Category: Real Personal History
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Waiting For Some Friends
Yes, I know. We went to Lowes in Plattsburg and purchased a fire-engine red snowblower. It has all the ‘stuff’ a person would want in one of these babies. It drives itself and controls the direction the snow is blown (away from your face for example). We waited for the Big One. After all it…
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Autumn Comes First, Right?
I learned a valuable lesson early this morning. No more preparation. Sometimes things make no sense. It doesn’t do much good to try and snow blow a 1/2″ of drizzling rain. The scheduled delivery from Lowe’s arrived on time. In fact it not only arrived on time, it was early. The truck was at our…
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The Bearded Man Beholds The Autumn
[Photo is mine.] He sits on the front deck of his home. Despite recent chilly weather, this particular Wednesday proved to be mild…even warm. He has spent the last half-hour watching a red squirrel scurry about a pile of chipped wood. Doubtless, this is to be his winter den. The bearded man is sitting…
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A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood
[Our beautiful neighborhood] Did I ever tell you that I have a sore back? Surely, I did. The other day I was sitting on the edge of the bed pondering how long a nap I should take when I chanced to hear the sound of big truck-like things and chainsaws. I decided to investigate. 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 Two Garbage Bins: A Winter’s Tale
[Iceberg Landscape. Photo source: Google search.] In the U.K. they call it “Bin Day”. That’s when you put your rubbish and recycles out at curbside. I think that is a very cute way of putting things, but then the English are so cute anyway. On March 22, they will celebrate “Mothering Day” instead of “Mother’s…
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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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Two Men On A Rock
And I need to be there when the world gets too heavy and the shadows cross my mind. Like brave mountaineers, we were never bothered much by time. —Gordon Lightfoot. [The author, left (in blue) and climbing partner, Greg Stella on the trail of Big Slide Mountain. circa 1972.] Once upon a time, two…
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Now I Know What It Was Like
[Three candles and a laptop. Photo is mine.] Don’t get me wrong…I love history. But I don’t necessarily need to live in history. I have no desire to travel to someplace in North Carolina to ditch my reading glasses, my jeans and my iPhone to reenact a minor battle in the Civil War. I have…
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When Sand Turns Cold: Between The Seasons
[The Lake Colby Beach in Saranac Lake, NY. Photo is mine.] This is an odd time of the year. The autumn colors are past peak (yes, there are a few places where the reds are blinding and the yellows can bring tears to your eyes)…but the peak foliage in its intensity is essentially gone until…
patrickjegan 