Category: Essays & Stories

“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...

The “Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays *This story is dedicated to the memory of my Aunt Viv & her son, Jack Lilley. He was my 2nd cousin. He collected baseball cards. He died in a car accident six years before I was born. I’ve been honored to carry on...

Small Town Life Adirondack Captured on Camera An SLHS ’81 Classmate Collaboration Featuring Photography by Jackie Ely   Author’s Note:  This story appeared in the January 14, 2022, edition of The Adirondack Almanack. Jackie’s photography proved to be extremely popular. Gaining 371 Facebook shares in a little over a...

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...

Commandeering a “Yankee Clipper” On the Shores of Cape Cod ********** 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 second in my series of baseball card stories.  Since my first...

An Adirondack Outlaw Survivor Approach To Living Life Forward      We’ve all heard the phrase “Think outside the box.”  It’s all too frequently offered as a euphemism for innovative thinking or creative problem solving.  It’s even been used by many “experts” as a foundation philosophy for a long list...

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...

My 2021 “Trail Cam” review, plus a map of planned 2022 Adirondack Outlaw adventures. **********      As we each pack our gear and map out individual routes forward into 2022, I thought I’d take a moment to share a glimpse of several upcoming Adirondack Outlaw adventures, as well as...

 Celebrating my Adirondack Bottle Diving adventure forward into 2022      This past year brought what appeared to be an exciting culmination point in my three- year Adirondack bottle diving adventure.      First, I discovered a one-of-a-kind vintage Saranac Lake “F.M. Bull” glass & wood stopper pharmacy bottle. Then, Historic...