It’s looking like autumn outside Nichols

Yes, the temperatures are falling when the sun goes down here in Central New York. There hasn’t been frost on the pumpkin yet, as the saying goes, but as the calendar flips to the month of that orange gourd today, the folks at Liverpool grocery Nichols are ready for the season. Fall, that is. Autumn.…

Now that’s a non-starter

So I jump in my car after a quick after-work stop at Dick’s Sporting Goods hoping to find a pair of new bowling shoes for a new season – nope, this suburban Syracuse location of the gigunda corporation doesn’t carry any bowling equipment, the kind associate told me – and push the flip switch on…

Drip, drip, drip goes the faucet

It’s more than a bit disconcerting when you turn the faucet to the right for your morning ritual, and all that comes out is the merest of a trickle. That was my situation after my iPhone 6 alarm sounded at 6:20 a.m. Tuesday in the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. And…

Neighborhood joint advice

On a quick trip to Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood bar Shifty’s for a Saturday lunch with good friends Michelle, Kristin, Jeff and my dear wife Karen, I noticed a bunch of cool signs behind the bar. One struck me on this day as perfectly appropriate. It wasn’t just my glass of Merlot, no. Can…

Pretty girls in Liverpool

Walking back from taking photos by Onondaga Lake for my job at the Liverpool Public Library, I saw a scene a block away from my destination that made me reach for my iPhone 6. Of course, when I got there, the slice of Americana was no longer lined up perfectly outside the Federal Esspresso coffee…

Tim catches a swallowtail butterfly … with his camera

My dear wife Karen and I have been waiting patiently for a butterfly spotting in our backyard garden in the cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I have more hope now than ever. Good Neighbor Tim sent me two great photos from just his side of our shared fence. He did…

Where’s Mark amid the Diamondback crew?

Yes, my two years toiling for the University of Maryland’s campus daily The Diamondback surely helped shape my career. As much as what I learned in the academic buildings, yes. More? Probably. I wrote hundreds of stories covering the soccer, women’s basketball and lacrosse teams as my primary beats, with coverage about football and men’s…

Behold the Northern Flicker

Good Neighbor Tim is always on the lookout in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. It’s one of the things I love about having him and his wonderful wife Lorraine next door to the Little Bitty. His latest discovery was … I’ll let him tell it, from his email. “Another creature you might appreciate is…

Back on course at last

From May to September. That’s how long it took me to return to the golf course with my pals this summer. Busy for all of us, yes. In fact, that’s how long it took me to get back on the golf course at all, what with this great new job at the Liverpool Public Library…

Shine on, almost Harvest Moon

I was hit with this startling sight in downtown Syracuse when my dear wife Karen and I stepped out of the Landmark Theatre after seeing Jersey Boys Friday night. I believe we were one night past the official Harvest Moon here in the Northern Hemisphere. I know it was a beautiful nearly full moon over…