Smile at the party

And then there was the time … Tater and Linda hosted a fantastic shindig when KP came to town from Atlanta. Great food, wonderful big daily reunions, stirring conversation. KP snapped a wonderful photo of my dear wife Karen while I was in the midst of a wickedly competitive cornhole match in the yard with…

Bake and I, through KP’s lens

Since the ‘80s … KP sent Bake and I a photo he took of us on the track in Saratoga. We look like we’ve been hanging out with each other for a good, long time. Yes, I’ve known these two since I started working at the Syracuse daily in August, 1983. Using all my fingers…

Signs of figs!

Keep on sprouting, please and thank you. A wonderful August development has popped up with our backyard fig tree. My dear wife Karen and I have noted the arrival of possible figs. Could be fruit in our future. This would be a first from the tree gifted us as a baby twig from our friend…

Second deck can be fun

Oh, the patio! When terrific daughter Elisabeth asked if dear wife Karen and I wanted to take in the union picnic for a Syracuse Mets game at NBT Bank Stadium with she and George Three, we were all in. It’s a hit. The tickets said 1st base patio. That cool location on the second level…

Great seats down low

See it all. George Two and I decided we’d take in a Syracuse Mets weekday day game, just us two old guys. I bought ahead at the box office and snagged really close seats. Big sky. Behind the dugout with a blue sky kept us happy, yes it did.

Honoring the greats

Honoring winners. This fountain near the gate at Saratoga Race Course caught my eye as KP, Bake and I wound our way out. We stayed happily for seven of the 10 races. Bake was the big winner for the day, cashing frequently and enough to play with the track’s moolah. Yay, Bake. Everybody left with…

Take a swing at it

Party all sorts of ways. Of course there was a band to help Saratoga Race Course patrons behind the grandstand appreciate the between-race scene with their own gait. I did not trot past, more of a stroll.

Picnic for horse lovers

Eat, drink and watch races. Thousands of folks take a seat at picnic tables, spread out the contents from their baskets and coolers, and take advantage of big screens and betting windows set up outside the grandstand. Path through the picnic. It’s an interesting place to throw a hootenany, indeed.

Behind the grandstand …

Hello, No. 7 horse! On our stroll behind the big grandstand at Saratoga Race Course, KP, Bake and I saw the horses on their pre-race stroll before they even reached the track. Grooms (not the wedding kind) and workers carefully led them along a roped-off path through spectators. Looking fast, No. 8. They are indeed…

Railbirds

Hoof prints. KP, Bake and I wanted to watch the horses being led one-by-one to the starting gate. Have a good race! So much of what goes on before and after the short bursts of racing is based on tradition, I mused to my friends as we took in our day at the races. Watching…