To thine own self be true

(Columbus Day weekend, 1991, with tributes left by fans; Amherst Massachusetts)

(from Trail behind his home, Franconia, N.H., high in the ‘mountains’)

(from Robert Frost Farm, 1991)

(subject of a poem about it; one of my favorite Frosts; Derry, N.H.)

(early Oct. 1991, New Hampshire, my first trip to New England states in search of sites of famous authors)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

–Robert Frost

in 6 years: legalizing pot, leading to pot stores in neighborhoods, and more young kids unnecessarily exposed to it at 18 and at an earlier age. Obviously a move to produce more active, hard-working, intelligent, motivated kids.

What a stroke of genius! What a man! What a hero! What a contributor to Western Civilization and Canadian culture!

Empty Amazon boxes outside on garbage day.

Barebones folk arranged perfectly by Rick Ruben on American Recordings. A delightful collection of 14 simple, deep meditations by the legendary folk singer. Very relaxing: an impressive surfeit of zen folk.