The View from Mudsock Heights: The Change of Seasons Reminds Us We Need to Change Our Spirits, Too

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 29, 2009 at 22:51:55

It was the first gray, windy, wintry day, a day that could be in November or February. Such days can chill one to the bone, physically but spiritually, too.

The View from Mudsock Heights: Woodland Isolation Leads to Affection for Odd Foreign Television Show

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 23, 2009 at 0:36:9

Out here in the woods, if you’re going to watch television chances are you’ll get it via a satellite dish.
This has its annoyances — the “local” stations the satellite company chooses are in West Virginia, for instance. I wonder what television news covered there before they had meth lab explosions to lead the newscasts, but never mind. There’s no television at all when it is raining.

The View from Mudsock Heights: I’m in a New York State of Mind, But Recovery is Certain

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 10, 2009 at 22:27:50

Sitting on a back porch in upstate New York, having coffee and enjoying a beautiful morning, it is as if I’m on a different planet.

The View from Mudsock Heights: Well, I Think She was a Real Folksinger, Anyway

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 30, 2009 at 23:8:12

The story has it that Townes Van Zandt, the folksinger, was asked how many kinds of music there are. “Two,” was his reply.

Asked to name them, he said, “The blues and Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.”

The View from Mudsock Heights: Autumn Moves In, Pushing Away the Summer that Wasn’t

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 19, 2009 at 21:59:48

Pity the poor person who doesn’t live in or near a college town. Autumn arrives and all that changes is the weather. In a college town, there is an air of excitement. The energy level increases. It’s exactly the opposite of the normal order of things, where spring is the time of rebirth. For a college town, it is the fall when everything, yes, springs back to life.

The View from Mudsock Heights: The Dust Around Here Proves that Nature Abhors a Vacuum

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 3, 2009 at 9:38:32

As a public service, I would like to let everyone know that the source of all dust in the universe is apparently somewhere near me.

The View from Mudsock Heights: Old Stinkpot was a Turtle, and He Briefly Was Mine

By Dennis E. Powell | Aug 23, 2009 at 20:37:2

The shape was tiny but unmistakable to anyone who has spent years watching for turtles while driving.

The View from Mudsock Heights: Woodstock, the Legend, Isn’t Much like the Festival as Experienced at the Time

By Dennis E. Powell | Aug 17, 2009 at 14:43:6

Somewhere, deep in a box someplace, I have an original, unused ticket for all three days of the “Woodstock Music & Art Fair,” held 40 years ago this coming weekend. I think I still have it, though I haven’t seen it for years. I hope I do, because I paid for it.

The View from Mudsock Heights: Hoping that It was Just One of Those Weeks, Not One of Those Months

By Dennis E. Powell | Aug 7, 2009 at 16:14:15

Every so often it seems as if the universe is sending a little message. You never know when it will happen, nor is it easy at first to recognize. In my case, it all began last week when the car started malfunctioning.

The View from Mudsock Heights: We Went So Far, Only to Turn and Run Away

By Dennis E. Powell | Jul 25, 2009 at 19:24:56

From time to time it is claimed in connection with an event — usually a demonstration of some sort — that “the whole world is watching.” Practically always, the whole world isn’t. But the whole world certainly was watching 40 years ago this week.