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Catskill Mountains

MOUNTAIN SOUNDS

Those of you who have read my biography know that I am a child of the Catskills, though I spent forty of the last forty-two years in Texas. Now, there are many commendable things about Texas, though with few exceptions, it cannot compete with upstate New York in terms of vistas and the diversity and sheer numbers of living creatures. The mountain sounds which their abundance of life are music to one’s ears. The land in most of Texas (excluding the Hill...

Map of Fort Ticonderoga

FORT TICONDEROGA: THE GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN/LAKE GEORGE In my Fort William Henry post, I described the French and Indian War between France and England in North America.  Fort Ticonderoga is a good point to open a discussion on the geography of the war.  The major waterways in this part of far eastern New York are the Hudson River, the Richelieu River, Lake George and Lake Champlain.  The Hudson River flows southward from near its source close to Lake Tear of the Clouds, north of Albany.  Overland, from the Hudson...

Family emerges from a darkened room as pandemic ends

AFTER THE PANDEMIC ENDS (PART II)

For the past month or so, we’ve finally been able to see light at the end of the tunnel as far as the pandemic goes, thanks to the vaccines and the end of winter with more and more people spending time outdoors. India and Brazil are having difficult times at the moment and so we’re not out of the woods yet.  The SARS-CoV-2 virus may continue to be endemic to certain areas after the pandemic ends, but hopefully it will be...

Troubled waters during the French and Indian War

WE VISIT FORT WILLIAM HENRY

The Seven Years’ War is not very well known in this country. Winston Churchill called it “The first World War” since it was actually fought on five different continents.  It’s difficult to point to a single event that historians agree was the casus belli.  Was it the Prussian invasion of Saxony in Europe?  A dispute over the boundaries of Arcadia? A skirmish, perhaps, in western Pennsylvania between British forces who were badly-led by a twenty-two-year-old officer named George Washington in which a French envoy...

Serene pool with waterfall in the Catskill mountains

A CATSKILL MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING

“Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season, every change of weather, indeed, every hour of the day produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains; and they are regarded by all the good...

Welcome sign at Bowdoin College

AN ACCOUNT OF OUR VISIT TO BOWDOIN COLLEGE

Deena and I are about to commemorate our first year in quarantine.  It actually started in mid-March, 2020, after I got back from a visit to Texas.  She and I have been pretty faithful about observing the restrictions.  It’s not just that we’re both over 65 and a virus like this might set us down for the count.  The other half of the equation is that we don’t want to spread the virus to other people who might become gravely ill because of our...

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