Kenny Archives - Chris Carosa

The Never-Ending Apple Wars of Summer

By Chris Carosa on August 8, 2023

The dynamics between the kids on Abbott Parkway were complex. There was always this “boys against girls” thing.

It started in school. By fourth grade, it got to where boys intercepted notes girls tried to pass to one another. Sometimes the boys would read them. Sometimes the boys would pass them to our teacher, Miss Powell. Miss Powell didn’t take too kindly to note passing.

This tension spilled over to the neighborhood. Several girls from our grade played on the Continue Reading “The Never-Ending Apple Wars of Summer”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abbott Parkway, Angelo, Apple Wars, Babsie, Cindy, Dad, Debbie, fourth grade, grandpa, Johnny, Karen, Kenny, Markie, Miss Powell, peach tree, Shari

Simple Summer Mornings In The Years B.C. (‘Before Chili’)

By Chris Carosa on August 1, 2023

If the summers of Dortmund Circle were filled with sports of all sorts, flingable fruit filled the summers of Abbott Parkway. That wasn’t the only difference.

While nearly all the kids my age on Dortmund Circle were boys, girls dominated the peerage on Abbott Parkway. There were a lot more kids on Abbott Parkway, in part because the street was twice as long. That length also changed our venues of play.

On Dortmund Circle, all us guys lived within a few houses of each other. Our playing fields (mostly the street and our driveways) lay right outside our doors. Given its substantial length and the location of most of the kids, Abbott Parkway presented a different avenue to fun.Continue Reading “Simple Summer Mornings In The Years B.C. (‘Before Chili’)”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 3-d Football Card, Abbott Parkway, Angelo, bikes, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Dave Thomas, Dick Butkus, Dortmund Circle, grandpa's house, Highland Parkway, Kellogg's, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Kenny, Kirk, Life cereal, Markie, Mary Lee, McCoy, mom, Quake, Quisp, Raisin Bran, Rocketship 7, Spock, Star Trek, Trix

Reflections On The Last Day Of School Past

By Chris Carosa on June 20, 2023

A warm summer day. Cozy warm. Not hot.

The trees and grass twinkle silently in the soft unseen wind, lush from the recent rains. Green. Not that dark green of July. Closer to the lighter greens of the Spring’s new growth.

The bright sun brings out the yellows in that green. But those brilliant rays wash out the sharpness of all color, much like you would see in an overexposed photograph. The effect only brings more tenderness to the scene.

Windows open in the moving school bus allow a gentle breeze to circulate the fresh temperate air.

It’s the last day of school. The last bus ride home. You can feel the excitement. Everyone is Continue Reading “Reflections On The Last Day Of School Past”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, Anniversary, Bethlehem Steel, Big Tree Fireman's Carnival, birthday, bully, Dad, erie county fair, Ford Stamping Plant, Fourth of July, Fran-n-Ceil's, friends, Ice Cream, Kenny, LAke Shore Road, last day of school, Mike Eruzione, Miracle, peace treaty, Route 5, school bus, strawberries, summer vacation, Tom Tomaka, Woodlawn Elementary

Ground Control To Commander Tom

By Chris Carosa on June 13, 2023

Source: http://megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?69360-Mego-Museum-Podcast-Growing-up-Parkdale-Tomland-Famous-Monsters

You hear stories from older generations about having to “walk a mile back and forth to school each day… in a snowstorm… and it was uphill both ways!”

Well, truth be told, for my brother and me, it was just under a half mile each way. Four-tenths of a mile from our house at the end of the street (187 Abbott Parkway) all the way up to the school bus stop at the corner of South Park Ave, then a narrow two lanes.

Living in Blasdell meant we were in the crosshairs of the lake effect snow machine south of Buffalo, so you could bet your bottom dollar we often walked during snowstorms. And rainstorms. And thunderstorms. And thundersnow. And even hot (almost) summer days towards the end of the school year. Yeah, mom made sure we always dressed for the Continue Reading “Ground Control To Commander Tom”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abbott Parkway, Acquaviva, Angelo, Betsy, Big Tree Elementary, Buffalo, Canada, Channel 7, Commander Tom, Dancing Notes, Dave Thomas, Dustmop, Erie, Eyewitness News, Flash Gordon, Irv Weinstein, Jamestown, Kenny, Kingergarten, Markie, Rick Azar, Rochester, Rocketship 7, School Bus Stop, sewer rat, South Park Ave, The Adventures of Superman, Three Stooges, Tom Jolls, Toronto, WKBW, Woodlawn Elementary, Woodlawn Intermediate

Adventures In White Knuckle Driving

By Chris Carosa on February 22, 2022

This past weekend reminded me there’s a good reason why I stopped scheduling travel meetings during the winter.

It didn’t always used to be this way.

In the time before Covid, unusual was the week when I did not put on several hundred miles of business meetings. I find riding for an hour (or more) relaxing. I’ve got a huge library of college-level lectures on a variety of subjects. (As the price for an intensive virtually triple major in the hard sciences, my college major left little room for electives.)

The destination also (usually) excited me, too. Either a conference to learn more and meet Continue Reading “Adventures In White Knuckle Driving”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Angola, Batavia, Betsy, Blasdell, blizzard, Blizzard of 1999, Buffalo, Cesidia, Chili, Christmas Eve, Dad, Dodge Charger, hamburg, Jamestown, Kenny, lake effect, learning to drive, Monroe County, Nor'easter, Rochester, Sabres, Seven Fishes, snow, Thruway, Uncle Larry

What’s Your Dream? (Here’s How To Capture It)

By Chris Carosa on January 18, 2022

The original vision that was my “sure winner” in the Florence Brasser art contest. It didn’t win. Then. But The Vision ultimately prevailed.

