Building a downtown party into the right setting

Finally finding the right day, I met my dear wife Karen for lunch downtown Syracuse’s Festa Italiana. Set in big white tents in a major parking lot and city streets between City Hall, Key Bank, a big church and other buildings of architectural note, this festival sets itself apart from the others that call the…

A square with a water view

My dear wife Karen’s email asked if I’d like to meet her for lunch at Festa Italiana. I got there early enough to take out my iPhone 6 to share my view of the fountain at downtown Syracuse’s Hanover Square on a lovely 85º F mid-September afternoon. No mattter that Karen meant the next day…

Things you don’t expect to see in downtown Syracuse on Sept. 18

After meeting my dear wife Karen for lunch at Festa Italiana this afternoon, I passed through Clinton Square, smack dab in the heart of downtown Syracuse, on the way back to my car. Oh, what I saw on this Friday, Sept. 18, in upstate New York. Nobody’s supposed to use the dancing waters in the…

Shades of Orange

They called it the Orange Out. Many fans cooperated, my dear wife Karen and I knew as we were walking up the hill Saturday in preparation to watch Syracuse tangle with Wake Forest in the Atlantic Coast Conference football opener for both squads. We planned a separate route from the opening Friday night, choosing the…

Dishing with the dog about home sales being for the birds

With the temperatures finally falling to match the calendar, I hooked the leash upon Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle, and off we went from the Little Bitty around our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood neighborhood. We spotted a gray house for sale two blocks over. Did they add another realtor since our last time by,…

Better luck next season, Chiefs

Yes, thank you Steven T, my dear wife Karen and I would love to join you for the last Syracuse Chiefs game of the season. And a lovely way it turned out to spend our Labor Day afternoon, indeed. Click on any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any…

The sun sets on our little golf league

Two threesomes completed all nine holes in our little golf league that could Wednesday night. DJ, Amy and I got around first. The final foursome from the league in front of us made us wait, just a little, on a couple of tee shots. I think my iPhone 6 caught Amy’s shot in the greenside…

The Orange opener starts with lots of promise

Oh, the promise of a new football season. The sun was shining when I pulled my car to the curb at the downtown offices of SMG and whisked my dear wife Karen to a Friday evening up on the Syracuse University hill. I’d dropped her off earlier than her usual starting time, good strategy, but…

The Steve Miller Band, from the wayback

The plan sounded solid, cemented even further from the on-site texts telling of too much heat and less folks than expected. No, wonderful daughter Elisabeth, Georges Three and Two and Sue would not be sticking around the New York State Fair to eat dinner with us Sunday. They’d taken the early route, and eaten from…

We open a new package, and Miranda Lambert’s inside

They finally built it. A brand, spanking new music amphitheater that Syracusans can call their own opened last night across the highway from the New York State Fair. No more having to drive 90 miles east to Saratoga Performing Arts Center or 60 miles or even farther west to Constellation Brands — Marvin Sands Performing…