Today I found myself listless, without direction. My sails were up, but there was no wind. The albatross was still around my neck. It has begun to stink. Then someone mentioned starting a religion and I thought, “I’m game for that.” My goals in life have been achieved, there’s nothing left but starting a riot […]
Kaaterskill Falls in Autumn … Oh you pretty things
There’s not much prettier than the Catskills in Autumn. It’s magical and once you’ve tasted that magic, it’s hard to forget. It’s thought by many, particularly tourist bureaus that this was where Washington Irving had in mind for the tale of Rip Van Winkle. Rip was of course that enviable man who climbed up to […]
On the artist’s wife … Catherine and William Blake, both visionaries in their own way, and an undying love that conquers the grave
Nov 28, 2017 I’ve been walking around town after dark. It’s pretty quiet, a small town and not much going on. Down the street is a tree still in full autumnal glory. The one next to it is completed denuded. I’m walking on leaves much of the time and there aren’t many sounds better than […]
Finding the green woman of Lacock Abbey
She wanted to take me to Lacock and I wanted to go. The green man was always a special symbol to me and I know not why. I ended up naming my business after it, couldn’t even remember why I chose it, likely it had something to do with drink. The green man at Lacock […]
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 […]
Spook Rock in Sleep Hollow, a folk tale handed down from the native Americans finds its way into Washington Irving’s classic
Spook Rock in Rockefeller Preserve in Sleepy Hollow, New York, was considered haunted by the native Americans of the area, long before the Dutch settlers which Washington Irving made famous moved into Sleepy Hollow. Legends tell of a young Indian meeting up with a dozen beautiful maidens of a celestial origin dancing on the rock. […]
One of Ireland’s most popular postcard views, but to the initiated, the Cliffs of Insanity
The Cliffs of Moher in county Clare, Ireland are certainly breathtaking. Stretching on for five miles, they rise from between 300 and 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, a sheer drop with every year seeing more than one person falling to their death. Still others are stranded trying to climb up, or down the precipitous […]
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 […]
