Yesterday, I felt sad. As I reflect on it, I think missing church this Easter Sunday will be the hardest thing I have experienced so far in this unprecedented time. I will miss the glorious anthem our choir sings. I will miss the beauty of the sanctuary, filled with spring flowers. I will miss the… Continue reading Celebrate Easter

When I first learned that the Covid 19 virus was spread by infected people before symptoms occurred, I predicted to myself that everyone would be required to wear a mask in public before this pandemic was over. Yesterday, the CDC made that recommendation and we all should abide by it. So, I wondered when I… Continue reading Make Your Own No-Sew Mask

On Saturday afternoon, Sandy and I went to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site in Cincinnati. This is the birthplace and boyhood home of Taft, the twenty-seventh president of the United States and the only president to also be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Taft actually held nine elected and appointed public service… Continue reading A New Bucket Listing

“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home.” According to Wikipedia, in 1823 John Howard Payne first wrote these words as part of an opera. Later they were released as a song, becoming very popular in the mid-nineteenth century. This morning as I sit on… Continue reading Traveling Home

The difference between ship lag and jet lag is with ship lag you wake up in the middle of the night before you get home rather than after. I have been awake since 4:00 AM. We have set our clock back one hour for three nights in a row. Our bodies do not adjust that… Continue reading Ship Lag

On Tuesday, we visited our last port before we land in Ft. Lauderdale, Bantry on the southwest coast of Ireland. Our excursion was a ride through the countryside (shown in the first photo) to Molly Gallivan’s Farm. Owned by distant relatives of Molly, the working farm preserves the way of life of the nineteenth century… Continue reading Bantry, Ireland

I know there is eternal life just as certainly as I know there is death. That certainty gives me comfort and diminishes fear of my own death, but it does not prevent my broken heart at the loss of my friend, Katie Whitworth. Katie died peacefully on Sunday, sitting on her chaise lounge with her… Continue reading Katie

Today, we arrived in Ringaskiddy Port or Cork Port as it is sometimes called. Cork City is a few kilometers away and Cobh, the charming little town in the first photo is on an island across the Lee river from the port. All of the signs are written in both Irish and English and you… Continue reading Cork, Ireland

Yesterday, another beautiful day, we spent in Dublin. The first photos are from our bus tour of the city. Theviews along the Liffey River show a modern bridge, a sculpture memorial to the millions of Irish immigrants, and a model of the ship that made fourteen crossings without the loss of a single immigrant, emphasizing… Continue reading Dublin, Ireland

Yesterday on a bus tour of Belfast, our first photo stop was at the memorial to those lost on the Titanic which was built in Belfast. At one point Belfast was a thriving city with prominent shipbuilders, airplane builders, and over fifty percent of the world’s linen production. Beginning in 1970, the city had a… Continue reading Belfast, Northern Ireland