Book Cover

New vintage instrument - 1928 Ludwig Kingston tenor banjo

I'm told that this banjo was played in the Paul Whitman Band in the 1930s. If so, these are period images of this instrument.

Cold, grey day

Dirty yellow on the southern horizon
Cold steel grey spread across the shallow sky
Trees, light green with new leaves of spring,
Sway in an arctic breeze
Only rain could make this dark day darker

"Summer Fading . . . " A selection of songs from my upcoming album

Selection of my acoustic songs on upcoming album, "Summer Fading . . ."

Sanctuary: A positive meditation

Surround yourself with goodness
Be open to the pull of the universe
Let yourself be guided by currents that surround you
Yield to the forces of good in your life
Forces only felt when you focus on the goodness that surrounds you
We live within the currents of the universal
Goodness swirls around us, forming eddies in our lives Be open to the flow of the universal currents
Seek them, flow with them, follow them
Like dust that swirls within beams of sun
So our lives swirl within beams of universal love
______________________________
from "Soul Insights" by Michael R. Martin

Searching - an excerpt from Soul Insights: Christians Bridging the New Age by Michael R. Martin

We are born whole, complete
From the moment we leave our mother's womb we spend the rest of our lives
searching for that wholeness, that oneness, complete God is always there, nurturing, guiding
Waiting for us to find him
This is God's prevenient grace watching over us
And though we can never find that completeness in this lifetime We can open our hearts to the One guiding spirit
And become more than we are,
With eyes focused beyond the mortal plane
______________________________________
Source: Soul Insights: Christians Bridging the New Age

Spring Peepers

At night, the strident call of Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer), the ducklike clacking of Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica), and the short trill of Grey Tree Frogs (Hyla versicolor), fill the air around every bog and wet place. Later in the summer, these tiny amphibians are sometimes found while walking in the woods and fields, mistakenly called baby frogs by the young children who can’t resist picking them up to show to their parents. At maturity, the tiny, brown Spring Peeper is just 3/4 - 1 1/4 inches in size. The nocturnal Spring Peeper is found in wooded areas in or near permanent or temporarily flooded ponds and swamps and hibernates under logs and loose bark. The Grey Tree Frog is 1 1/4 - 2 inches. The nocturnal Grey Tree Frog lives high in trees and descend only at night, usually just to chorus and to breed. The Wood Frog, brown with a bandit's mask of black behind its eyes, is only slightly larger at 1 3/8 - 2 3/4 inches. In the colder parts of its range, the Wood Frog is an explosive breeder. Swarms of pairs lay fertilized eggs within 1 or 2 days, then disappear into the surrounding country. It may venture far from water during summer, and hibernates in forest debris during winter. The Spring Peeper, a Chorus Frog, and the Grey Tree Frogs are members of the Tree Frog Family (Hylidae), while the Wood Frog is a member of the True Frog Family (Ranidae) and closely related to the familiar Leopard Frog.
______________________________________
Source: an excerpt from "A Few Summer Days in the Adirondacks:
A Natural History of the Adirondack Park" by Michael R. Martin

I long . . .

I long to lay down next to you;
with time upon our hands.
to touch . . . to talk . . . to empathize;
each other to explore.

I long to look into your eyes,
your heart, your soul, your mind;
Until the whole world fades away
to you and nothing more.

_________________________
Circa 2004

The Wind Enchanted

The wind
A giant sighing
Across bare branches
Like the rattling of dry bones.

A storm trundles forth
With massive footsteps
Brooding clouds hang low
Air the moist breath of trolls.

Location:NY-86,Saranac Lake,United States

My Webstagram web-based Instagram page

See all my great Instagram photos you are missing if you aren't using Instagram. Even if you are, here's a great way to browse them on the web . . . A sampling of recent photos are shown below:



Or Go to My Webstagram Library directly

Behind the Barn

Behind the barn
Melting snow reveals
Entropy, rot, rust.

Behind a soul
The years reveal
Entropy, rot, rust.

Location:NY-86,Saranac Lake,United States

The Woodsman

The night wind blew steady
Ripping away leaves dulled
By a succession of cold nights.

He knew what the cold morning would bring:
A forest of bare branches,
A carpet trail of layered leaves packed by wind and rain.

In preparation, he put file to axe head cradled in his lap,
Flipping the axe every few minutes.
Testing evenness by the reflection of a lone gas lamp,
Sharpness, first against his thumb nail,
Lastly by shaving a small patch of forearm.

Satisfied, he cradled the tool and cleaned axe head and handle
With an oil-impregnated rag stained auburn by years of metal and wood.
Leaning the implement in a corner of the cabin next to his boots,
He lowered the wick, dimming the lamp, and curled onto his cot,
Faithful dog repeating the motion on the floor beside him,
And fell quickly to sleep,
To dream of life on his beautiful mountain trails.