Dogamous Pyle escapes into a pickle

I felt the iPhone 6 vibrate in my pocket as I talked to my boss Diane at the Liverpool Public Library. Once, twice, three times it rang. I ignored it, figuring I’d look to see the number come quitting time and discover yet another listing of one of the folks you don’t call back because…

A new iPad for Karen gets me thinking

My dear wife Karen went out during her week off and bought herself a new iPad. I surely applaud the move. She’d been working with the hand-me-down gifted from my first iPad Air for almost two years now, and I had the beautiful piece of gadgetry for almost three years before I got the iPad…

Just the right library spot for the wheels to stop spinning

One of the best things about my job at the Liverpool Public Library is the perfect mix of contemporary and rustic, in architecture, art and patronage. Plus I never know what I’ll spot during my work days as communications specialist. I’ve dug the bike racks out the Tulip Street entrance since the start. Then this…

Happy Independence Day this Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day from the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I ran out from the side porch of the Little Bitty this morning clutching my iPad Air 2, expecting and hoping to take a shot of Good Neighbor Tim’s American Flag fluttering from his pole planted on his front lawn next door. Not up yet.…

2-band day fits for Jazz Fest on a holiday weekend

The M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest took a different role in my life this holiday weekend. Through more than two decades I’ve stuck a pad and pen in my pocket, hung a VIP-seating pass around my neck and made my way to wherever founder and executive director Frank Malfitano staged the fantastic event. For the bulk…

A welcoming new place

Eyeglasses place. One of our Chinese joints. Popular sub shop. It looks much like your run-of-the-mill tiny strip mall, this stretch of stores where I buy egg rolls and wonton soup. China Chen is quite near Northern Pines, the course where I played with the little golf league that could for many years. And so…

My happy new work space

My name plate came in at work, so I took that as the cue to bring in some other stuff from home to personalize my desk space. So into the Chevy Cruze went a little pile. There was new: The picture frame given to me for Father’s Day by my terrific daughter Elisabeth, holding the…

Margaritaville is good for my sole

I got a great present from my dear wife Karen last week, ordered online from Da Shoe Wearhouse. What, it’s Designer Shoe Wearhouse, you say? That’s right. In any case, she had a coupon and allowed me to pick out a pair of Margaritaville shoes. My faves. I looked at their dozen or so offerings…

Now we need butterfly bushes and butterflies

The wonder of the triangle butterfly garden of our cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood takes my breath away in stages. In the 7 a.m. pre-workday light, the rush of white from the daisies coming in from the right and purple of the climbing Polish plant taking over on the let…

Getting good at gathering the backyard gopher

Another year, another gopher munching on my dear wife Karen’s hard work in the backyard garden of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Not to mention making beloved rescue dog Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle’s life miserable again. Hey, wait. In finding the link above to share the last time I…