patrickjegan

January 28, 2015

The Fabulous Life of a Published Author

Many writers dream of seeing their published works on the shelf of a bookstore. Think of the heady feeling of walking into a Barnes & Nobel and seeing your name and book among the thousands of bestsellers. That’s never been my goal in life. Selling books means you make money and making money means you move…

January 25, 2015

A Winter Tragedy in the Unforgiving North Country

This is a heartbreaking story of a misjudgment made 87 years ago today. The heart of the sadness is that this is a true event. In the summer of 2014, I was wandering through St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Chateaugay, New York. I was searching for certain headstones to photograph for ancestor-seekers that lived too far…

January 21, 2015

The Impossibly Long Life of a Snowflake

It’s a simple act of nature. A billion snowflakes drifting slowly earthward…sometimes rising, sometimes blown sideways…but always downward. If they each made a sound like a bird, someone stepping out onto a frozen porch in the North Country of the Adirondacks would be deafened. But each flake makes a sound only it can hear. It…

January 18, 2015

Ice Cold Beer

I got lost once on my way to buying a beer at a lonely bar. There’s a good story coming so don’t blink, look away or try to multi-task…or you’ll miss it. Being lost can mean many things to many people. You can say: “I’m lost” in the middle of calculus class. Or, you can…

January 15, 2015

An Ice Queen and Prometheus on a New York City Night

A month ago I wouldn’t be able to stand where I’m standing tonight. Impossible. Unless I was willing to share the same physical space with seven other people. I’m looking down at the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Four weeks ago, thousands of tourists and locals were cramped in and around the small park that…

January 13, 2015

Park Avenue on a Rainy Day

I am standing in the rain at the intersection of the Mythical Avenue and Ordinary Life Street in New York City. If there’s a map at your side, look for where E. 92nd Street crosses Park Avenue. That’s where I am standing, safely protected from the speeding traffic, on the landscaped Mall that separates the…

January 7, 2015

The Weekend I Took the Moon Rocks Home

Only on rare occasions (once or twice a month) do I check for the black SUV’s in my driveway or parked around the corner on the road where I now live. I hesitate to give the name of the road–I’m not sure it’s in the Big Computer now. We only moved here in December of…

January 4, 2015

The Digital Indoor-Outdoor Thermometer From Area 51

It’s common knowledge that various agencies under the umbrella of the “Federal Government” have been conducting TOP SECRET experiments in highly secure location inside an Air Force Base in California (or Nevada or some such forgotten region of the Great American Desert). This place has been known by many “in the know” people as “Area…

December 31, 2014

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog. Here's an excerpt: A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,100 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people. Click here to…

December 30, 2014

Let It Be

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea Sometimes I turn, theres someone there, other times its only me… –Bob Dylan “Every Grain of…