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Long Live the King
So, now it’s more or less certain that the bones of Richard III were found buried under a car park in Leicester, England. I happened to be in London when the news broke that researchers were looking closely at the site. At first it sounded like a bit from a “Monty Python” sketch…but then I…
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An American in Dorset (an excerpt)
Preface As I understand it, I am not allowed to donate blood. I have the British Government to partly thank for this dilemma. It so happens that I resided in Great Britain during the years when Mad Cow Disease was in its very early stages. I say, “partly thank” because even though MCD began to…
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The Life and Death of A Famous Everyman
It’s all over now. The last of the news vans pulled out this morning. Left behind are only a few stringers, standing in the front lawn or the cemetery, microphone in hand, filing useless bits that will be used to fill in the time between the weather update and results of the county Pumpkin Queen…
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The Mountain Nymph
I am walking down a trail in the ancient Adirondack Forest. I pull my wide-brimmed hat to better cover my eyes against the sudden spring rain. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and swat at the blackflies. I shuffle the rotting crimson and yellow leaves to one side. I monitor my steps carefully because…
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At the End of the Train
Those who lived within earshot of the railroad would usually be put to sleep by the clacking of the iron wheels passing over the rail joints. It was an age-old rhythm, a song often without words. It drew the listeners away from their world. Where was the train bound? Where did it come from? Hank,…
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The Legend of the Davy Crockett Pajamas
A little boy sat crying on a limb of an old apple tree. It was a crisp autumn day in New York City. Nearly all the leaves had abandoned their home trees and lay scattered in corners or along fences where the wind pushed them into piles mixed with old newspapers…
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A Story of Christmas and Coal
My father grew up poor. Not the kind of poor where he would walk through ten inches of snow barefoot or go from house to house asking for bread. His parents provided the best they could, but, by his own admission, he grew up poor. My grandfather and my grandmother should be telling this story.…
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The Thing in the Claw Foot Bathtub
Go ahead, think of a childhood dream. Make it a cuddly, warm and fuzzy dream where someone you love is with you adoring you and keeping you safe. It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it…recalling that dream? You awoke in the morning with pleasant thoughts that stayed with you throughout the day. Now, think of a…
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Lost On A Glacier in Alaska
Let me begin by setting the historical record straight, to slow the nay-sayers and bloggers who would be only too happy to challenge and dissect all that I am about to relate. I was never lost ON a glacier (not in this story, anyway) but about nine feet from the lip of ice that marked…
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The Dearly Departed
I derive a great deal of pleasure by wandering among people who are dead. I have always found graveyards to be ideal places to contemplate life. Understand, however, that there have been times, when shadows lengthen, I find being among the dead is an unsettling experience. But most of the time I find it creatively…
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patrickjegan 