Why I fret, Vol. II

A couple weeks back I caught a photo of these two pine trees behind my backyard neighbors’ fence and shared my anxiety about an eventual fall. They were covered with snow. I could see a possible topple in the future. Here’s that Knock Down, Stay Up post. On the way back from my glorious walk…

Push the button and out comes free water

I fear that something I have valued dearly my whole life is facing extinction. The great American water fountain is going, going … Thanks to some old buildings that have not been spiffed up, they are not quite gone. The sturdy old beauty pictured here wets my parched lips every Thursday night at my bowling…

So close

Almost. We’re one day from April, and the snow here in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood is waving its last bye-bye, what with a high of 57 forecast for tomorrow. At least I hope its one final wave. You never know around here. A common comment: Remember the year we woke up to inches…

Yes, we can change a whole lot in a year

My treasure chest of rediscovered old photographs included a copy of my high school yearbook graduation shot and a candid picture taken by a fellow photography student my freshman year in college. Man, was I uptight for the graduation shot for my high school yearbook. How I left the house that day with my hair…

Whoa! When did your hair get that long?

Daughter Elisabeth and boyfriend George got to the Appleby’s before us for lunch yesterday, seated side-by-side and reading the menus when my dear wife Karen and I spotted them and sat down. Good talk, much smiling, a raised eyebrow or two, more laughs and satisfying catch-up, as usual. Health insurance changes. Physical therapy practices. Family…

Renegade bulbs shoot us some green

My dear wife Karen remembers digging up the tulip bulbs at this particular corner of a front garden last fall. They didn’t get along well with the juniper-come-lately as it grew. And they’d been there coming up on 10 years. Karen says they’ve been looking more and more scraggly each year. A couple little buggers…

My plan to save college sports

The subject of college sports and payment of athletes again rages around America because a labor board ruled in favor of certain players being able to start a union. It’s a heavy topic, with complicated layers and possible ramifications. I come with a simple plan. I think it’s fair to all college athletes. Take the…

I find a pile of old family photos, and here come the memories

I found a bounty of photographs I didn’t even know I had yesterday. I’ve been thinking that my sisters, Fran and Dory, were the keepers of the really good stuff. Apparently there were plenty of Kodak moments to go around. There’s been a volume somebody at sometime put together for me, hiding in a never-used…