Tag: Adirondacks
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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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Yesterday, Two Loves Walked Out Of My Door
One of my loves walked out of my building and out of my life. It was a lovely late morning. I was handed $50.00. We parted with only a few words. Then, around 4:00 pm, a second love departed. I was left hold $150.00. Cash. Unmarked bills. I know what your thinking, but it’s far…
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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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To Chris: A Long Overdue Eulogy
[Taku Towers. Juneau Icefield, Alaska. Unknown Photographer.] My older brother, Chris, would make slight cuts in an apple from our backyard in Owego, NY. This would allow the apple to shatter into bits of apple-shrapnel. No Surface-to-Surface missile would hit with such velocity, because he would mount the apple on the sharpened end of a…
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A Young Man’s Backpack
“To travel, to experience and learn: that is to live.” –Tenzing Norgay Stuff has to go. Lots of stuff has to go. When you relocate from a 3-bedroom lakeside house to a 1-bedroom apartment on Riverside Drive in New York, you soon realize how easy it was to gather stuff. And now, much of the…
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Dan & Daughter At Rest
My father is hidden behind everything I am. –Adrienne Egan “Danny Boy” (From a high school essay) I have long dreaded what was about to take place. As I approached the shore of Long Pond, the memories began to weigh heavy on my heart. How often had I stood in the sand since the early…
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The Troll Who Cried
I began my walk to the Barnum Brook Bridge carrying an emotional load that nearly broke my already painful back. It was a warm and very muggy afternoon. There were grey clouds in the hazy sky. There were grey clouds in my mind, my soul and my heart. I was not dreading the Bridge like…
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Out Of The Woods
Goodbye’s too good a word, babe So I’ll just say “Fare thee well” –Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” Look close. It’s hard to see. If you’re reading this post on a laptop, you’re out of luck. On a mobile device you can use your fingers to enlarge the photo. See the sign…
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Paying It Forward: More Late Night Thoughts on Greg
“And when I come to the dim trail-end, I who have been Life’s rover, This is all I would ask, my friend, Over and over and over: // Stars that gleam on a moss-grey stone Graven by those who love me– There would I lie alone, alone, With a single pine above me; Pine that…
patrickjegan 