I can smell the September flowers

It’s a good day to step out and appreciate what I’ve got here with my dear wife Karen in our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Syracuse. In the hourglass front-yard garden, the roses are celebrating September with another cycle of blossoms. Pink and white, side by side. The violet peeking out belongs to…

A different place to put the front garden

I’ve noticed an interesting little garden one block over in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. As I walk with Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, I try to keep her away from this one particular front yard garden, because it’s the only one of its type I’ve seen in these parts. This particular neighbor has…

3 pretty bushes all in a row

In the last week, my three sturdy backyard garden butterfly bushes have changed personality a bit. The white, in fact, became the loudest of the bunch, with blooms so big, so long, so wide, they threatened to drown out their neighbors. But the pink indeed morphed chameleon-like into the multi-colored beauty of seasons past, and…

The skunk makes us miss the days of the gopher

My dear wife Karen let out Ellie B in the backyard for a few minutes just when the sun was setting Monday night. I heard the bark, the frantic one, the I’ve-got-an-animal-bothering-me pitch. I heard Karen calling my name with an equal amount of panic. I smelled the hint of trouble as I saw my…

This time Good Neighbor Tim’s got the butterfly

By mid-July, I’d hoped to be able to proudly show you the purple blossoms on my most mature of butterfly bushes in the backyard garden of my dear wife Karen and I at our home in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. Yes, I can, but not in the striking manner in years past. Here’s…