Behold the multi-colored butterfly bush

The last of our big three butterfly bushes pushed out its blooms. Behold, to the right, the multi-colored beauty. We loved the completed trifecta in the triangle garden in the backyard of the cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Yeah, I love the look back there, for sure. No question about…

You never know what gorgeous building you’ve been missing

For 33 years, I’ve lived and worked in the greater Syracuse, N.Y., area. Schooled in journalism, a reporter and editor by trade and a curious sort always, I consider myself the sort who always looks long at the surroundings. Imagine that I couldn’t quite place exactly where I had to go when my bosses at…

Meet the Mets come Labor Day Weekend

My dear wife Karen came up with a great idea for Labor Day weekend, and I did my best to make it work for 10 folks who live hundreds of miles apart. Why not get terrific daughter Elisabeth and outstanding significant George Three to join us in Syracuse to travel to Citi Field in Flushing.…

The Central Library looks smart indeed

They threw an open house on South Salina Street this week. The Onondaga County Public Library’s Central Branch has been working on its three floors of grand stuff in the Galleries of Syracuse since I’ve been working at the Liverpool Public Library. Our brethren did good. Real good. The Children’s Room on the second floor…

It’s time for the new Great New York State Fair

Things will be different when the New York State Fair opens the gates today. Starting with the gates. From the close last Labor Day, the sprawling fairgrounds in Geddes received a facelift to the tune of $50 million, the folks right there a couple of miles west of Syracuse city proper who hosted our monthly…

The real payoff: Meeting Beth in person

I feel as if I’ve known Beth from I Didn’t Have My Glasses On forever. She’s been my friend in BloggyVille forever, one of the first people I met on WordPress, a writer of special note, a photographer of fine image, a person of great wit, a person fun and smart and easy to be…

A show of power by the Syracuse Chiefs on Star Wars Night

Here’s one more reason to be all-in on Star Wars even though I’m a late-joiner. The Syracuse Chiefs know how to throw a night to celebrate the funk, fun and finery of the (inter)stellar movie franchise. The Saturday night at NBT Bank Stadium my dear wife Karen, who wonderful daughter Elisabeth and tremendous significant George…

A cool greenspace in Bayberry

My outreach assignment last weekend from the Liverpool Public Library took me and my camera bag to the Bayberry neighborhood. An old friend, Mike Banks, had alerted my colleagues Laurel Griffith and Dave Witkowski when he spotted them out at a previous event that he was cooking up a big celebration from his spot at…

Lunch with the old sports department crowd

You bet I was excited to see David Elfin for lunch last week. He and I worked together in the sports department of the big daily in the mid-1980s. I was his boss, technically, the assistant sports editor to his men’s basketball beat writer. In reality, though, we’d both come up here with time spent…