At twenty one I decided to try and earn a living working with my hands. I was apprenticing in the shoe repair trades. I was doing orthopedic prescription work for the local podiatrist and keeping rather busy. It was “hippie times” and the lure of a leathershop loomed large in my idea of “gainful …
I was cast in a brass foundry in the Georgian Era sometime between 1804 and 1814. I was sold on Portobello Road in London when a row house was being built, I was a final tribute to some semblance of individuality. The dwelling was set apart from the 1 million other people that called London …
For the past 18 years my wife and I have traveled the countryside like modern day gypsies. We have attended juried art festivals, horse fairs, National Bison Association Shows, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Exhibitions (referred to as, hook and bullet shows), peddling our handmade leather goods which we craft at the Buffalo Billfold Company. …
The Blue Mounds State Park My companions are my wife, Les Rogers and Louise K and our new new found friends Wu and Dr. Ling Min from Taiwan. They have arrived in South Western Minnesota to spend a weekend and to build their life list of birds and friendships. Dr. Ling Min is a wildlife …
We take the Winslow exit and drive south on highway 87 & 99. We head east on Territorial Road. If you have an aversion to dirt and dusty roads, stop and turn around right here! Our destination is a place called Rock Art Ranch. Earlier in the day I picked up the phone and asked …
While traveling southwesterly a friend of mine sought me out and handed me a book to read. The book quite unexpectedly unleashed a wave of emotion. I had not realized that Paul’s memoirs had been published 14 months earlier. Much to his credit Louis Martinelli has recognized the importance of this work. He has worked …
After an hour of flight time we found ourselves in the taiga/tundra and we were in an area that looked and felt like the Florida Everglades rather than Alaska. There are water and riverine type confluences in all directions, for miles and miles. The hum of the engine kept us focused on our goal St. …
My community has a little over 50 miles of paved roads. Consider that there are only one hundred times that amount of paved roadways in all of Alaska. Looking at a map of Alaska, you will understand that there are only so many places that you can drive. You can drive to Seward. You can …
Tonight I find myself in Talkeetna, Alaska, a town of wood framed houses. The mountaineers who climb Denali use this village as their last outpost before heading to base camp on the tallest mountain in North America. Hype is a daily commodity, Denali looms large and tall, there is no need for bluster in Talkeetna. …