Looking to the past: Examining the wisdom of some old adages

There are things that occur in your life that stay with you for a very long time. It certainly holds true for me as I get older and grow wiser from all my past experiences growing up Adirondack.

Here are a few examples.

I have learned not to fish with my father on any day there is a suggestion of rain as even a remote cloud will form thunderheads and drown us in our boat.

I learned that the only friend who will ever listen to all your thoughts and not judge you is your dog.

Tools can do more jobs than what they were originally designed to do—if only you find where you left them. Continue reading →

Making the best of a summer run of cold, wet weather

It was another cool and rainy summer day and myself and the rest of the Limekiln Lake gang of kids were stuck inside playing board games and cards waiting out the washout.

I sometimes liked a good rain-filled day, but four days in a row without any swimming or playing kick the can was getting a little old.

When I  got up that morning the lawn was completely shrouded in fog so there was no way for me to determine if the sky was dark and gloomy.

I poked my head out on the back porch to see if my sneakers had dried from the day before.

Not only were they wet, but one had a giant orange slug creeping along on it leaving a gooey trail behind. Continue reading →

A chapter closes, another begins

It was the last of my many days at the Inlet Elementary School having spent the past seven years of my life learning such tasks as reading, writing and long division.

I began reflecting on some of the activities I engaged in throughout those school years.

We painted murals with our feet in kindergarten, and in the first grade I made my first picture book about animals with imperfect spelling.

I wrestled with cursive writing and fractions in the third grade.

And by the time I reached the fifth and sixth grades I began exploring my own thoughts and wrote essays—though I thought taking a spelling test was about as pleasant as a trip to the dentist.

Those are all memories I could leave behind, but one thing I was really going to miss was sketching the old cast iron forced water heaters that were in every room of that little red and white building. Continue reading →