Now we need butterfly bushes and butterflies

The wonder of the triangle butterfly garden of our cherished Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood takes my breath away in stages. In the 7 a.m. pre-workday light, the rush of white from the daisies coming in from the right and purple of the climbing Polish plant taking over on the let…

Can’t see with the moon in my eyes

All this daylight at this time of the year, just two days past the summer solstice here in the northern hemisphere. In fact, we’re still at the point where the sun won’t rise later or set earlier for a day or two. Beautiful. So a few days ago I awoke with a jolt. No, it…

The other side of the fence

When my dear wife Karen was pulling weeds and sprucing the spot we call our backyard butterfly garden behind the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, Good Neighbor Tim saw her from his side of the fence. She was struggling with the stuff coming over from the dead spot behind. He offered…

Coming up red and yellow

The reds and the yellows look quite nice sharing space in the hourglass garden in the front yard of our beloved Little Bitty in the Syracuse City neighborhood of Syracuse. And the red bush in the corner of the back porch is springing up rather nicely, too, despite the attention that spot gets from Ellie…

Done for one day

The peak is covered again. I’m a pro at piecing our increasingly old vinyl siding back up there after it falls down when a big wind blows past the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. It’s been, oh, seven or eight years now since that contractor Patrick put in our “new’ windows…

The peak and the porch

You don’t own your house, your house owns you. Or something like that. Anyway, the darned peak of our vinyl siding fell off the top of the front of the Little Bitty again. Damn, I wish that phone number of the contractor who put the stuff on the house worked. That guarantee he sold us…

Peony gone, roses step in

The peony season indeed went fast in front of the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Syracuse. When I got home from the board of trustees meeting at the Liverpool Public Library on Wednesday night, my dear wife Karen had even picked up all the fallen blossoms from our lawn. Two weeks, not…

Good dog, you

Normally when Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle comes across another canine in our walks around our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, she goes at least a little off the center stripe. But not when the old dog above crossed our path. Or didn’t bother to get in our way, rather. And I don’t know if…

Peony couplets

When I came home to the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighbor of Eastwood after a good day at the Liverpool Public Library Tuesday, two of our powerful peony flowers had deemed it time to pop into existence. It was a powerful sight to welcome me around 4:30 p.m. When I pulled the Chevy…

Sprucing up the backyard of the Little Bitty

With a few days off between leaving my job at the store and starting my position at the Liverpool Public Library, I decided to tackle two of the backyard projects that have been sitting on my spring list. Hover over any gallery photo for a description. Click on any image for an enlarged slide show.…