Looking good as my daughter heads into summer

My terrific daughter Elisabeth had enough time to spare to meet me for breakfast before heading into work at the orthopedic complex in Hamilton. That made leaving at 7:30 a.m. for the 40-or-so mile drive southeast from Syracuse well worth my while. We agreed on the big joint on the main drag less than a…

I remember Dolores on Mother’s Day

She was a child bride, in all definitions of the word. Dolores was 18 when she wed 19-year-old Frank. I’m not sure if the magnificent photo of them above was at her high school prom or my Aunt Marion — my mom’s sister — and Uncle Chet’s wedding. Both would have been a year or…

First full day of spring meant it was Mom’s birthday

In our house when I was a kid, March 21 was the first day of spring. None of this starting the season to savor the coming of the great warm to come around dinner time on the 20th like people talk about now. Nope. March 21st meant it was spring. And Dolores’ birthday. My mother…

Throwback Thursday: Pop Pop, Nana and me

When my mind brings up memories of my Pop Pop and Nana, grandparents on my mother’s side, George is always smiling. The old guy — yes, no matter the age I am in these flashbacks that still warm me today, Pop Pop is remembered as old — is happy when he had I are walking…

The best day to tie the knot

The fall day had dawned gray when we jumped in the car and drove west from Syracuse. I wore my new suit pants but carefully arranged the jacket on a hanger in the back. She changed into her beautiful dress in the bathroom of a Kentucky Fried Chicken down the block from City Hall, earning…

The Polish in me

I look at my father’s face in this photo and I’m struck with two lightning bolts of memory. Frank is happy. Frank is happy because he’s once again brought his family to the tiny Polish resort in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. I’m fairly certain I’m the one taking the photo. I think…

The kids from across the street

Remember the family that always seemed to be there when you were growing up, the troop that had somebody who pretty much matched up in age to somebody in your own tribe? Chances are good that your mothers hung out. Dolores Bialczak and Kitty Dorazio were quite pleased that their combined seven offspring were growing…

A throwback to what made my father happy

One look at this photo, and memories of what brought my father Frank joy smack me in the back of the head. Yeah, sometimes he’d do that, too, figuratively, with just one of his parental death stares. But not when we were tooling around the village of Stony Brook. Our father was proud of this…