After 5 months here in Milano, I’ve finally had people over for a meal! I invited Evelina, Glenda and Lydia, from the office at NABA, to come join me for lunch. We all see each other whenever I’m on campus and we get along well. Just before they arrived, I baked a fresh loaf of [...]

One thing that I brought back with me from my time in Ireland this year was enjoyment of traditional Irish Soda Bread! Here in Italy I’ve been on a constant lookout for dense, moist, flavorful bread with some nutritional value. So much of what I’ve found is white, light, fluffy and dries out in a [...]

It was the late 1800s in Ireland. Potato crops kept failing and food was scarce. Imagine being a little boy, held in your mother’s arms in the midst of a big commotion as your older brothers, just ages 16 and 17 or so, left down the narrow lane, heading for a new life in America. Those [...]

Crockawaddy Glebe is west of Rosslea, north of Aghadrumsee in County Fermanagh, west of Belfast, Northern Ireland. ”Crockawaddy” is the name of the Townland (a unit of 50-70 acres), and “Glebe” indicates that they had to pay rent to the Protestant Church of Ireland. #1 – The farmhouse at Crockawaddy Glebe (the small, black square in [...]

It was so moving to be halfway around the world from my birthplace, and be greeted with hugs at the doors of my unknown, distant cousins. Family roots are deep and strong. First, there I was sitting in a little coffee shop in Aughancloy, waiting for Tom to arrive. “Are you the lady from America?” [...]

There is something deeply stirring about standing on the farmland of the homesite where my great grandmother, Bridget Manley, was born. I had hoped simply to find the region and share a glimpse of what she saw as a young girl. To meet distant cousins, tour the county and drive up Corr’s Lane to the [...]

I know. Long time no post… I haven’t posted much in the week since I got back from Ireland even though I have a hundred ideas of things I want to write about and post photos of! Oh, the images! Stone Circles, Malin Head, Crana Knits, Crockawaddy Glebe, Thatched Roof Houses, Old Stone Buildings, the [...]

At the far edge of Northern Ireland, jutting toward the north Athlantic along the Antrim Coast, the Giant’s Causeway is a heaven of columnar basalt. (As a rock fiend, I swooned.) The Causeway Head starts at a high point and sweeps down into the Atlantic tides, allowing stair-stepped exploration, yet daring visitors to test their [...]

This is what one comes to Ireland to experience: a pint of Guinness and some traditional music. It was after 10:00 on Wednesday night and we walked the half dozen blocks into the town of Carndonagh for “Trad Night” at the Persian Bar. There were 4 or 5 people in the pub and the place [...]

2:00 a.m. Just back from the pub, “The Persian Bar” in Carndonagh, Ireland, in Inishowen, the northernmost region of County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland . THIS is why people come to Ireland and THIS is what they hope to find! Wednesday night at The Persian is “Trad Night”, the night of traditional music. [...]