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The Tragedy of the Commons
But the darkest scriptures of the mountains are illumined with bright passages of love that never fail to make themselves felt when one is alone. –John Muir There is irony lurking just below the surface of this blog. Irony, youth, pleasant times and not so pleasant times. There’s quietness and beauty sublime. And, dogs. It…
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Adulthood Rising
I have a hard time learning languages. Some people have an ability to pick up German, Portuguese, Farsi or Russian with ease. High School French was the first of my stumbling blocks. I used to “get sick” in the morning to avoid Mrs. Lowe’s first period freshman French class. I tried…I really tried…to understand the…
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Some Awesome Suggestions for Awesome Summer Reading
If you’re smart you’ve been vaccinated and now, mask free. And it’s summer! Time to dust off your Speedo or your polka dot bikini and head for the nearest beach. The nearest beach to us is Lake Clear…about five miles away. Normally I would avoid going anywhere near water. This is the Adirondacks and the…
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Tracking the Elusive Michigan
It was mid-morning and time to begin thinking about lunch. Mariam mentioned the term MICHIGAN and my mouth began to salivate like I was one of Pavlov’s dogs. I love Michigans. If you’ve heard of Michigans but always wondered what they are, I’m your go to guy. A Michigan is a regional sandwich from the…
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The Little Boy And The Big Canoe: A Memory

[Not my brothers canoe. But you get the point. Source: Google Search] Canoes were always a part of my boyhood. Our family was definitely zero-octane. It’s all very logical given the fact that our property at 420 Front St., Owego, NY, my childhood home, happened to have the Susquehanna River in our backyard. And, we…
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A Gathering: A Farewell
The time for tears has come and gone. You passed from our lives a year ago. It’s sad Nance, that you won’t see your son on a hilltop be married to an amazing woman, Kristin. They moved back to Binghamton, the virus, and other events delayed a final gathering in your name until this day,…
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Escaping to the South

The AMTRAK Car/Sleep train sped south at about 110 mph, the deepening southern landscape getting darker. Despite the intermittent snow, rain and spectacular weather we had survived up north, we then put up with 11 barking hot days in Florida. We have become ‘snow birds’…How could anyone live in such hostility. The train had no…
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Back To The Beach
I’m sitting at the dining room table in our house in Fort Meyers, FL. It’s probably 90 something outside. We were here before, about two streets over, back in November, 2014 to January 1, 20015. We were pulling a small RV back in those days. This time we own a small cottage which will be…
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Nearly There
The purpose of this short but sweet blog is two-fold. The first is to let you know that we are on our way to our house in Fort Meyers, Florida. It was just as the snow was nearly melted at Rainbow Lake when we decided to see what it was that we bought. It’s going…
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Reunion
[Source: Egan Family Archives.] I’m working on my family tree using Ancestry.com. As my son has said: “It’s addictive.” When my father passed away in 2004, there were boxes of old photographs. Many. of course, were unlabeled. My father would dig this photo out of wherever he stored it and name almost 75% of those…