Poached Trout
A Young Adirondack Outlaw’s Recipe for Justice Mid-seventies Saranac Lake was a magical place. It was a great time to be an Adirondack kid growing up. Kids were allowed to be kids. Cell phones and the internet had not yet been invented. Today’s crowded high peaks lakes, mountains &...
Read More
The Nuclear Snowball
A Weapon So Devastatingly Deadly, It Oughta Be TOP SECRET. ********** Saranac Lake, circa 1975: Our Pine Street Gang was pretty firmly established by then, ensconced in our family’s home headquarters on Stevenson Lane. There was me, of course. I was about twelve at the time, accompanied by the...
Read More
Adirondack Scrimshaw
Exploring Adirondack Artistry Using Nature’s Canvas It’s funny the little things that quietly provide inspiration, those seemingly small childhood details that stay with us through life. I always admired the engraved “artist’s conk” scene pictured above. It adorned the fireplace mantle in our Stevenson Lane home through most of...
Read More
Net Zero
Every Goal Has Its Price ********** For nearly half a century the sprawling ranch style house situated just beyond the small north country city’s reach had been his family’s home. A young man’s version of he and his wife proudly bought it as newlyweds. It had grown with them...
Read More
The Messenger
********** He had never been a particularly religious man. At least, not overtly. Most of his conversations with God involved hurling a profanity laced framework of frustrated anger towards the sky’s cloud covered heavens around questions like, “Are you happy now?!?” “Do you find this amusing?!?” “Is that all...
Read More
Leaving a Trail
My Adirondack Outlaw 2023 Year End Review A Wedding, a Retirement, an Epic Plane Ride, Speaking in Tongues, My Return to the Almanack, Cedar Log Surgery, 30,000 Readers, Ari Rae’s Apple Tree, an Alamo Shootout, a Green Christmas, and the Journey to SIXTY! Well, another hike through a year...
Read More
Ari Rae’s Magic Tree
To Ari Rae Marra The Apple of Grampa’s Eye ********** ********** This is Ari Rae Marra. She loves to visit her Grampa’s house. Ari Rae and her Grampa have their own special greeting. Fist bump, high five, gentle head butt. It’s how they tell each other “Hello” & “I...
Read More
Remember The Alamo
An ADK Outlaw Bailout Pinned down & caged, running out of ammo as his quarry attempted an escape. Would reinforcements arrive in time? Two lifelong friends. One epic hunt. ********** Chuck & I first met in college. We each quickly realized we shared two things in common: We were...
Read More
One Lone Hunter
One Lone Hunter Sat in silent surveillance Watching swamped woodland landscapes Until God’s sunset found him One Lone Hunter Quietly unloaded his rifle Climbed down from his tree stand And made his way home ********** Until Our Trails Cross Again: ADKO...
Read More
Leaf Covered Trails
Celebrating Fall’s Season Musings, Memories, & a Hike Framed in a Poem I took a walk today Down a leaf covered trail Fall’s carpet of yesterdays October’s confetti hail I took a walk today Down a leaf covered trail Reminiscing crunched leaf memories In full fallen foliage detail I...
Read More