Chapter 1 - A Desire for Climate Change

Surviving The Wrath of a Major Hurricane Chapter 1 - A Desire for Climate Change For us, the winter of 2001 was long, cold and dreary.   We were living in Ashland , Massachusetts , a modest, blue collar town located about 25 miles west of Boston .   Snow had...
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Chapter 2 - Batten Down the Hatches!

Chapter 2 - Batten Down the Hatches! This "extended vacation" would come to a crashing halt for us on August 13th, 2004 .   For days we watched the news, our first experience in following a tropical storm turned hurricane as it turned north towards Florida </st1:state> .   Forecasters said...
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Chapter 3 - Barricaded Inside a 2’x6’ Closet

Chapter 3 - Barricaded Inside a 2’x6’ Closet It was time to plan our escape within the house and the most obvious option for our "hunkering down" was our master bedroom closet.   So I emptied it like a madman, tossing things out and visualizing how we were all going to...
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Chapter 4 - Heeeere's Charley!

Chapter 4 - Heeeere's Charley! I peeked out the sliders for the last time and saw trees being shaken and tossed around like rag dolls.   Even the mightiest of oak trees were being picked out of the ground like tulips.   Across the water I saw the same scene, but...
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Chapter 5 - Onto a New "Safe Room"

Chapter 5 - Onto a New Safe Room I poked my head out the closet door, and to my amazement the drywall was still mostly in place to my right, which was also the only way out.   To the left the tunnel skylight was gone and drywall was soaked, with...
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Chapter 6 - Is It Over?

Chapter 6 - Is It Over? I’m thinking “We made it!”   But did we?   It felt like the dream was continuing on.   “Did this whole thing really happen?   Did we survive or was this our imagination?”   We were so emotionally drained at this point that we...
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Hail Mary, Full of Eric

One night, long after he went to bed, 6 year old Eric got up out of bed and came into the livingroom to say that he just could not go to sleep. I immediately prescribed him the usual cure for his insomnia - go back to bed and count to one...
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That Green House

That Green House   Two years prior to buying our first house in Ashland , Anne and I had to rent.   Our first rental was a wonderful townhouse in a nice development Ashland , walking distance from where we eventually bought our first home 2 years later.   Our plan...
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The Water Bottle

Recently, a 7 year old Florida boy was up way past his bedtime, mulling around, finding ways to avoid that final goodnight hug and kiss from his mom and dad.  Being a 7 year old, he still doesn't realize how much it helps his mom and dad when he does finally...
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Tribute to my brother Jim on his 60th Birthday

James G, yes a capital G in a flash, age 60 is he! A silly poem would be inappropriate to celebrate such an admirable life.  As an infant, Jim was immediately dealt the challenge of losing sight in one eye, something that few people would have the courage and will to...
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Grandma Andreansky and Grandma Brackin

Just thought you would like to know the picture of Grandma A is the one mom sent to me to restore.  When I got it it was in pieces so I took it to a photo place and the guy restored it to the picture you sent.  It was the one mom...
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My First Day of School

My First Day of School   It’s 1958 and I’m very excited to start this day as it’s my first day of school. 'Chrissy" my mother calls to me, "your breakfast is ready". I quickly ran to the table to find a bowl of oatmeal (lumpy), with milk and honey and...
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I Have A Dream

I Have A Dream
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a...
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Pres. Ronald Reagan Address from the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin Wall) (June 12,1987)

Thank you very much. Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen , ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago, President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin , speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall. Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to...
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"A close call could you leave you touched by an angel."

One day, when I was a young mother of two small children, I went to visit my sister who lived nearby. On the way, I stopped to pick up doughnuts for all of us. While exiting the doughnut shop I stared, frozen with disbelief while watching my car, with my children...
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My Wedding Day

My  Wedding Day
My Wedding Day
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Black Russian Hat

Dad taught me that I'd be better off as my own boss than I would be working for one. It's a blue collar thing and without a college degree I've done well enough to afford traveling to a distant land....Russia. Not because I was particularly enamored by the country. I was...
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The Gas Mask

September, 1967. The Viet Nam War is in full swing. I was 18 with the maturity of a 12 year old, more interested in the Beatles and psychedelics than watching the news. A disappointment to my parents, I spent the summer bumming on Cape Cod with my friend, Nicky Russo until...
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Cody

Cody
Kara went to the mall and walked by a pet store with kittens in the window. Cody made a fuss over her and she came home to get me, and we went over and brought her home. Cody was the most lovable cat ever! Both of these pictures are with Katara.
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In search of Jim Morrison's Grave

In search of Jim Morrison's Grave
                                                               Pere Lachaise, Paris France On the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, a day that would later be marked by...
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