People are always going on about celestial alignments with the neolithic stone circles of Britain, Ireland and beyond. But it’s a simple fact, these are, more or less, circles. Stand in the middle and eventually there well be a solar or other celestial alignment for every stone. The solstices, the equinoxes will usually line up […]
Capturing a dream in the snow at Avebury
A lady stands upon the henge at Avebury in the snow, looking off into the distance where a man walks away. It’s impossible not to see the story there. She’s watching him leave, across a snowy, barren landscape, and it’s the hardest walk the man has ever undertaken. He doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t […]
Tip your hat to the Imp of Donder-Berg mountain, who still haunts the highlands of the Hudson River
Donderberg Mountain overlooks the Hudson River just a bit above Sleepy Hollow and is in the thick of the Hudson Highlands. The legend of the Imp of Donder-Berg comes to us from the early Dutch settlers of the region, and was made somewhat famous by Washington Irving. According to the story, if the skipper of […]
On fairy tales, American kitsch, Bullwinkle, Rock City and where I found enchantment
Top: Fairy tale architecture at Rock City, atop Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee blended an enchanted style with the natural surroundings. + + + I grew up in a place, and currently live in a place, where the word enchanted is almost taboo. Saying something is enchanting here would get you weird looks, and people […]
Running from the storm
I was living on Long Island, a hurricane was bearing down. The question was, would it strengthen or weaken? The consensus was it would weaken, so now evacuations took place. I had the weekend free, I wanted to be in New England for the storm. It was Thursday evening, I decided to be on the […]
Today’s Marginalia: Station Two of the Glencolumcille Tura, a pilgrimage on the edge of the world
Glencolumcille, or in the Gaelic, has been a religious site for over 5,000 years. It was one of earliest Christian sites in Europe, dating to the sixth century. The landscape around the village is dotted with ancient sites from the neolithic period, but the Christians turned the landscape into a stations of the cross, based […]
