Questions for You
Hi. Just a few questions for you about how you wander around on this blog site. Do you use the search box? (Did you even notice that there IS one? It's pretty subtle.) Do you click on the "tags" in...
A Sunday Drive (Ride)
When I take the subway home, I hop on the M2 Green Line with "Abbiategrasso" as its final destination, roughly due west of Milano. (The subway train goes south from the center of town, then cuts...
The Stress of Grocery Shopping
I'm not joking when I say that one of my consistent sources of stress here is in grocery shopping. It's easy to take for granted the comfort of knowing WHAT I'm shopping for and HOW to shop for it....
The Road to America
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,...
Where is Crockawaddy?
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"...
My Irish Cousins
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...
Crockawaddy Glebe
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...
Long Time No Post
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!...
The Canal’s End of Summer
I rode along the canal this evening. It's shifted. The seasons are changing. The temperature may be a couple degrees cooler. It may all look a little different. But the biggest difference is in the...
Where the Heart Is
I'm Home! Just returned from Ireland tonight and it FELT like coming home. For all the challenges and the treasures, the frustrations and delights, this is home for me at this moment, and it's good...
Stone Heaven: Giant’s Causeway
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...
Have a Pint or Two
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...