First cut of the season puts a hop in the dog’s step

No rain. A tiny break in the schedule. The mower came out of the shed late yesterday afternoon at last. I do believe May 4 is the latest I’ve pushed the cutter around the lawn to start the spring season at our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood in the 10 years since…

That Crawfish of Louisiana comfortably opens fest season in Syracuse

Five months worth of available dancing, drinking and eating in downtown Syracuse’s Clinton Square kicked off yesterday afternoon. The spring gray broke for a stretch, my dear wife Karen and I took off our jackets, the good friends were chatty, and my very favorite Syracuse band was on the stage. I enjoyed the Crawfish Festival.…

Back when I was a cover boy

In my day, the SUNY Morrisville journalism classes were spread through many different campus buildings. Charlton Hall. The Library. Lab-Class. The Little Theatre in the Student Activity Center, even, with those fold-over mini-desks in the very spot where the Friars put on their most excellent drama productions. No wonder I still get hit with that…

Our porch Christmas spruce is in the ground

We knew when we purchased the potted blue spruce in December and proclaimed it our side porch Christmas tree that we wanted to put the baby in the ground after the ornaments were packed away and spring thaw arrived here in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Here’s the pre-Christmas post where I shared the…

Our flowering Robinson crabapple grows up in spring two

Our front yard Robinson flowering crabapple survived its first winter in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. The snow, the cold, the wind, the snow, the snow, the cold … our little beauty is entering its second growing season with us in good health. I see the buds to prove it. Lots of bus, from…

City Arborist gives my neighbor’s pines the OK

I have been worrying about my backyard neighbor’s two enormous pines long enough and hard enough to post two stories about my state of fret. The last time we visited my world of fears, many of you kind friends suggested that I get up off the recliner and do something about it. I called the…

One more look at the Wine Tour that was

Two weeks ago my dear wife Karen and I hopped on a limo-bus hybrid for a group tour of five Cayuga Lake wineries and vineyards. I chronicled the adventure in words and photos here. I promised a couple more pictures. There you go. I also promised that I’d reveal which wines I liked best when…

A dinner fit for a bowling kingpin

Sometimes the meal is just right. After all that dissing I had to do about our awful first dinner at the Syracuse Cheesecake Factory last weekend, it’s only right that I point out how good dinner was last night at Spinning Wheel in North Syracuse. The occasion was our yearly bowling banquet, where all 60…

Sometimes it looks nicer than it feels

What a beautiful day to play golf in Syracuse, N.Y., you might say to yourself after looking at the photo I snapped with my iPhone 4 looking out over the 10th fairway at Foxfire Golf Club this afternoon. Yes, the sky was a shocking blue. Yes, the grass was a vibrant green. But the wind…

For Suzie81’s happy challenge, I go to my dear wife Karen

I thought it was a most excellent idea when super British blogger Suzie81 Speaks declared she was starting her Weekly Word Challenge with this popular word of late. Happy. Easy one for me. My dear wife Karen makes me happy every day. She makes me happy when she points during the Knapp stop on our…