Every summer, I take a vacation to my old stomping grounds of Cleveland, Ohio. My whole family still lives there, and often this is the only time I see them throughout the year. This year, I took my three daughters plus my daughter's boyfriend. One extra kid! We started our vacation at one of our favorite places...the town of Vermilion. We have rented cottages here since the beginning of the 2000s, when I was still married and my children were very small. Now, most the kids are teenagers on the verge of adulthood. We no longer rent like in the old days, for my sister purchased a condo right on Lake Erie. It's not a huge dwelling, but we manage to cram a plethora of family members in there for at least a few days! On ... read more

When it comes to exploring my own backyard, I consider myself rather lucky. I have the good fortune of living on Lake Ontario, which means my backyard is full of adorable little water-loving towns like Alexandria Bay. First things first....everyone around here refers to the place as Alex Bay, or even A-Bay. I seldom hear it called by it's full name. It's kinda like the J-Lo of small, upstate NY towns in that way. It is also the kind of place you only go in the summer. Winters are brutal up here, and many of us hibernate like the bears. In the summer months, we all get outdoors as much as possible, trying to eke out as much sun as we can during our way-too-short season. People camp, fish, rent cottages, and sail their boats, and ... read more

Every summer, Syracuse's Clinton Square houses the Taste of Syracuse Festival. I first went in 2015 (when my accompanying photos were taken), and have been back a few times since. It's a food-based fest, with a variety of local vendors selling small bites for just a few dollars. There is also live music, inflatables and face painting for the kiddos, vendors selling their wares...but it's really the food that gets me there. The first time, I took my daughter, Grace, and her then-boyfriend, Josh. Grace and I had a great time perusing all the different booths, trying to find the most interesting things. There was something for everyone here...typical American food, ethnic, vegetarian, meat-lovers, sweets. Grace, Josh and I all gravitated towards different vendors, sampling and tasting to our heart's content. When I returned with a ... read more