You have a dream. It may be new. It may have been lingering in the back of your mind for years. Either way, you have a dream.

And it’s compelling.

If you’re like most people, you’re wondering “How can I achieve this dream?” If you’re ambitious (and who isn’t?), you’re wondering, “How can I accomplish my LIFETIME Dream?”

Many years ago, I wrote a column about an ironic first-place award I received in an art contest (see, “Sometimes Second Best Turns Out To Be the Very Best,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, March 20, 2016).

I say “ironic” because the winning drawing was a throwaway picture not meant for the Continue Reading “What’s Your Dream? (Here’s How To Capture It)”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abruzzi, Dad, Florence Brasser, Fontecchio, grandfather, Kenny, L'Aquila, Lifetime Dream, three mountains

Remembering Mike Francesco: A Community Builder

By Chris Carosa on September 28, 2021

As I sat in the pews of St. Catherine’s last Friday morning, I couldn’t help but admire the courage and clarity of Andrew Boyce and Conner Boillat as they described and honored the very full life of Mike Francesco.

Mike touched the lives of many in our little neck of the woods, even those who may have never known him. He, together with his late son Michael, Jr., conceived and built what has become the hamlet of Mendon’s community cornerstone.

For almost four decades, I was one of those who was blessed to have experienced the wonder of Mike. While I can’t pretend to offer more than his family, I can share memories – and, more importantly, the context of those memories – that affirm their stories from a non-family perspective.

I met Mike and Rose in the mid-1980s shortly after I moved back to Mendon in the house I Continue Reading “Remembering Mike Francesco: A Community Builder”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Andrew Boyce, Assembly Drive, Carosa & Son, Chili, Conner Boillat, Dixon Woods, fieldstone, Gates Chili, Karla Boyce, Kenneth P. Carosa, Kenny, Mendon, Mendon Republican Committee, Mendon Square, Mike Francesco, Rose Francesco, Rotary Club, St. Catherine's Church

Fandemonium: Passing the Generational Torch

By Chris Carosa on January 12, 2021

I can’t understate how many times people asked me the following question in the past week: “Chris, did you get tickets to the playoff game?”

For those of you who didn’t go to St. Catherine’s Church when people still went to church, the Carosa family has a certain reputation. Each Sunday – football season or not – one or more of us (usually more of us) stood in line for communion resplendent in official and unofficial Bills attire.

Those were our Sunday clothes. It became such a tradition that, on those rare occasions (usually in the summer) when our garments didn’t sport a Bills logo, people would notice.

This “worship” of the Buffalo Bills began long ago. My father, however, was too young to remember the original Buffalo Bills.

Incidentally, did you know the first version of the Buffalo Bills appeared in the All-America Continue Reading “Fandemonium: Passing the Generational Torch”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged AAFC, AFC Championship, AFL, Andre Reed, Baltimore Colts, Berlin Wall, Betsy, Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills, Catarina, Civic Stadium, Cleveland Browns, Dad, fandemonium, Frank Reich, George Preston Marshall, Jim Kelly, Josh Allen, Kenny, Marv Levy, mom, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Otto Graham, Pat, Paul Brown, persistent, Peter, Ralph C. Wilson, resilient, Rockpile, San Francisco 49ers, Superbowl, Teresa, Thurman Thomas, War Memorial Stadium, Washington Redskins

My Grandfather’s Garage

By Chris Carosa on September 15, 2020

More than a half century ago, at the dead end of a not quite rural road, a garage was built. It was a plain but sturdy garage. Made of concrete block. With a solid concrete floor. And a peaked roof high enough to form a spacious second floor. Perfect for storing planks, loose building materials, and a few other odds and ends that existed in that limbo somewhere between trash and treasure.

It was my grandfather’s garage. My father and his father built it the way you’d expect bricklayers to build something. More masonry, less wood. They used concrete block because it was less expensive than brick. It also took less time and work to build with Continue Reading “My Grandfather’s Garage”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Abbott Parkway, Blasdell, Dad, Fontecchio, grandpa, Highland Parkway, Kenny, mom, Morra, Rousch, Tetazine, Tutta Morre, Uncle Pauley

A Memory of Frank Ricci

By Chris Carosa on November 5, 2019

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You probably never heard of Frank Ricci.

You probably never met Frank Ricci.

But I have and I did. He is among the thousand points of light that have illuminated my life. This is my salute to him. As you read this, I’m confident you may find some familiar tidbits that you didn’t expect to be there. I promise you, before you come to the end of this column, you’ll discover why.

Francesco “Frank” Ricci was born in the mountains south of Rome, Italy on February 10, 1935. He immigrated to America in 1959 after marrying his wife Teresa. Teresa DeAngelis grew up on Abbott Parkway in Blasdell, New York. I grew up on Abbott Parkway, only many years later.

I remember much about growing up on Abbott Parkway. On the other hand, I don’t Continue Reading “A Memory of Frank Ricci”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abbott Parkway, Angelo, Blasdell, Buffalo Bills, Jeanmarie, Kenny, Markie, Robert