Category: North Country Life
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The Masts…Oh, the Masts
Here I am once again. I’m sitting with friends at the Naked Turtle for dinner. It’s located on the shore of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh. I listen to the conversation but I’m drawn to the eastern view, toward Vermont. The marina is filled with boats of all sorts…but it’s the sailboats that attract me. Where…
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Two Trees
A man and woman have four children–two boys and two girls. The same seed…the same egg. One boy grows up, attends college and eventually becomes a doctor and later joins Doctors Without Borders. His brother sits in a small cell at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY. He did something unspeakable to an eleven…
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The Night Of The Living AA’s: Report #3
I’m sitting on the sofa in our screened-in porch listening to the rain falling, heavily and with vigor, on our deck, roof and the new leaves of the maples. I want another mug of Dorset tea, but that would mean going into the kitchen one more time. I’m reluctant to do that. There is something…
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583.74
This post is a puzzle for my readers who want a challenge or something to keep them busy if they have too much time on their hands. I suppose that the former is what they want. So, anyone out there who is up to the challenge? Last week, or perhaps it was the week before…or maybe…
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Gathering Dust
I was dusting some items in our home the other day. If you find that unusual, you should see the amount of dust that can accumulate in a house that was empty for almost six months. We weren’t even here. So, where did it come from? And, it’s not that we keep an unclean home.…
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I Married An Armenian Chess Shark
It was a perfect night in the Adirondacks, in April, when the gentle showers promise to bring the lovely early blooming flowers of May. Ok, it was snowing just a little–maybe 5 or so inches were predicted for tonight, and the temperature was hovering around 19 degrees. Like I said, it was a perfect Spring…
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Measuring The Final Miles
[Divider antique tool provided by D’Arcy Havill. Used with permission} “Why” That seems to be the operative word rolling around in my mind as I sit and write this post, this nearly final post of our Epic Trip of 2015-1016. We’re at our friend’s house in Camp Dennison, Ohio. I’ve written of D’Arcy and Judy…
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The Warm Moon, Our Sixth Moon…The Hidden Moon
I waited until after midnight to go out of our r-pod to look up at the sixth full moon of our trip. My weather app was correct, there would be a thick cloud cover tonight. And there was. For me, this was a first. Since October, we had been favored by a clear sky. The…
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Shot Out Of A Cannon/Driving Until The Wheels Fall Off And Burn
[The first day of Spring] Lately, I’ve felt like I, the r-pod, the red Ford, Mariam and life in general have been shot out of a cannon. Our departure from the desert southwest happened so fast, I somehow missed the line that I could point out, photograph, and say: “Well, there goes the desert…we’re in…
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A Silent Eulogy: Late But Heartfelt
Is it possible that a eulogy can take forty-one years to deliver? The dreaded answer is yes. I know because I spoke that eulogy…silently, silently so that only I heard the words. It was a rambling prayer over a heart-breaking death. I knew the young man who had died. In truth, I was with him…
patrickjegan 