Category: Memories
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Coal For Christmas
[Another year. Another Christmas. I republish this every holiday season with a tweak here and there. This story is true and I am passing it down to new readers and my two children and my grandson. Every story from our own lives or the lives of those we once loved…every story is worth telling. There…
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Ooh, Paddy: A Boy Sits In The Grass Near His Grandfather
[My grandfather, George Hotchko. Photo is from the early 1970’s. Credit: Daniel Egan.] Oh, I dunno, Paddy. Sometimes those stories keep me up at night. They make me uncomfortable. ~~Spoken to me by my grandfather, George Hotchko. When I was a little boy. 1950’s. Part 1-Meeting my grandfather… Yes, the title. Of course I’m the…
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A Dark And Sad Anniversary
[Steve’s grave. Monroe, Louisiana. Photo is mine.] The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. ~~ L. P. Hartley On Friday, November 22, I will step away from whatever social engagement I may be involved in…and I will look up to a cloud or maybe a single star. And I will remember.…
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The Journey’s End 3: Inside Wimborne Minster-The Man In The Wall & The Chained Library
[Wimborne Minster. The Church of St Cuthburga. Wimborne, Dorset. Photo is mine.] The day we find the perfect church, it becomes imperfect the moment we join it. ~~Anon Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. ~~Thomas Gray Elegy…
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Journey’s End 2: Ringo Blaze & The Screaming Toilet Fish From Hell
[The White Hart Pub. The same place I remember so well. But, not the same place I found a few nights ago. Photo is mine.] Me to my brother, Dan: They call themselves Ringo Blaze & The Screaming Toilet Fish From Hell. Eh? My brother, Dan to me: Green or purple eight inch spiked mohawk.…
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The Terminus
[A card, purchased at a small souk in the Marrakech Market. It is my name, Patrick, written in Arabic by a calligrapher. The cost was about $4.00. A small amount for a priceless piece of art. Important to me. Photo is mine.] The end of journey is not a period, but a comma. ~~ Anon…
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At The Edge Of The Dunes: Changes Within And Without
[A moment of rest and a photo op on the way to the Sahara. The river Ziz. Photo is mine.] Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes Turn and face the strange Ch-ch-changes Don’t want to be a richer man… ~~ David Bowie Said our guide and driver, Kamal… We’re coming to a tunnel. When we come out on the other…
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Flairgate
The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with. ~~Anon I found myself propped up in bed this very morning, earlier than usual due to my extreme level of anxiety in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Europe and points beyond. After a quarter of a glass of Cold Brew, and…
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yes I said yes I will Yes.
[James Joyce. Source: Google Search.] Yes, I’m perfectly aware that the title I’ve chosen for this blog is the final sentence in the wondrous novel, Ulysses. Written by James Joyce (shown above) and considered one of the most seminal books of the 20th century. I am also aware that the quote is from Molly Bloom’s…
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Dark Odds Indeed
[The Nobel Laureate. Robert Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan. Source: Google Search.] Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. ~~Henry David Thoreau Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter, will be eighty-three years old on May 24. As I write this I realize that that’s old. True, not old to many people who are…