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Checking in, with Mom
Itโs not every day you find a dead body. But when you run a small motel, with people from all walks of life coming and going like...
Patrick Ashley
May 10, 20256 min read
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Fast Times at Ogdensburg Bowl
Being only about a block away from our house on Hamilton Street, it was less of a destination and more of an extension of my living room....
Patrick Ashley
Feb 19, 20254 min read
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Schwinn for the Win!
Bike riding todayโat least in my worldviewโseems to be more for middle-aged folks trying to burn off last nightโs lasagna than an actual...
Patrick Ashley
Feb 9, 20254 min read
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Jesus and Turpentine: Tales from a Cathedral Painter
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๐๐จ๐ช๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐: ๐๐๐ก๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ ๐พ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ง ย ย It was 1980. I was 17 years old, and...
Patrick Ashley
Jan 25, 20254 min read
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๐๐ช๐ข๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐
Sometimes, I would get close, too close , to her, and my heart would pound at the danger of the moment; one false move andโฆ No, Iโm not...
Patrick Ashley
Dec 29, 20246 min read
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Chills, Sled and Spills
. In the winters of the โ70s in Ogdensburg, kids didnโt just tolerate the snow and coldโwe thrived in it. While adults grumbled about...
Patrick Ashley
Dec 22, 20244 min read
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An Ogdensburg Christmas Morning
Itโs Christmas morning in Ogdensburg, 1973; itโs still the very early morning hours.ย The city streets are mostly empty, save for the...
Patrick Ashley
Dec 15, 202410 min read
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An Ogdensburg Christmas
It was one of those Ogdensburg nights in December 1972โcold enough to turn your breath into an ice sculpture but not quite cold enough to...
Patrick Ashley
Dec 8, 20245 min read
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The Difference Being
I was a dirty young boy. No, I wasnโt peeping into womenโs windows as they changed; I was a rural kid (damn it) living on the outskirts...
Patrick Ashley
Aug 10, 20246 min read
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CB Nights
Iโm seventeen in 1980; itโs too late at night for me to be up - itโs a school night - and my grades would suggest more sleep would help....
Patrick Ashley
Jul 6, 20245 min read
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The $29.95 Life Lesson
Every child must learn certain things in this world if they are to navigate it and not risk their lives - donโt touch hot stoves, look...
Patrick Ashley
Jun 23, 20244 min read
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๐ฆ๐๐ด๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ด๐ฎ๐ฟ, ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐
Itโs a wonder we โ70s kids werenโt a bunch of juvenile, obese, toothless diabetics, with the diet we consumed; I hope it wasnโt just me....
Patrick Ashley
May 4, 20245 min read
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A 1970s Boy's Ode to Christmas
Iโm ten years old and Iโm sprawled out on my back under a tree; Iโm happy, fascinated, and in a state of anticipation. No, I wasnโt hurt,...
Patrick Ashley
Mar 19, 20244 min read
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The Limited TV Joys of a 1970s Boy
If I wanted to right now, I can call up anything on my iPhone, from music to a TV show thatโs been on in the lastโฆ.well since ever it was...
Patrick Ashley
Mar 18, 20243 min read
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Radio Shack, and the Electronics That Shaped My Childhood
Todayโs electronics would have stupefied me as a teenager, had someone gone back in time and shown me what a cell phone was, how complex...
Patrick Ashley
Mar 18, 20244 min read
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