Late Summer Tree

This is my neighbor's tree. Every year it gets these intense orange berries on it. I'm not sure what kind of tree it is. I'm pretty sure the berries are not edible - not that I have tried any. But it's a beautiful tree.

Books and Memories

I used to live in the neighborhood of Eastwood (that's in the city of Syracuse) on Woodbine Avenue. I was thrilled when we moved in that there was a great bookstore up on the corner - a huge cavern of a bookstore, untidy and full of surprises and cheap cool old books.

The bookstore changed hands, and I braced myself. Surely it couldn't possibly be as cool. They will get rid of all the old books and make it into a Borders wannabe type place.

Imagine my surprise when the store was actually vastly improved. They remodeled, changed where the entrance was, cleaned up the store and got rid of a lot of junk. It was actually easier to find books. The new layout of the store made

more sense. Instead of cash registers right by the door which would get blocked when people stood in line, there was a roomy, airy cafe setting where you could buy your books without feeling hemmed in.

The new owners kept a lot of what I liked about the old store. There is furniture to sit on, and interesting things to look at, such as the old typewriter

s, old ads and posters. They added a bulletin board with local flyers and business cards, as well as intersting old bits of ephemera.

They plan to open a cafe soon, but for now the

coffee is free.

Books & Memories LLC

2600 James Street
Syracuse NY 13206

Open Monday thru Saturday from 11AM to 7PM

Books and Memories Web Page

Phone: 315-434-9268

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Rain, I love you, but why today?

It's raining, a nice cool fall type rain, not a summer thunderstorm. I love fall! I'm just not a hot weather person. I melt in the heat, especially humid heat. My hair frizzes out. Fall weather makes me happy and I have nice smooth hair.

The only thing that bums me out about the rain is I have an open house scheduled today. It's hard to imagine anyone showing up in the rain, I hope it stops. I guess if anyone does show up, they are a motivated buyer! Why couldn't it rain yesterday when I stayed at home most of the day.

We will still probably have some more hot days, but once it's mid-September it does start getting a lot cooler.

My old friend cactus, it's been a long time.

I went to a great open house the other evening. It was a broker's open, which means that it's an open house just to show other real estate agents.

They are usually held during the day but

this was held in the evening. It was a lovely night and the house had a nice pool patio area.

One of the things that I miss about California is cactus and succulent plants. So I was surprised to see this prickly pear cactus at Michele Nastri's open house!

It's kind of flat and low to the ground, and in a sheltered back yard. I'm wondering if they put straw or burlap over it to shelter it from the winter.

The house was amazing too. It's a 5

+

bedroom house with an in law apt in the attic, and an in ground pool, and a great big 2 car garage and even a treehouse. It would be so great for a big family, or for someone who wanted to live in one part of the house and rent out the other, or for a group of college students.

Please contact me if you'd like more information! 315-395-7523 or Click here to see the house on my site. This is not my listing, but I can help you with this house or any property in central New York.

YARD SALE to benefit Central New York Cat Coalition

The garage sale for the benefit of CNYCC is this coming Friday and Saturday, August 13 and 14 from 8 am to 5 pm at

6915 Woodchuck Hill, Fayetteville!

It is rain or shine, there's a tent in case of rain!

Proceeds from this will be used for spaying and neutering homeless cats so they can be adopted.

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Thistles

Along the Erie Canal. I like way the black smooth fence contrasts with the spiky light colored flowers.

Giannis Bronx Style Pizza is Awesome.

I read about this restaurant in the Chus On Chow blog, and a couple of weeks ago I was driving down the Burnet Avenue in Eastwood feeling kind of hungry and I realized I was driving by the great pizza place I had been meaning to go to. So I stopped and got a couple of slices of cheese pizza.

I asked Gianni what Bronx pizza was, and he explained to me that in the NYC area there is a lot of competition for pizza, and people make their own sauce and dough, so that the pizzas have a unique flavor. Here in Syracuse, everything is called New York Pizza, so he decided to differentiate himself from the masses by calling it Bronx Pizza. Well, also he's from the Bronx.

Next Saturday I was driving around hungry again and pulled into his parking lot. Then I realized I had no cash! But that was ok, I rummaged around and found some change and had enough for a slice of vegetable pizza, ($2.76). He remembered me from the week before too. I came in at the same time as another customer, and he gave us both a free sample of tomato pie.

Now, I had never heard of tomato pie before coming to Syracuse. When I came here, I didn't feel inclined to try it. "tomato pie, that's just pizza without the cheese, why would I eat that?"

But as soon as I tried this, I forgot all about the cheese. The bottom of the crust was slightly crisp, yet chewy, and the inside of the pizza has a pleasing sponginess, nice and light. It's topped with a really wonderful sauce, slightly tangy, and not too much of it. Perfect.

The vegetable pizza was great, with a nice thin crust and thick layer of cheese. I loved the breaded eggplants and ricotta cheese.

I'd be tempted to eat there every day, but I'm on a fitness program right now. Every Saturday I get to eat whatever I want and I'm planning a visit.

The shop itself is hard to see at first, it faces out into the parking lot off of Burnet Avenue. It's right next to a golf shop, and down the street from Shifty's Bar and Grill and Domenic's Restaurant.

Google Maps page for Gianni's Bronx Style Pizza

Syracuse NY Pizza Blog and Reviews

Gianni's Pizza

1428 Burnet Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13206-3519(315) 425-7770

Erie Canal in Camillus

Today we went to the Erie Canal for an early morning walk. Good thing it was early because it got HOT later in the day. Even at 7:00 we were sweating.

It was a beautiful morning and the canal was very reflective.

This part of the canal has a restored general store called Sim's Store, and several vintage boats, and this old bridge.

When we were leaving some people were launching canoes and that made me really want to canoe the canal. But there's some parts of that canal that are a little stagnant and I really wouldn't want to tip over into that.

Cherub Fireplace

This is a non working fireplace in an apartment I recently rented. I just love it! Very unusual to see something like this in Syracuse. It's a building with 4 very different apartments in it. The outside of the building is white with similar cherubs. I really wonder what it used to be. It's obvious it didn't start out as a 4 family building, the upstairs at least has been chopped up into two apartments. It's also much fancier than the downstairs. It could have just been a single family home created for someone with a real sense of style, or perhaps it was a dance school or something like that.