A Quick Hike Along the Niagara River Niagara Falls rightly gets most of the attention from visitors to this corner of New York. The Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in the United States and looking around I’m grateful for those who preserved this area from souvenir shops, off track betting,…
Rust in the Water In general we take the supply of water for granted in the northeast corner of North America. There’s usually enough precipitation in rain and snow coming through this region to refill the aquifers, rivers and reservoirs that supply our drinking water. This month we’re running a bit dry, according to the…
Connecticut Capital Building If Hartford, Connecticut is a mix of gritty neighborhoods and gleaming insurance headquarters today, in the late 1800’s it was considered a model city. Mansions popped up in the Nook Farm area, which rivaled Concord, Massachusetts with the number of artists and writers who clustered in that area. Insurance companies were also…
Winning the Lottery In 1933 an influenza outbreak spread across the world. While it wasn’t considered a pandemic, it represented a significant spike in influenza-related deaths that hasn’t been equalled since. The 1933 outbreak hits home for me; I’m told that my grandfather’s first wife, father-in-law and infant daughter Paula all died in this influenza…
Experience with Emerson “Life is not intellectual or critical, but sturdy. Its chief good is for well-mixed people who can enjoy what they find, without question… To fill the hour, – that is happiness, to fill the hour and leave no crevice for a repentance or an approval. We live on surfaces, and the true…
Tory or Loyalist? (Depends on which side you’re on) When you win a war you get to decide what you call the people who opposed you in the war. The history of the United States is full of examples of this. In the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War those who wanted…
Three Works of Daniel Chester French While a lot of the attention in Concord, Massachusetts rightfully goes to the extraordinary writers who lived amongst each other in town, there were other highly-accomplished artists who lived there too. One of the most celebrated is Daniel Chester French. French was an American Renaissance/Beaux-arts artist most famous for his…
Now Comes Good Sailing I’m not sure how I’ll go peacefully into the night, but I hope it’s a long time from now. When my time comes I hope my last words are as interesting as those of Henry David Thoreau, who, in addition to saying “Now comes good sailing“, added “Moose” and “Indian“. I’m…
Bucket Lists and Daily Life We’re in the mad dash now. Kids in college, new job ramping up, house showing need for repairs, retirement saving, mileage on the cars, Bodhi needing more meds, appliances acting up, stuff accumulating, stuff we seemingly need, stuff we definitely don’t need, should we stay or should we go now?…
Sleeping Giant The Metacomet Ridge runs roughly along the Connecticut River from the Vermont border through Massachusetts and into Connecticut. In that state, close to Long Island Sound in Hamden, is Sleeping Giant State Park. This is a part of the Metacomet Ridge and for my money the most interesting formation in the entire ridge….