A proud night for my daughter

A slew of folks will gather at a Syracuse restaurant early this evening in honor of one of the smartest people I know. We’ll eat some, drink a little, smile a lot, maybe even tell a story or two about what makes her so special. Then we’ll all head off to the program where two…

Escape

It’s time for our weekly helping of Paul Curran, guest columnist from above. Canada, that is, which is definitely geographically north of my home in upstate New York. Take it away, Mr. Curran. Addicted Welcome to the weekly coffee and tea garden. My name is Paul, I’ll be your barista today and I’m happy to…

It’s beginning to look a lot like ugly Christmas sweater season

The Syracuse University bookstore table outside the Sheraton University tailgate party set up for the Orange football game last week’s Clemson game had a new addition. I thought it was rushing the season a bit. Of course, there’s just one home football game left to move these babies out for the Christmas party season, the…

Hope is where you see it

I was driving to work an early morning of World Series week, still somewhat bleary-eyed from my beloved baseball squad’s defeat that ended not too many hours ago. Gray day. A little drizzly. Eight hours in store for me. Then ahead I spotted a rainbow. A big one, too, stretching toward me as I approached…

neither rain nor hurricane nor turtles, can stop the wolverines.

As I feared, it wasn’t much of a game. Beth’s Michigan stomped my Maryland at Byrd Stadium. This will not be a good second season in the Big Ten for my alma mater. Too many interceptions thrown and passes dropped. And this Saturday my Maryland faces defending national champ Ohio State. Oy. Take it away,…

Going, going, gone to Coors Field

We gave ourselves an 75 minutes between leaving the Denver Zoo and the start of the game between the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. After all, GPS told us the trip between the two downtown landmarks was merely a few miles and 15 minutes or so. George Three didn’t fancy the in-city driving,…

Cape Cod adventure begins

Rain. My dear wife Karen and I don’t mind much waking up to this sight out the front deck of the lovely cottage we’re renting from our dear friends Juli and Lisa. The vision that awaits out in the backyard is pretty sweet, too. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle obviously agrees. So it’s cloudy with…

First cut of the season, and all’s well in Syracuse

A month ago, even, I thought this moment would never get here. The lawn outside the Little Bitty cherished by my dear wife Karen and I in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood had received its first mow of the season. I did the honors Monday, front and back. I do believe that the cutting…

I’m not a big fan of foolish pranks

I’m tempting fate by reblogging my harrumph about April Fool’s jokes I held off until April 3 last year. Somebody’s sure to sneak up on me today now. … Convince me to believe something I want to be true but isn’t … Place the best-looking counterfeit hundred down on the street in front of me…

I, appeal!

Anybody fluent in Serbian-to-English out there willing to help blogger Leila Samarrai? The English Professor http://theenglishprofessoratlarge.com/author/theenglishprofessoratlarge/ was kind enough to seek help, and I follow her wise words.