Reds, oranges and blue sky and water in the Adirondacks

On our hour-plus drive northeast of Syracuse to attend the Forest Hollow open house, last weekend, I noticed to my right a giant reservoir. And the rolling body of water followed us all the way to Cathy and Bruce Thomas’ house. I commented to my dear wife Karen how low the water looked. So, after…

A pre-birthday visit to Forest Hollow pays off

When my dear wife Karen informed me that our friends Cathy and Bruce Thomas were staging a seasonal sale at their cottage store, I was all in. And Saturday turned out to be a superb day for the little-more-than-an-hour drive northeast from the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I’d been up…

Jen Chapin has seen the world go by as she’s performed

Jen Chapin doesn’t mind a quick run up to Syracuse for an Oct. 24 show in the Steeple Coffee House series, she says during a phone conversation. To make it work best, the singer and songwriter explains, she quickly worked her contacts to book a sister show in nearby Rochester. “It’s nice to have two,…

A lake in October catches the eye and iPhone 6

That lake sure looks pretty, I thought. You must park and pull out the iPhone 6 to share this October sight with the world. My trip some 35 miles southwest from Syracuse for my weekly WAER community blog column last week took me through Skaneateles, a quaint, pretty village of note. The folks that live…

Mets are happy they signed hometown kid Matz

If ever a man was born to play on a certain sports team, it is Steven Jakob Matz. When the New York Mets take the field tonight in Queens, N.Y., hosting game four of the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 24-year-old rookie left-hander will be on the pitching mound. Let’s…

You can’t help but get pumped when he’s up on the wire for The Walk

When Philippe Petit is up there on his wire, I couldn’t help but love The Walk cowriter and director Robert Zemeckis made sure of that. The master of cool special effects made the most of the true tale of the French tightrope-walker, who had the audacity and nerve to pull what he calls The Coup.…

Make them play it again, 2-2, with the Dodgers out in the seventh

As a Mets fan, I was livid from the moment Chase Utley knocked over Ruben Tejada somewhere around second base Saturday night. As a baseball fan, I was appalled how the umpires called the Dodgers’ runner safe on an appeal that the Mets’ shortstop’s toe came up a smidge short of touching the bag before…

A ‘shroom with a view

It’s been an odd and off growing season around our Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. The roses that bloomed were too few, and far later than usual. The hydrangea refused to flower. Even the lawn gave me two weeks off between cuttings. Now, this. Wild mushrooms are sprouting out of nowhere,…

Still not much pop to the leaves, but there’s orange to be found

I’m still lamenting the lack of color in the changing-of-the-leaves in my Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any gallery for an enlarged slide show. Too much green still, and way too much brown in what has decided to give up…

With Livelong Day, Chip Prior rocks his belief

Chip Prior, Livelong Day Odd Mann Out Music Before she started this summer of retooling of her PriorHouse blog, my friend Whyvette dropped me a package by U.S. Post that included the new CD by her husband, Chip Prior. She wondered to me if his music would be too Christian for my liking. Livelong Day…