Dia dhuit from Corofin, Ireland, “the gateway to the Burren.” When last I wrote, I was ending my two-week quarantine and heading to Ennis, the County Clare seat and a thriving small city of around 30,000. The center of Ennis is a delightful place, narrow streets streaming seemingly pell-mell from the center square where stands an imposing monument to the great 19th century Irish political leader Daniel O’Connell, The Liberator. He also has a street named after him, as does Charles Stewart Parnell, revered for advocating Home Rule for Ireland. Of the many truths about Ireland that I am absorbing…Continue Reading

Mine is the story of an everyday life that is about to take a turn toward the extraordinary. Within days, I will board an airplane from the U.S. bound for Ireland, a place I will soon call home. I know few people there. I haven’t traveled frequently to the “ould sod” like so many who know its nooks and crannies. I don’t have a lot of money and never have. I am long divorced, recently retired, fortunate to be strong, healthy and wiser than ever before. I think I know myself, and yet I know the person who has lived…Continue Reading