patrickjegan

Author, local historian, kayaker, hiker, wanderer.

[patrick47]

I hate spandex

[This is one of my casual socks after I took a small pair of scissors to it. You know the kind of scissors I mean. The ones with the strange curve that seems to have no purpose. Yes, it was an intentional act done by myself and well within the realm of reason. Photo is mine.] Can we wear Spandex and blow things up? ~~Lisa Mantchev I hate Spandex. I hate anything that rhymes with Spandex, with…

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[patrick47]

budapest to southampton vII: loose ends & last thoughts

[Mind the gap. Mind your head. It’s all so very British. Photo is mine.] In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take and the love we didn’t give. ~~Anon. (From TikTok). Here I am, sitting in the same seat, at the same table in a corner of The White Star Tavern and typing like a gatling gun to finish my last blog post from England. The taxi is due to arrive here in about an hour to…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam VI: Nuremberg: why do people continue to deny the truth

[Graffiti on the door of a closed shop. Likely in Nuremberg. Photo is mine.] The Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, in open court before an international tribunal, had a profound long-term effect in bringing Germans back to democracy and humanity. ~~Anthony Lewis {Author’s note: If you know me and have read some or all of my 727 published blogs some things that I say may either come as a…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam V: Passau: 3 rivers, Biblical Floods, High Baroque & 2 personal guides

[The confluence of three rivers. The very light olive color water near the top of the photo is the INN river, clay sediment imparts the color. The closer river is the DANUBE, a brown/grey depending on the rainfall and amount of organic material. A third and much smaller river is the ILZ, which is nearly black because it flows through the Bavarian National Forest, carrying tannins and humic acids…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam: IV The stumbling Stones of Bamberg

[The City Hall building in Bamberg. It is the most iconic photo of any place in the city. The photo is not mine. To get such a shot, one would need either a telephoto lens or to stand on a distant bridge. None of which I had time to do. I found it on a Google search. Source: Ähnliche Bilder.] Bambergers bragged about it being as important as Rome, saying their city also had seven hills ~~Never…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam III: A passing moment-a very human connection

[A photo taken a few minutes after the described ‘encounter’. These are not the young women I saw. But I’m including this to give a visual of what I’m conveying. Photo is mine.] Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing… Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence. ~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Theologian’s Tale: Elizabeth From Tales of a Wayside Inn A…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam II: a legend of richard the lionheart

[King Richard I, the Lionheart. Source: Google search.] Even the bravest of us loath war, and those who long for it are the most dangerous. ~~Richard I. If Richard I really did say this, he likely didn’t see himself as particularly dangerous. But the infidels (Muslims led by Sultan Saladin) that he was fighting during the Third Crusade to ‘liberate’ the Holy Land most likely had a different…

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[patrick47]

Budapest to amsterdam I: 67 locks 5 countries and beyond

[GEFJON. The Norse goddess of the plow, holds the power to move the earth and foretell people’s destinies. It is also the name of the Viking cruise boat that will take us to Amsterdam. Source: Wall mural on the Viking Gefjon. Photo is mine.] This is where I came in. Budapest: Where East meets West. The Blue Danube is something more than a waltz by Johann Strauss. ~~Tom Kelly Guilty of…

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[patrick47]

nightcrawlers & blue lights at river's edge

[Not my photo of an earthworm shaped like a heart sitting on grass and dirt. Source: MBCheatham] Outbreaks of unvarnished truths in the backyard of our true self can be very precious and inspiring, even though we might inconsistently be tempted to give in to the exhilarating perfume of fables and fair tales or to flattering praise and fiction. ~~Erik Pevernagie I’m in a cemetery standing under…

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[patrick47]

An echo of my young self?

[A ‘new’ vintage postcard of our apartment building. Out apartment is shown by the black arrow. Source: Public Domain.] Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you. ~~F. Scott Fitzgerald I slid out of our four-poster and onto the creaky wooden floor. It’s the third morning for Mariam and me in our new apartment. I make my…

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[patrick47]

The Expendable Ones

[The Highway of Tears. Map Source: Google Search.] Please help us find who’s out there. Help us put a stop to the Highway of Tears. ~~Indigenous Arts & Stories He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. ~~Jessica McDiarmid, Highway of Tears I’ve driven Highway 16…

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[patrick47]

The incident in the Bog

[The green fields of Ireland. Photo is mine.] With a bog, and its buried contents, the past is no longer behind you, but palpably beneath your feet. A secret history is stacked just a few feet below the modern world in which you’re standing. ~~Terry Eagleton It’s closing in on St. Patrick’s Day and since I will be quite busy in the next few weeks, I thought I’d put out this long-planned…

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[patrick47]

Frankenfood?

[From the Nutritional Label of a Trail Mix. Photo is mine.] If they want to sell us Frankenfood, perhaps it’s time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle. ~~Paul Lewis. From a letter to the New York Times in 1992. Lewis coined the term: Frankenfood. Oh dear! While I was opening WordPress to write this blog post I noticed something. I did not successfully post a blog…

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[patrick47]

Thanksgiving Thoughts on a cloudy afternoon

[If you know me, you know this house. 420 Front St. Owego, NY. Photo is mine.] I can see a better time when all our dreams come true. ~~Fairytale of New York. Shane Patrick Lysaght Macgowan Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~~Marcel Proust The photo above. My childhood home. See the brown painted bay window on the…

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[patrick47]

Kicking Leaves in Owego: my imaginarium

[On the left, in the distance, just beyond the white house, just hidden in the morning fog, is the riverbank where I played away my childhood. Photo is mine.] Great Grandpa, what’s an Imaginarium? Oh, Great Grandson, it’s like a rambling and cluttered room, an old room, a very big room. There are lots of books, on magic and myth, truth and nonsense, ideas and quotes, sad stories and impossibly…

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[patrick47]

the four green fields blog14: the goddesses of the moon

[Unenhanced photo of the moon. Sailing west, looking south. The North Atlantic Ocean. Photo is mine.] Whenever people look at clouds they do not see their real shape, which is no shape at all, or every shape, because they are constantly changing. They see whatever it is that their heart yearns for. ~~Eduardo Agualusa, A General Theory of Oblivion Whatever it is their hearts yearn for…Hmm. We…

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[patrick47]

the four green fields blog13: alone at midnight in an english country churchyard

[The Lychgate of All Saints Church in Minstead, New Forest. This gate is where the funeral party rests the coffin and meets the Vicar in preparation for the burial. Photo is mine.] ‘Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. ~~ William Shakespeare Hamlet We were staying for five days in Minstead, in the heart of the New…

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