Category: Memories
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Rigorous Days and Restful Nights on the Kennet & Avon Canal
[Sunset on the Kennet & Avon Canal. Photo is mine] Part 1 ~~ Starting Out And Mooring After arriving at Devizes we had little trouble finding the Foxhangers Canal Boat Rental building. Our boat wasn’t quite ready so we strolled down to the canal and found a lock. I (having watched three YouTube videos on…
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Seeing Sally Again
[Sally and me at The White Hart Inn, Wimborne, Dorset. Date: June 7, 2023. Photo is mine] This afternoon, Sally took time out of her life to make the trip to Wimborne and meet with me and Mariam. We talked of that year (Mostly I talked). And I finally had a chance to thank her…
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Rome: Antiquity, Beauty & Faith
Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her. ~ ~ G. K. Chesterton [One of the iconoclastic images in the world. The Colosseum of Rome. What is not so famous is the construction equipment in the foreground. Photo is mine.] Part One: The City As A…
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Messina, (Sicily) Italy: Of WWII & The Godfather
[I haven’t spoken Latin since I was an altar boy…About fifty years ago. This statue greets our boat as we entered the Harbor of Messina. Photo is mine.] After an entire day at sea, we tied up at the dock in the city of Messina. It is our only port-of-call in Sicily. We paid 15…
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Midnight Thoughts of Venice
[San Giorgio Maggiore in the distance. Photo is mine.] Venice has been said to be the most romantic city in the world. I can think of one famous resident who certainly thought so, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (b. 1725). He should know a thing or two about romance. He claimed to have slept with at least…
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Dear Greg
[Greg (R) and myself on some forgotten peak in the Keene Valley Region of the Adirondacks. NY. Date: 1970’s. Photo is mine.] It’s coming up on a year now since you left me on the trail. You needed to climb one more mountain…at the time, I didn’t want another summit, but you had other thoughts.…
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A Dialectical Critique of “Teenager in Love”
[Dion. Photo probably taken in the 1960’s. Source: Mancrushes.com] If you ask me, far too many words have been written about the hidden meanings and subtleties of Bertolt Brecht’s Mack the Knife or Pirate Jenny. Granted the Weimar Era in Germany (1918-1933) were pretty wacky times. But lyrics like: “You gentlemen can watch while I’m…
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This Is Not Me
[The Wind Star. Photo: Windstar Cruises.] I know it’s April Fools Day but this is not a trick or prank. {NOTE TO READERS: The name of this post says it all. I did not write it. Backstory: Several weeks ago I had a dinner conversation with my son, Brian. He is almost always one step…
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The Moonflower
[The White Moon Flower. Ipomoea alba. Photo: Google Search] Nature is an Aeolian Harp, a musical instrument, whose tones are the re-echo of higher strings within us. ~~Novalis This is a true story. It happened to me during my last few years before leaving home to attend college in the South. All of it took…
patrickjegan 