My Fourth Of July Weekend

A micro burst blew through here on July 3rd. I filmed it and it's on my website at www.pammeswan.com. It lasted about three and a half minutes which was the longest three and a half minutes of my life taking down hundreds if not thousands of trees in the Earlville, Poolville, South Hamilton, Brookfield and Bridgeport area. So much for my Back To Eden Arboretum. So sad. I'm very lucky none of the seven maples...my guardian maples as I call them, I'm very lucky they still stand and didn't fall on my house. As you can see we have a lot of work to do. The cats love their new tree play ground and I can live with out this maple. My lilacs now will have more sun for blooming. I'm sick about losing the ancient pines in the back. My land will never be as picturesque as it once was ever again. I'm heartbroken. But damn...I'm been through it all so I can get through this.

An American Tragedy

After visiting the American Tragedy exhibit at the Fenimore over in Cooperstown, and visiting the gift shop. I found the book I've been meaning to buy for years and simply forgot about it. Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. For the last week and a half I once again threw my self into the world of Chester aka Clyde and Grace aka Roberta. It's amazing to me even though I know this sad story very well how intrenched I became yet again. I just finished the book and again find my myself in a very peculiar sense of sorrow one being very hard to shake. Dreiser wrote a master piece to be sure.

A Bird Song Summer Morning

We've got the woodshed stacked and the peonies a especially beautiful this year. I'm very grateful for all I have in my simple country life out here in Sunny South Hamilton.

Grace's Ghost At the Fenimore, Coopertown NY

An American Tragedy:The Gillette Brown Murder is on exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown through September 1st. My song, Grace's Ghost is part of it and I couldn't be more thrilled. My 5th CD, Songs From Mountains East And West is also on sale in the gift shop. A huge thank you to Chris Rossi for making this happen!

The 17th Annual Stillwater Boat Race/Pig Roast

The day couldn't of been more perfect! It was the Seventeenth Stillwater boat race and I've performed at least 7 of them. The Cowboys from Campsite 3 returned as well as many others and of course the Izzo clan along with Chuck Biss on the smoker with their fabulous pulled pork. I help Marian in the kitchen the day before and we whipped up many different salads, mock lasagna and deviled eggs. Everything was delicious!

Colgate Reunion Weekend

Another beautiful Colgate reunion weekend is rolling in. I took Lou for a walk around campus and the campus is in top notch shape. The grounds crew does a spectacular job with the landscaping. Just beautiful and I'm so lucky to have this in my back yard.

2014 Stillwater Summer Season Begins

I played my first gig of the summer season at Stillwater last weekend. Actually two gigs! It felt good and looked beautiful as always. Love the folks I meet up there year after year! Tommy and Joanie from Otter Lake stopped in Sunday night for dinner and Joanie with her beautiful harmonies joined me on a few tunes. Oh and campsite 45 is calling. Looking forward to another summer season at Stillwater!