A cool wind and a warm sun greet our golf season

A day off from the store and friends a stretch of warm spring Syracuse weather added up to the opening of golf season 2016 for KP, Tater and I. Tater chose Camillus Country Club, a public-private hybrid built high on a hill on the west side of Onondaga County. The sun shined brightly again for…

Trying to keep the neighborhood base solid

I noticed a couple of big rocks hanging out on the empty lot separating the Little Bitty and our neighbor’s brick house the other day, and got hit by one of my little ideas. Those are the perfect size, I thought, to place in the holes the Eastwood skunk digs under our Syracuse city fence…

A together drive is always a bargain

With our first shared day off in a couple of weeks, my dear wife Karen and I jumped into her pretty red Mazda Friday afternoon and headed west on the New York State Thruway. We rekindled a tradition that had sat idle for a year or so, thanks to … Oh, the combination of a…

Springing a return to Thornden Park

My four-season cycle at the lovely spot at the top of Syracuse is complete. I took my iPhone 6 to Thornden Park as warm weather returned to my city here in upstate New York late this week, as promised. I wanted to capture the stirring of nature’s soul in the spot where roses will soon…

At the store before sunrise

It was still pitch dark when I pulled my Chevy Cruze out of the driveway of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Although sunrise was still officially some 20 minutes hence when I stopped in the parking lot of the store 15 miles northwest, light already peaked over the horizon when…

Finishing the seven-stretch

When I finished my shift at the store Sunday night, I looked at the manager on duty and declared, “I just finished my seven-stretch!” I do believe I may have coined a phrase. For me, at least. I’ve heard my co-workers call it something else. I may have used that other doozie, which ends at…

Nothing Is Coming Up Roses

On walk through the blocks surrounding the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood this week, I asked Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle if she would like to stray just a few houses from our usual route to see if the folks who give us a wonderful display of color every summer are…

Sticking my neck out

There was a running gag in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 that hit close to home. The elder women, whenever they posed for a photo, grabbed hold of the back of each other’s necks and, just as the taker took, gave the person next to them a little tug of support. Wow, I’ve noticed…

No lie about that great coverage

Welcome to the club, my colleagues said. That did not make me feel better. I spilled paint at the store. Setting up the scene: My boss handed a work sheet to all in the paint department. One of my assignments was to down stock and fill in two bays in the major paint aisle. So…

Snow apparent reason

I set this morning’s alarm for 5:10 a.m., to ease my way back into tomorrow’s opening shift at the store. My first stop was the kitchen, to push the button on my coffee maker, loaded with Dunkin’ last night. The view out the front window of our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of…