Oh, balls

It takes all kinds at Bowling Green in Cicero, N.Y. I came prepared to capture the colorful spectrum of bowling balls that roll these days at my Thursday night league just to the north of Syracuse. The other squad was dressed in matching team shirts, and not T’s, either. Our CiCi Pizza T-shirts, received at…

A walk with Ellie B takes flight

A long loop walk with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle this week took us behind the apartment complex more than a few blocks away from our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood home of Eastwood. I noticed a Fed Ex truck stopped on the extreme right side of the lot, hugging the bit of unkempt…

In our garden, still a bit of seasonal confusion

As I read the east coast blogs and, most significantly, looked at their pictures of the driving and piling snow, I felt a bit conflicted. Hell, no. I felt bad for my brethren who were already taking to the shovel. Sorry, Austin, who was moved in Maine to post this headline and all it entailed…

I can hear music: An afternoon with the Heath Brothers

Jimmy Heath said he’d love to meet me. Albert “Tootie” Heath said I should check in to say hello. But when you talk to great musicians on the phone — legends of jazz, this time — it’s always a judgment call as to whether somebody’s merely being polite as an interview is winding down. This…

At the Tin Rooster, we kick up our birth week heels

The Tin Rooster was a really big deal. The name may conjur up a dusky little backwoods joint where somebody’s playing banjo on the sagging porch, but certainly not at this place my dear wife Karen chose to celebrate the cornerstone dinner of her Birth Week celebration 2014. When we walked into the lobby of…

Looking out my back porch door

Stepping to the top step of the porch to let Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle out to do her backyard morning thing, I couldn’t help but look right and left to check out autumn’s progress in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. The empty lot to the right has a brightly yellowed tree hiding out…

Sure, it’s a birthday, but we celebrate longer than that

My dear wife Karen marks another year on our planet this week. Not today. And we haven’t reached the big day yet. We have, though, started our celebration. By now I am quite aware, and thoroughly pleased, that we do not have to limit the great joy for this occasion to one single day. Happy…

No. 1 comes to town with a flurry of fans and the national title

When the defending national champions come to town still undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, it’s a big deal to me. So my dear wife Karen and I walked up the Syracuse University hill 90 minutes before the noon kickoff Saturday to take in the atmosphere. I had a pretty good inkling that…

Fall seems more crisp where I used to live

After driving those 35 miles east of Syracuse to pick up my monthly collection of meds from my friends Jen and Chris at Doughterty Pharmacy this week, I was struck by a familar feeling as I climbed out of my car, moved to walk up and down the half-mile strip that makes up the town-and-gown…

No more trending up, until I spot the moon in the sky

My bowling hopes were high. The average going up, up, up. But splits were everywhere. Conversions were few. Pins stood. Winking. Laughing. First game. 152. Second game. 154. Final game. 127. Enough to make the spirits sink. Until the exit to drive home from Bowling Green Lanes. A look to the sky Spots a vision…