Category: Family
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Coal For Christmas
[Watercolor sketch by Paul Egan. Date unknown.] [Note to my readers: If you think you’ve read this blog before, don’t think you’re getting senile. It’s perhaps the fourth or fifth time I’ve posted it. It’s my version of a pure Christmas Story. I’ve tweaked the story several times to try to make the narrative better, clearer and more truthful. As…
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For Pete’s Sake
[Lenny Schmidt (L) & Peter Gillette on the ‘Going to Gramma’s House’. A 73- mile bike trip from Owego, NY to Lake Winola, PA. Circa 1960] How many kids, in the innocent ’50’s can say they were lucky enough to have a river in their backyard? Not many would be my guess. And it didn’t hurt…
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A Young Boy’s Walk
[Source: Google Search.] My first eight years of formal education was at St. Patrick’s School in Owego, NY. Many former students of many Catholic schools will complain about horrid nuns with rulers and black straps. I had no such issues with the Sisters of Mercy who ran our school. Most knew our parents personally. I…
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The Mermaid
[Source: Google search.] I shall always remember how the peacocks’ tails shimmered when the moon rose amongst the tall trees, and on the shady bank the emerging mermaids gleamed fresh and silvery amongst the rocks… –Hermann Hesse The Journey To The East Once upon a time, I traveled to the Seven Seas…to take a swim…
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The Gift Of The Troll
[Source: google search.] I tried to be as quiet as a cat as I approached the Barnum Brook Bridge. I put my foot on the first plank and sure enough, my stealth was inadequate. Out from under the bridge, so fast I missed it because I had blinked, emerged the Troll, blocking my way. “Who…
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I’m Not Sleepy
[Goya’s The Sleep of Reason. Photo credit: Goodle search.] [NOTE: The following post is rated S for sad.] When I was a young boy, about a hundred years ago, my mother would sit on the edge of my little bed and stroke my brown hair. It was well after my bedtime. I should have been sleeping the…
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It’s Not Easy
[Elias has to choose. It’s very important what to consider.] [DEDICATED TO ELIAS MUIR GOLDSTEIN, MY GRANDSON] It’s not an easy life being a child. No, the easy part of life is being a grown-up. They can go to bed when they want, they can watch any TV show on the cable…like The Bachelor in…
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Good-bye Rosie
[Rosie. Photo is mine.] My mother passed away in her sleep on a quiet Easter Sunday morning in 1992. A sad event indeed. Just days before on Holy Thursday, she sat in the living room of our home and told the priest that she was tired and was prepared. She was ready. She also told…
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A Cemetery With a View
[The grave of Sa Sa Na Loft. Evergreen Cemetery, Owego, NY. Photo credit is my own.] I’m back in my home town of Owego, NY for a reason. I have no one to visit. Nothing to purchase (I did buy two books at River Row Book Store), but I was there on an early September…
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A Tale of Three Rings
[Antique wedding ring. Price? About $5600. European Cut. Source: Google search.] Eileen, a colleague of Mariam, wanted to meet us for a drink. We were in New York City for the usual doctors appointments, meetings and our yearly Yankee game. The three of us sat at the bar of Brendens Irish Pub on W. 35th…
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