How do you top off a five-beer afternoon?

Well satisfied from our five craft beers served in the Brewery Ommegang sampling, my dear wife Karen and I got to peruse the goods in the souvenir store for just a few moments before the red lights started flashing to signal that our table for a late lunch in the adjoining cafe was ready. There’s…

A sample of Ommegang goes down well

Brewery Ommegang is expanding. Popular this Cooperstown craft beer brand is. I’d been to the rolling hill a few miles outside the village while I worked covering the music scene for the big daily. Cool promoter Dan Small puts on a warm weather series using the natural amphitheater behind the brewing operation and cafe. But…

Meet the Mets? Just go to the Hall of Fame

Of course I know the lyrics to the song Meet the Mets. It’s been playing in my brain since the early 1960s when Jane Jarvis would play it on the Shea Stadium organ and the crowd would be coaxed to sing along “bring your kiddies, bring your wife, guaranteed to have the time of your…

So much baseball has hit my senses

I started following baseball before kindergarten. No kidding. So when I consider exhibits from the Hall of Fame and Museum that cover my lifetime, yes, I must include the striking photograph of great Pittsburgh Pirate and humanitarian Roberto Clemente. He had 3,000 hits, sure. Of greater importance, the native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, died…

A must for baseball fans of all ages

I closed my eyes and imagined … They wore those uniforms. They hit that ball, swung that bat. They were the heroes of so many throughout the world. Put your favorite baseball dream at the start of each sentence, and you’re likely to find it at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.…

Martinfest enjoys the short February thaw

A late February day in downtown Syracuse with the high temperature hitting 68º F? Martinfest really does see it all. This gathering of great friends started four years ago by the Martins, of course, has weathered deep snow blown around by gusting winds and bone-deep cold that made one wonder if the coffee would freeze…

Hail, yes, this February thaw has been interesting

On the morning I posted all about the bulbs popping up around A Bitty Better in the Liverpool neighborhood of Galeville, I had to run out to my car in the pouring rain to let my dear wife Karen pull out from behind me to leave for her job at Syracuse Media Group. Lightning flashed…

What will we see coming up at A Bitty Better?

It’s an exciting time at A Bitty Better. My dear wife Karen asked me if I’d seen the sprouts. Out front and in the back. Yes, this February thaw has brought green from bulbs in our new home in the Liverpool neighborhood of Galeville. We moved from The Little Bitty in the Syracuse neighborhood of…

Pink Flamingos dig the February thaw, too

On a stroll around the blocks surrounding A Bitty Better in the Liverpool neighborhood of Galeville, my cherished rescue mutt Ellie B and I encountered some grounded birds. AKA Dogamous Pyle didn’t quite know what to make of these Pink Flamingos. They made me smile. A February smile and fabulous plastic lawn ornaments put out…