It’s time to take notice of the Eastwood Bears

One week until the Syracuse Orange starts the 2014 college football season with a Friday night game in the Carrier Dome against the Villanova Wildcats, and so it’s time to pay tribute to … The Eastwood Bears. The youth football teams are also gearing up for their seasons at their home base, a grass field…

The biggest gathering in our city is worth a long look

When I worked for the big daily in the 1990s, I came home pretty dusty every night during a 12-day stretch that started in August and ended on Labor Day. Part of my beat covering music and entertainment was reviewing concerts. And, yes, the New York State Fair threw a concert or 23 that I…

We kept getting drawn to the red one

My dear wife Karen and I have been watching Daryl drive his Honda Civic for a lot of years. Pretty car. Almost new car when grandpa helped him out back then. Sturdy car. A car that did its duty well, far more than 100,000 miles worth. With summer winding down, though, my fine stepson wasn’t…

Even at 75 degrees, there’s that certain aura in Syracuse

An afternoon walk around the block in the Syracuse city neighborhood on Eastwood with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle on August 16, 2014 allowed a glimpse of change to come. Not every tree, but every once in a while, a certain tree had that look. Autumn is on its way to the northeast. The changes…

Two weeks to college football season, and the stuff is out

As the calendar to college football 2014 becomes thinner, the local sports store that tries so hard had the stops pulled out in Destiny USA, the full Friday out front display table devoted to our Syracuse Orange. Let’s see what’s for sale at My Favorite Sports Store. Would I want … As season ticket holders,…

There will be roast beef with cheddar and horseradish for lunch

Once upon a time there was a joint in Syracuse that was known for a roast beef sandwich with meat so tender, rollss so fresh, cheddar so sharp and horseradish so hot. Clark’s Ale House was its name, and it sat on a street flanking the Landmark Theatre. Oh, yeah, it had a an ample…

A trip for lunch where the grounds are flush with beauty

After our delicious buffet lunch Saturday, my dear wife Karen and I were glad she had purposely parked in a lot far from our destination. We were at a spot filled with beautiful grounds, and our path to the car took us past carefully groomed gardens. We wondered out loud how many workers are tasked…

Operation Skunk Be Gone, so far, so …

I do not want to jinx it. The halogen light has been shining from the back porch for seven nights, flooding the area between the butterfly garden and the backyard shed, the space where our Syracuse city skunk shot its spray into Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle at dusk eight days ago. Saturday and Sunday,…

One more Supermoon from Good Neighbor Tim

I must have been too busy Sunday night. Writing my review of “The Hundred-Foot Journey” for my Syracuse New Times blog, to be posted later this morning there (and teased here). Catching up on the DVR, with the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at nearby Watkins Glen, and the horrifying news of Tony Stewart’s involvement in…

3 pretty bushes all in a row

In the last week, my three sturdy backyard garden butterfly bushes have changed personality a bit. The white, in fact, became the loudest of the bunch, with blooms so big, so long, so wide, they threatened to drown out their neighbors. But the pink indeed morphed chameleon-like into the multi-colored beauty of seasons past, and…