Six sons
Kathy and I have six boys. Yeah, six. Never a dull moment.

Field stone walls ...
I love repairing and building new field stone walls. Like most of New England, we have plenty of stones in our yard. When my back doesn't fail me and my fingers are not smashed to the bone, you can find me in my yard working on a wall. I penned some lines about stone walls ...

stone walls these stones aren't ours if truth be told ... no ownership for dust of old; some glacier cut from deep below they journey still, placed here just so

Reading
Unlike when I was a kid, I read as much as I can now. I'm currently reading lots of classic graphic novels, e.g., Persepolis (Satrapi), A Jar of Fools (Lutes), Maus (Spiegelman), Watchmen (Moore), The Ride Together (Karasik/Karasik), etc. I have recently discovered Alice Hoffman as a master story teller. I strongly recommend any or all, including but not limited to: The River King, Local Girls, Seventh Heaven, Turtle Moon, The Third Angel, and Story Sisters.

My longer-term project finds me reading biographies of the United States Presidents in order. By the end of August 2010, I finished Dwight David Eisenhower. I'm greatly looking forward to JFK ...

Musings of Maine
I grew up in Maine. Here is a sampling of things of Maine ...

	The Great War -- From Maine to France and (somehow) Back Again. Battles and Experiences of John M. Longley Note: my brother John is on a mission and has added 30+ pages to this work. This is a new version (v3.1) as of January 4, 2010. A new year, 1917, had started like so many before. Anson, Maine -- a rural town just north of the 45th parallel -- was crusted in layers of snow that wouldn't give up their grip until late April or early May. If we could listen in to conversations long forgotten, we might observe John M. Longley, a lean 19-year-old, overhearing a heated conversation between two fellow laborers. ...
	The Outhouse Of all the places to sit a spell, there are few on a par with the outhouse at our family camp. In addition to a dry if not warm but much needed spot after a morning coffee, the outhouse is full of family lore, sundry items, and information to near equal the local library. ...
	My Gramp's Boots I threw out my grandfather's boots today. They have been my winter boots for years since his death. They were winter boots, made to see snow and ice ... and they saw snow and ice in rural Maine for the last decade or more of his near 100-year life. They were rubber bottoms, leather tops, felt liner, rawhide laces...

Fishing
I enjoy spin-casting for fresh water bass and fly-fishing for brook trout. You can peek at some pics of my recent fly-fishing trips (2008) and (2009) on the Maine-Canadian bordah with my Dad and brother John.

A year down-undah.
We spent the year 2004-2005 in Australia. We miss the people and country very much. We'll be back ...