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When Ireland was the end of the world

WHEN IRELAND WAS THE END OF THE WORLD

Nuair a bhí Éire deireadh an domhain. Before the famous Greek geographer Pytheas of Massilia (c.325) discovered Thule several centuries prior to the common era, and prior to the Viking explorer Naddoður casting his eyes on what we know as Iceland in the ninth century, there was Ireland.  Preceding the voyage of Erik Thorvaldsson better known as Erik the Red (circa 950 AD – circa 1003 AD) to Greenland and earlier than Columbus landing on Guanahani (San Salvador) in the Bahamas, Ireland was known to the world as...

S Little Time

SO LITTLE TIME

The holiday season is almost upon us.  Millions of Americans will be converging on airports around the country to fly home or to reach some other destination in time for Thanksgiving, Christmas and/or New Years (plus returning to their points of origin in time to resume work or classes the first week of January.)  Often, they are in a hurry, either to make a connecting flight or beat the rapidly approaching winter storm before the airport is socked in, or just to...

The Connecticut Shore

THE CONNECTICUT SHORE

Deena and I had an opportunity this past weekend to spend time on the Connecticut shore.  We stayed on the ocean’s edge in the Mercy by the Sea retreat center run by the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic charity.  Deena and I are Protestants, but no one was checking ID’s.  It was a wonderful interlude where we could enjoy the peace of nature with the silent ambience of an organization that branched off centuries ago from the Carmelites.  This post is an account of our stay. THE...

Broadway and more

BROADWAY AND MORE

Deena and I joined two friends Sharon and Ed Carloni this week for a quick getaway to New York City.  We began by taking an Amtrak train 130 miles south to Penn Station located in the heart of Manhattan. The Amtrak ride was occasionally bumpy, but comfortable overall.  Penn Station is located near the Madison Square Garden.  I remember going to the Garden as a child to see the circus.  Once we arrived last Wednesday around noon, we took a cab to the nearby Intercontinental Hotel on 44th Street, adjoining...

Our Sojourn in Maine

OUR SOJOURN IN MAINE

Deena and I had been planning a short trip to Maine for well over a year. It was to coincide with her seventieth birthday. We had a large Airbnb house reserved and she planned to invite a number of guests, but then the house was taken off the Airbnb listings around the end of last year. This past February, we found another, much smaller accommodation on the coast and reserved that house. The plan at that point was for Deena,...

Lights

LIGHTS

Deena and I are planning a trip to Maine in May.  There are many reasons we enjoy excursions to “The Pine Tree State.”  There is the sheer charm and natural diversity of the state, the seafood cuisine, Maine’s culture and history, the rocky, rugged shores and, of course, the many lighthouses that dot the coast of the state.  The coast of Maine, itself, is barely 230 miles long as the crow flies, but if you include the many navigable channels, bays and inlets...

When God came to Ireland

WHEN GOD CAME TO IRELAND

In this post, I’d like to share when God came to Ireland. In the beginning, in Ériu, in Éire, long before the land was dubbed Ireland and before the birth of Christ, there were the Celts.  This group traces their beginnings to 1,200 B.C. and they were predominantly in four countries of Europe; France, Spain, Britain and Ireland. The influence of the Celts was pervasive, militant, and it took Julius Caesar six years to conquer then (if he ever truly did.) The Celtic...

TWO TICKETS TO PARADISE

My wife and I decided a year ago to join our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons on a vacation for ten days on Oahu.  We purchased two tickets to paradise. We hoped to find a “window” between surges in the Pandemic and we booked a stay at the Hale Koa, a military hotel, which was actually a much nicer facility than the adjoining Hilton (See information at the end of this post.) We flew to LAX, dodging bad weather in the...

Point of no return

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

A small portion of the border between Canada and the United States involves the Niagara River. People from around the world have heard not only about the Niagara River, but more importantly, the Niagara Falls. This post will deal with the point of no return as one approaches the falls as well as metaphorical uses of the same phrase. The speed of the Niagara River varies from location to location as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario according...

Eustace as a dragon

EUSTACE SCRUBB

This is a case study on the consequence of sin and the pain of recovery, based on the adventures of Eustace Clarence Scrubb while on holiday in Narnia. For those few who never heard of Narnia, Narnia is a mythical land like Middle Earth, created by JRR Tolkien’s friend and colleague, C.S. Lewis. The premise contemplates what Jesus would look like and how He would interact on a planet of animals–talking animals in many cases. Common beavers and mice, but...

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