Category: The North Country

A Wood Duck Celebration in Haiku   Haiku is a traditional Japanese short verse form written to celebrate some aspect of nature or life. While it has numerous nuances and variations, in my rudimentary understanding, a Haiku basically consists of three lines of verse written in a non-rhyming pattern,...

The Day I nearly lost Khalisi. My true canine rescue story. A close call, a hard learned lesson, and a warning.      It happened several years ago, right about this time of year. It was late February or early March. The ground had just refrozen right behind an early...

Author’s Note: What a beautiful day today! Everything sparkles after last night’s fresh snow. The sky is so blue. The sun shine’s such bright warmth.  I took my canine companions out for a snowshoe “paw patrol” stroll. The poem below formed in my head while the dogs explored and...

Cancel Culture Censorship’s Efforts to Erase an Era So here I am, an Adirondack Outlaw, on the lam once again. Living in the day I am in, sharing life’s memories, staying true to myself. A proud Saranac Lake Redskins alumnus, for as long as I live. *********** Until Our...

Author’s Note: The snowshoes pictured here are my dad’s vintage pair. He made them in Ranger School during his time at Wanakena. He graduated from Ranger School in 1961, two years before I was born. They are still sturdy, solid and strong. I have taken great care to maintain...

An Adirondack Outlaw Wandering Lost in Love’s Wilderness ********** Author’s Note: This story was featured in the February 13, 2022 online edition of The Adirondack Almanack ********** There’s a mystic trail in these mountains. Myths, tragedies, and harrowing rescue tales surround it. It’s not marked on any map. Oldtimers...

“Totally Adirondack – Totally Outlaw – Totally ’80’s” Saranac Lake’s 2022 Winter Carnival was great fun. A “Totally ‘80’s” trip down memory lane. **********           My wife Robin and I had already had great fun driving over together to enjoy Winter Carnival. We toured the Ice Palace. I went...

Christy Mathewson & Larry Doyle Big League TB patients Forever Inspiring Saranac Lake Youth League Baseball ********** There Once Was A Time When Every Town Had A Team Every Team Had A Star Every Boy Had A Dream ********** Author’s Note: This is the third in my planned series...

     I honed my trail maintenance skills as a young man on a DEC Trail crew team in the Adirondack high peaks.  There I learned a wide variety of valuable skills and techniques, everything from axemanship, to two-man blowdown clearing bowsaw skills, crafting freshly felled cedar trees into water...

There Once Was A Time When Every Town Had A Team Every Team Had A Star Every Boy Had A Dream ********** Author’s Introduction:  For me, baseball cards are a combination fountain of youth/time capsule. That musty bubble gum cardboard aroma transports me. When I hold one of my...