Category: Essays & Stories

My Fingers Are Clumsy Now My Vision Ain’t So Good Kinda Like My Writin’ A Bit Rustic Perhaps Sometimes Raw Often Rusty But Mostly All True Authentically Me Steadfast In Resolve Living Life “Outlaw Real” ********** Until Our Trails Cross Again: Row Towards Zen Free Of Fear Live A...

“Memories Are Best When Shared With Friends” A Classmate Snapshot of Friends Saranac Lake High School Class of 1981 *********** An Introductory Note: “Connections & Memories become more cherished through time. Each of us remembers in ways both individual & unique. I wanted to share some of mine.” **********...

Author’s Note: This story appeared in The Adirondack Almanack’s January 31, 2022 on-line edition. ********** It’s almost that time! Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival approaches (Feb 4th-13th). One of the highlights of winter.  Their 2022 theme is “Totally ‘80’s”. Ice Palace Construction is underway. Winter Carnival Parade plans are being...

********** Snapshot Perspectives On Life, Offered Through The Lens Of My North Country Eyes Accidentally Insightful, Occasionally Humorous Frequently Neither Sometimes Both ********** Outlaw Author’s Note: I will continually update this post through time As new thoughts & views arise Whenever the mood strikes me To read updated entries...

1-22 INF/1st BDE/10th MTN DIV (LI), Ft Drum, N.Y. 1988: Fort Drum was still under construction. The 10th Mountain Division(LI) remained a long way from full strength.  My unit, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, was billeted in old wooden WWII barracks on what would become “Old Post.”       We were...

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter One: Select Early Works Of RJ Monroe Chapter Two: Cape Cod Capers Chapter Three: Florida Fish Tales Chapter Four: Dominican Debacle Chapter Five: Buc – A- Roo RJ ********** CHAPTER ONE: Select Early Works Of RJ Monroe “Highly Sophisticated” ****** Two Happy Fishermen “RJ &...

*This story appeared as “An ‘Adirondack Outlaw’ at Cornell in the Adirondack Almanack’s April 18, 2021 on-line edition. ********** My Elegant Friend        I wrote the poem “Sweet Adrienne” sometime in early 1982, during the spring semester of my freshman year at Cornell.  Just before getting called into the...

I first drafted the poem “Ghost Lake” while working out of Lake Colden’s Interior Headquarters cabin as a DEC trail hand in the summer of ’83, haunted by memories from earlier trips into Colden with my dad.    On those shared journeys, in the late ’70’s, Dad still had...

One Man’s Cancer Survival Story ********** To My Wife, Children, Family & Friends  Who’ve Lived & Fought Alongside Me  Every Day We’ve Been In ************ AUTHOR’S NOTE: “I’m Sorry- It’s Cancer.”      Those are words no one ever wants to hear.   I know.   I’ve heard them three...

     The event that I’m about to describe has haunted a dark corner of my mind since the night it occurred. Some may find it disturbing. I still do. **********   It was a Saturday evening in 1986.  I was a young lieutenant recently assigned to the 10th Mountain...