Ali would have loved ya, kid … and a guest column

I caught sight of a little kid wearing a great T-shirt last weekend at the Polish Fest in Clinton Square. Mom smiled when I asked if I could grab a photo of her kids, and they quickly lined up against the monument. Then I realized that the bigger boy on the left had the object…

My daughter’s got Soul

The text came in Wednesday night, with the happy photo. My terrific daughter Elisabeth was at the car lot. She’d been handed over the keys to her first brand new car. At 26 years old, Elisabeth drove home her Kia Soul, the one she picked out herself. Yes, wonderful significant George Three shared some of…

A beautiful day at the market, under a stark blue sky

We’re running a Farmers Market at the library three times this summer, and our chief organizer still hopes to sign up a vendor or three before the first edition on Monday, June 27. I volunteered to extend my lunch break a bit and run down to the first edition of the weekly downtown Syracuse version…

Coming up red and yellow

The reds and the yellows look quite nice sharing space in the hourglass garden in the front yard of our beloved Little Bitty in the Syracuse City neighborhood of Syracuse. And the red bush in the corner of the back porch is springing up rather nicely, too, despite the attention that spot gets from Ellie…

A good day for a parade (of really nice homes)

My dear wife Karen and I had always made it our custom to walk the Parade of Homes on a weekend day. That meant sharing the view of the bunch of new houses on display, decorated to the nines, with a whole lot of other curious Central New Yorkers. Even though there are three weekends…

Polish Fest pride

As I worked a Saturday morning for the library, I tottered back and forth about plans for my dear wife Karen and I to meet my terrific daughter Elisabeth and wonderful significant George Three at Polish Fest. Dash down James Street to Channel Three in the rain to a morning newscast interview for Outreach Clerk…

Good dog at the park for, oh, 10 minutes

My terrific daughter Elisabeth set up the play date by text. She wanted her wonderful significant George Three’s pooch, Eenie, to meet Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle at Good Dog Park, the fenced-in roaming space with the optimistic title in Onondaga Lake Park. Tell her she has to be good because it’s in the name,…

Done for one day

The peak is covered again. I’m a pro at piecing our increasingly old vinyl siding back up there after it falls down when a big wind blows past the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. It’s been, oh, seven or eight years now since that contractor Patrick put in our “new’ windows…

The peak and the porch

You don’t own your house, your house owns you. Or something like that. Anyway, the darned peak of our vinyl siding fell off the top of the front of the Little Bitty again. Damn, I wish that phone number of the contractor who put the stuff on the house worked. That guarantee he sold us…

You’re on a diet, Ellie B

My dear wife Karen took our cherished rescue mutt Ellie B to the vet last week for her scheduled shots, check-up and nail clipping. I had a late meeting at the library, but managed to squeeze into the examination room before it was all over. Yes, despite my increased walking routine in the park and…