One last celebration for my birthday week

The text from my terrific daughter Elisabeth asked where I’d like to meet for a birthday celebration meal. Yes, our busy schedules would allow her and George Three to break bread with my dear wife Karen and I before my Birthday Week was said and done. Where to, she asked? I went for the mid-day…

OK, now I understand Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi

Buy it, my dear wife Karen said. And so, the Friday that so many folks around America were flocking to theaters to be awakened by The Force, thanks to Amazon Prime we sat in the living room of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood and watched Star Wars: The New Hope…

The Force Awakens within me, and I get Star Wars

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is worth all the fuss. And you don’t have to be one of the diehard followers of the franchise birthed in 1977 from the mind of George Lucas to appreciate the seventh installment, the one long-awaited by fans of IV, V and VI. (Yeah, I, II and III were prequels,…

Organic, yes

My drive to Fabius, N.Y., this week reminded me once more of my fascination of wind power. The folks who run Trinder Farm say it’s an organic organization on their sign. And out behind the working buildings, one lone, tall structure fit into that philosophy. Yes, they’re harnessing nature as well as growing organically. The…

If there’s no snow, you might as well eat

A trip this week to work on the next freelance story for Central New York: The Good Life magazine took me some 20 miles southeast of Syracuse to Toggenburg, a ski complex n Fabius, N.Y. My piece for the March/April edition will not be about skiing. Nevertheless, it was impossible not to notice that right…

The Sammys wants your best work

‘Tis the season to think about awards shows. Organizers are asking for the best work from Syracuse-area musicians and producers again. The Syracuse Area Music Awards has put out its annual application for submissions for the 2016 edition of the show that’s affectionately called the Sammys. The impressive black trophies will be handed out March…

Simon and Garfunkel looked a bit tense back as old friends in Central Park

Where was I on Sept. 19, 1981, when all those people crammed into Central Park to see Simon & Garfunkel get back together on stage? Big night, indeed, I could tell as my dear wife Karen and I watched on the wide-screen in the living room of our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood…

The slippers and the stoppers

What makes me happy on my birthday morning proper? My dear wife Karen handed over two nicely wrapped packages just seconds behind my coffee in the cup the size of my head two days ago. Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle watched closely ready to take credit, too. Ah, yes. New slippers, same as the old…

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When the temperature hits this high during my birthday week in double-digit December, well, my dear wife Karen, Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle and I celebrate with a nice near-winter walk around our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. We took a long one, in fact, enjoying a nice late weekend morning together a couple of…

Ron Howard tries too hard to take us deep into the heart of the tale of Moby-Dick

Ishmael and that great, big whale brought to the world from the pen of Herman Melville 165 years ago are back. Ron Howard, one mammoth director by any standard, has latched onto the prequel, if you will, of what went on in Nantucket back in the day that allowed Melville to open his mind enough…