Beachy keen

The second morning my dear wife Karen and I woke up not in Syracuse, we knew the car would be headed the mile or so down the road to the Atlantic Ocean. All the car unpacking and grocery shopping and cottage settling in and other-blog-duty-movie-going and neighborhood-walking and Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle-reacclimating had been…

It wasn’t history, and it wasn’t Syracuse

My dear wife Karen and I settled into a friendly enough neighborhood joint to watch the Belmont Stakes yesterday afternoon. It was the kind of place that was glad to pour us two pint drafts to take to sit down at a table, just Karen and I. It was the kind of place that puts…

A Taste of Syracuse in various bites

It’s called Taste of Syracuse, and the name of this June festival could not be more appropriate. For two days, tens of thousands of people flock to the blocks that surround Clinton Square in downtown Syracuse. They get to sample much music. Three stages worth, in fact. Around noontime Friday, three Syracuse music veterans played…

The garden cycle works out just right

The peony in the corner of the front of our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood gave us its all during a furious week of budding and beauty. A full 15 flowers shot out of that one sturdy green plant in one week. They lasted slightly longer than that. I let the petals…

Off the eighth fairway was a double rainbow

For more than an hour, I thought that my highlight during last night’s round during our informal little formal golf league at Northern Pines in Cicero would be the birdie putt from 15 feet dead past the hole on No. 3. No, it wasn’t the 40-yard chip on No. 8 that left me a three-footer…

A new game to the Backyard Olympics …

At our great friends KP and Sue’s big shindig Sunday afternoon, I discovered a new sport in the Backyard Olympics collection. Elisabeth knew it. My wonderful daughter picked up one of the stringed things and took aim. Her solid boyfriend George knew it. He enthusiastically stepped up for the two-person contest using the six swingie…

Can Painted Pony match California Chrome in a whirling finish …

California Chrome has proved to be a gamer in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, grabbing the first two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown for three-year-olds most regally. The Belmont Stakes to come is the toughest, I thought, as I spied another batch of horses moving in circles Friday night in Syracuse. Given the opportunity,…

At Green Lakes, it’s all about your viewpoint

The people of Central New York flock to Green Lakes State Park for all sorts of recreation. There are beaches for swimming. Two lakes, Green and Round. Camping. Bikers all around. Runners and hikers and hills. Snowshoe and cross-country skiing trails come winter. Yet this is still the fourth installment of “Golfing with KP, Tater…

More flowers, more mulch, more waiting at the curb

A quick front-yard update in our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood finds the peony plant proudly pushing out even more blossoms on a cool day. My dear wife Karen has planted two more Gerbera daisies in the hourglass-shaped garden, after Good Neighbor Tim and his wonderful wife Lorraine picked up a deep…

DJ, Bird almost land an eagle

Two holes in a row last night at Northern Pines, I hustled to the little black bag tucked inside my golf bag and pulled out my iPhone 4. It was quite the week four for our little informal formal golf league. DJ had returned from his week off to tend to visiting family. We teed…