The skunk makes us miss the days of the gopher

My dear wife Karen let out Ellie B in the backyard for a few minutes just when the sun was setting Monday night. I heard the bark, the frantic one, the I’ve-got-an-animal-bothering-me pitch. I heard Karen calling my name with an equal amount of panic. I smelled the hint of trouble as I saw my…

A show for the ’80s in 2014

Organizers said the gates to the Benny’s Lost 80s Bash would open at 4 p.m. last Saturday at Onondaga Community College. It was held inside instead of outside. It did rain that night, so that was a great move. But they made us stand in line until 5 before opening the doors. I’m at the…

Does anybody really know what time it is?

On the first day of this fourth week of this new full-time job, I knew it was time to take a lunchtime shot of the clocks that I pass while walking during my 60-minute break. At the corner of Warren and East Washington streets, just a block from Hanover Square, the Key Bank branch has…

In the butterfly garden, blossoms at last

It took long enough in this summer of 2014. But at long last, on this slightly gray Sunday morning of Aug. 3, I finally felt it was time to grab the iPad Air and take these shots of the backyard butterfly garden in the Eastwood neighborhood of the Syracuse city home of my dear wife…

The night before the Bash, fans and bands meet and eat

While putting together today’s Benny’s Lost ’80s Bash fundraising concert for the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of Central New York, Syracuse native Greg Ross came up with a different wrinkle. Fans of Benny Mardones were able to purchase tickets for last night’s Eat and Greet at the Gem Diner to meet the…

A pretty little golf course in the city

When my wonderful daughter Elisabeth and her terrific boyfriend George and I decided it was time for some Sunday golf, I suggested the little city golf course that’s just two miles from our house in our Eastwood neighborhood. They’d already been to Sunnycrest’s sister nine-hole, par-three course, Burnet Park, so they were eager to try…

Arts, crafts and the people who make them

People from more than 30 states and Canada descended upon downtown Syracuse last weekend for the annual Arts and Crafts Festival. The least my dear wife Karen and I could do was walk the streets around Columbus Circle when we got out of work last Friday night. I wanted to stock up on photos and…

You smell it before you see it

I woke up at 5 a.m. with a smell in my nose. Something burnt. Without opening my eyes, my groggy mind sorted the scent. Not a skunk, not wood, not food, not quite electrical, we’re safe … I felt Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle press close to my lower leg just as the final tumbler…

What’s that sound? A little dance, a little jazz

The second Friday night departure from my reentry into the 40-hour weekday working world saw me rushing out of the building to find my dear wife Karen waiting patiently around the corner, watching the traffic go by. Again. We chatted about our day as we walked the short way to the car up at the…

Old big daily friends, new blogs to talk about

Earthriderdotcom is up from Florida this week. We’re part of this WordPress world that always comments on each other’s posts, so we’ve had a dinner planned for monnths. Just 90 minutes prior, as happens, comes a wrinkle. My cell rings at work, but I can’t pick it up. As I walk down the stairs one…