A happy holiday at our friend’s lake house

Our wonderful friend Gloria decided we were moving through COVID-19 enough for her to invite folks over to her extremely fantastic place in our world for a Fourth of July party. This lake is a free minutes short of a half-hour’s drive from our house just outside of Syracuse. My dear wife Karen and I…

Happy Fourth of July

I’m thinking that our Fourth of July will include backyard time with the backyard pool swimming and a bit of outdoor beanbag tossing. May you find the place and activities that help you be happy.

May the Fourth be good to you

In this tumultuous time, July Fourth takes on a different tone. Living with the virus all around us. Civil unrest for deep-seated unbalanced racial foundations. A country divided over mask-wearing, our leadership and so much more. Yet I still take the trip across my street for a photo of the waving flag for July Fourth.…

Happy Independence Day this Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day from the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I ran out from the side porch of the Little Bitty this morning clutching my iPad Air 2, expecting and hoping to take a shot of Good Neighbor Tim’s American Flag fluttering from his pole planted on his front lawn next door. Not up yet.…

If you light them up, please be careful

With three days to set things off, somebody somewhere is going to hurt themself. Or, worse yet, send a bottle rocket or another home firework off into the good night and have it land and turn somebody else’s holiday weekend into a nightmare. For my July Fourth Weekend edition of my Mark It Up community…

A red, white and blue hello from Syracuse

After watching the Great American Hot Dog Eating Contest from Nathan’s Famous on the Coney Island boardwalk on ESPN. (Yay Joey Chestnut, Mr. Eight-Time.) Before heading off to NBT Bank Stadium to watch the Syracuse Chiefs play the Pawtucket Red Sox followed by the city’s annual fireworks display. (We’re ready for some big ooh’s and…

I dreamed of Genies

I see the signs and the stores when my dear wife Karen and I drive through our state of New York into Pennsylvania. Fireworks for sale. I have regularly looked over to one particular emporium of boom from our usual McDonald’s and wondered what was in the aisles, I must admit. Then one time, on…