daughter Elisabeth and boyfriend George thought so as we enjoyed family time for Christmas Eve last night. Son Daryl…

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers gets there with folk strings style

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, “Almost There” Label: Words and Music Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers starts this dozen-song collection off with “Eight Days in January,” an interesting story in which the Syracuse singer, songwriter and acoustic strings player enlists the help of Rani Arbo on fiddle and harmony vocals. I thought I was off on a trip to…