The Joy of Disconnecting I’ve been away for two weeks and while I was keeping up with my emails and even sending a few of my own, I was not watching any TV (zero, none) and that means that I was not watching any MSNBC or CNN news. Our regular routine is that I watch MSNBC from about 6pm through and until close to midnight. I may take a breather for a movie if…
Chasing Fireflies I read a report by The Farmer’s Almanac, a strangely vestigial but somehow authoritative reference point on things both naturalistic and Americana, that fireflies were at risk of being eradicated by a combination of pollution (both pesticides and light pollution) and the civilized landscaping of our properties. I do not pretend to know what the firefly does for us ecologically, but these Lampyridae are bioluminescent reminders of things past. That bioluminescence during…
The Love of My Life As we wing our way back to New York from Ireland, I am seated across the aisle from Kim, my wife of twelve and a half years and the love of my life for fourteen years. As I look at her sleeping with her headphones on, she looks like any other person curled up in a row of ten business class sleeper seats. I am reminded of that powerful…
Who Wants to Live Forever? The Highlander is a cult classic about Connor McLeod, a Scotsman who is chosen to engage in an immortal battle of good versus evil. He is played in the four Highlander movies by Christopher Lambert. The weapon of choice is the broadsword and the age is imprecisely Medieval. Who should school Connor in the sacred ways of the sword, but an unconvincing Spaniard (more likely a Glaswegian) played by…
Home Again Home Again, Jiggety Jig Vacations are supposed to recreate and relax. I believe we have found the perfect formula for that. Yes, Ireland has been wonderful and greatly exceeded our expectations. We really enjoyed Normandy, and Rome is very special to me and would always be a pleasure. México, both Cabo and Akumal, were fun and restful. Todi in Umbria was perfect for exploring the hill towns of central Italy. Next, we’ve spoken…
Driving Ms. Susie The oldest members of our group in Ireland this week are Pete and Susie Jones of Wabash, Indiana. Both were teachers in Kim’s home town. Susie was Kim’s choir director at their Presbyterian church. That connection lasted over the years as Kim wandered to Los Angeles and then New York, pursuing her musical theater career. Kim had dwindling family connections in Wabash, but Pete and Susie were a strong and important anchor…
The Silence of the Rhododendron The Irish countryside is as lush as its name, the Emerald Isle, conveys. Everywhere you look where there is no stone, there is something vital and green growing. In fact, when I learned that the Irish soil was generally lacking in the nutritional qualities to support much agriculture, I was surprised. I would have guessed the opposite. The give-away is that when you look at the hillsides you see what…
Our Trip to the South Pole Killarney is a fine old town that has a grand cathedral in Saint Mary’s, the Killarney National Park and plenty of other attractions and shopping. That said, I’ve been in Killarney four times in ten days and have been in the cathedral (the stained glass and the stonework are indeed exceptional), have been to Ross Castle twice and Muckross House once and driven through the National Park twice on…
High Tide at Westcove Southwestern Ireland is comprised of four fingers that project out into the Atlantic Ocean. There is a road that meanders through all four peninsulae called Wild Atlantic Way (it actually covers 2,500 km from the top of the island to the very southern part of Cork). The common aspects of that road are that it follows the sea and it’s about as narrow as any road you will ever drive on.…
Tempus Fugit I am no Latin scholar, but I did take four years of Latin in high school. My mother, who had never taken a moment of Latin during her education through graduate school, was convinced that Latin was an extremely useful course of study for a young man heading out into the world. You may recall that doctors used to write their prescriptions in Latin so as to make it less likely that scoundrels…