Add a little heat and it does smell like the season

My terrific daughter Elisabeth sent a text shortly before my dear wife Karen’s birthday asking what she might like for her birthday. Fall-scented candles, I discovered. Yet that didn’t satisfy the present-hunting itch for my daughter. Later came a question about a device that melted wax. No, I had not heard of it. She texted…

Old graffiti

My take on those scribbled words on the bottom of a discarded table in the parking lot of a neighborhood building: The writer never thought they’d be seen in the light, outdoors, someday, any day, far in the future. This place used to be school, so I’ll turn the old saying into: Never write something…

What I used to do

Here’s hoping that in 2021, Lights on the Lake will be able to bring bake the opening nights for walkers, when I can join the thousands of folks happily walking up that path, taking photographs of the lights all ablaze. Just thinking back and ahead.

It could happen to us, this Irresistible political race

Imagine if you will, a small mayoral race in the town of Deerlaken, Wisc., becoming so important to the Democrats trying to win with a crusty veteran and the Republicans attempting to hold the town with the folksy incumbent that it not only draws two campaign managers fresh off the 2016 presidential race but the…

Catching the December sunset

During a work-week-is-finished safe walk Friday with cherished rescue mutt Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, our eyes lit up when we got to the bottom of the street. The sun was setting over the quite nearby lake. Happy weekend start it was, yes.

Standing guard

My eyes spy one lonely rowboat on dry land adjacent to the empty Onondaga Lake Marina. A prop, I wonder, as I complete my safe walk during a work break, or there in case somebody needs it for an emergency. Hope not for the second, ever.

No boats

As I walk along the Onondaga Lake Park trail and pass the lonely marina, I wonder where the boats that make this spot bustle during the summer spend these months? They all have a tale to tell under different covers, says my imagination.

Before they flip the switch

A safe walk through the trails of Onondaga Lake Park during daylight hours certainly finds what cars later will drive past during the nighttime Lights on the Lake. The displays are quite festive even uncharged, I think as I use my iPhone 8. The park closes to walkers at 4:30, I’m told by signs. So…

As we head toward winter

A safe walk on the trail at Onondaga Lake Park brings a slightly surreal scene as we march into December. It sure brings a bit of perspective to the changing of the seasons this portion of our cycle of life as circumstances whirl around us away from this particular place.