patrickjegan

Respect your ancestors, for you are the result of a thousand loves….

August 13, 2025

The four green fields blog2: a stone circle, the ring of Kerry and beyond

[A steeple in Kenmare. Photo is mine.] We were preparing to depart Kenmare, but I had found one more place I wanted to visit. The Kenmare Stone Circle. It was a short walk from our hotel, down Main Street (sounds so American), past a hundred pubs, fifty Aran Island Woolen/Weaver shops full of scarves, and…
August 9, 2025

The four green fields blog: Touchdown at shannon to Kenmare

[The shortest distance between two points is a curved line (when The Great Circle is in play). Photo is mine.] To be Irish is to know that in the end the world will break your heart. ~~Old Irish Saying Five hours and fifty some minutes separated us from New York City and Shannon Airport. Round…
August 5, 2025

The Icefield

[Photo is mine.] There are lives that are erring and aimless, And deaths that just hang by a hair… ~~Robert Service “The Spell of the Yukon” It’s been a long time since I used a quote by the poet Robert Service. It’s been even longer since I thought about sitting on a ledge, alone, on…
July 14, 2025

My 700th Blog: Another chapter in a Journey

[The usual metaphor for a journey. Photo is mine.] The life in which nothing happens goes the fastest, because it has no landmarks. ~~Katherine Tynan The last time I reached a milestone, my 600th post, was on Feb. 3, 2023 (at 9:17 PM). Looking back, I have been writing about 100 every several years…it’s been…
June 25, 2025

on linda’s porch: some wondrous things are about to bloom

[In Linda’s front yard, flowers abound in every corner. Photo is mine.] Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life ~~Steve Jobs (Probably not spoken at the Greenport graduation, but I like the quote so here it is.) Saturday 21 June 2025– Mariam and I are visiting her colleague and friend, Linda…
June 15, 2025

the walking stick: father’s day 2025

I never wanted a Guinness more than the moment when I reached the bottom. ~~ Paul Egan. Upon finishing his climb of Croagh Patrick. [Paraphrased] Once upon a time, when I was a young boy, my father gave me a ‘beaver stick’. For my readers who have never had or seen a beaver stick, it…
May 24, 2025

Poet from the north country

No quote necessary… ~~Patrick Egan [Photo credit: Google search.] This morning I was reading an article in The Guardian about Amazon Echo (Alexa). It was written by a journalist from the UK. I learned how much that is spoken by me and Mariam is stored in a server…somewhere. The writer told of how he now…
May 11, 2025

the woman who birthed me

[My mother, Mary Hotchko Egan. She is striking a very ’50s pose in our backyard in Owego, NY. Photo is mine.] “Don’t toss that saucer in the air. You’ll drop it.” ~~My mother to me, sometime in the late ’60s. Of course I wouldn’t listen. I tossed it up and caught it, until I missed.…
April 23, 2025

look homeward, sailor

[Photo is mine.] “O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.” ~~Thomas Wolfe. Look Homeward, Angel. I’m not a ghost, not yet anyway, but I’ve come back. Back to my hometown of Owego. I have things to do. Getting the new enhanced driver’s license is on the top of my to-do list.…
April 6, 2025

i went down to the demonstration…

to get my fair share of abuse. ~~Mick Jagger [At the New York Public Library Main Branch. 42nd St. & 5th Ave. Photo is mine.] I told a few people that we were going to the Hands Off demonstration at Bryant Park. Some commented: “Be careful.” “Don’t take a backpack. Not the thing at a…