Kittens!

My kitten Luna at 3 weeks, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I do property management and I found a cat that was living in the basement of one of our buildings and took her home. She turned out to be pregnant and gave birth to three kittens! This is one of the kittens, Luna. She's called that because she's got a vaugely moon-shaped orange spot on the back of her head. She's a great little kitty. I will be posting a lot more photos of her and her mother and littermates on my flickr page.

House on a Warehouse

House on a Warehouse, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is out near Carousel Center - it's an old furniture factory so I'm guessing they had a house on top as a decoration because they made stuff that went in houses. Does anyone know anything about this?

This house does look very typical of Syracuse houses in this area.

Open House Today, 12-2:00!

Today I will be holding an open house at 103 Park Street. That is in the Sedgewick neighborhood. A lot of people don't know where Sedgewick is, it is roughly the area north of James, South of Grant, West of Teall and East of Oak. It's an area which has some lovely old homes, and the one I will be at today is a nice one. It's a lot like my house actually, except I don't have a butler's pantry like this one. It's actually a small room betwen the kitchen and dining room. I'd love to have this in my house. As much as I love my kitchen the storage is a bit akward.

There's also a sleeping porch, which is a feature on many houses which were built before air conditioning. It's a screened in porch off one of the bedrooms with enough room for a bed. If I had a sleeping porch I would have been out there last night.


This is one of the first things you see when you come through the door - it's nice to have an attractive fixture like this to be the focal point when someone sees your home for the first time.

I will be at the house from 12-2:00 today. It's at 103 Park Street. The easiest way to get there is to go up Dewitt Street from James. It's the second house on Park Street.

If you would like any more information about the house or to set up a showing, please call me at 315-935-6303

Winter, spring, winter, spring, winter....Summer?

It's hot! Yesterday was 88 degrees. On Thursday I was wearing my winter coat and boots. Did we skip spring or something? It was 88 degrees! Today is only supposed to be 68 though, much more to my taste.

On Thursday I drove by Clinton Square and they were putting water into the fountains there.

It's lovely to see all the flowers blooming and people outside. I dread the summer the way people dread the winter though. I'm really sensitive to the heat. Everyone else will be saying "what a lovely day" and I have sweat dripping in my eyes and a heat rash. Yesterday I was officially ready for fall!

Spring Tree in Bloom

Spring Tree in Bloom, originally uploaded by Melsky.

It's spring! Looks like it's time to take the snow tires off my car.

Yesterday was very sunny and everyone was out enjoying the day. Today it's a gray Monday with rain scheduled, but it's been so dry lately it will be good to have the rainfall to get the spring flowers started.

Skyliner Restaurant Sign

Skyliner Restaurant Sign, originally uploaded by Melsky.

About half way between Binghamton and Syracuse of Highway 81. The building is gone, just a big empty space for future development.

Alto Cinco

I'm originally from California, and one of the things I miss is good Mexican food in the California Style. Alto Cinco is not specifically the type of food I miss, but it's so good it kind of fills that void. It's a restaurant which would not be out of place in California, with it's wide range of vegetarian and vegan menu items, it's wine list and the general ambiance of the place.

I've eaten there about 10 times. So that means I've sampled 10 of their dishes right? No, sorry, I'm a bad restaurant reviewer. Every time I have gotten the same thing because I like it so much. It is the Barbeque Tofu Burrito. Every time I go there I tell myself I'm going to try something new and every time I get the same thing.

I am not vegetarian, nor am I a big fan of Tofu. But somehow this one is so well done, with firm chunks of firm cooked tofu which you would never mistake for meat but do have a satisfying chewiness usually absent from these type of dishes. I love the small amount of chipotle BBQ sauce on top, just enough. It's got black beans, rice and salsa inside also.

It comes with a small salad, which I like, and cornbread, which I don't like. The cornbread is sweet and has jalapenos in it, not a good combination for me. However I have a friend who really likes it so don't let me discourage you.

You can see in the picture that I started eating before I took it. I meant to wait but when the waiter put the plate in front of me a primal instinct took over and I dug in.


Next time I go I will try something else, I swear!

Alto Cinco Restaurant

St Pats Crowd at Blarney Stone

st Pats Crowd at Blarney Stone, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Yes, I'm kind of late with this one!

I have decided to start keeping up this blog again. I stopped doing things online and had stopped doing photography for a while but now I am back.

Part of the reason is I was just too busy - I went from being a painter who stayed at home to working full time in an office and being a rental agent. It's been a good change though, hard as it has been to get used to working long hours.

I started out as the office manager for a property management company and now I'm the rental agent and doing sales through Keller Williams on James Street.

Anyway, I'm living on Tipp Hill now. That's the Irish neighborhood in Syracuse! It's short for Tipperary Hill. There are a lot of Irish taverns here, and St. Patrick's day is a big deal. This year it was warm and sunny and a huge crowd turned out everywhere. This is the Blarney Stone, a bar I never go to because it's always too crowded and noisy for me. I like a quieter place like Wheeler's, which is just down Avery Street from here. But the crowd of people in green in front of this one is very scenic so the photo goes in my blog!