Sometimes, the full realization of your dreams requires taking a risk on someone. It requires a lot of trust. It can even require 3,935 days.
Read more…
30/52 - Lina’s Six Layer Honey Cloud Cake
In case you are wondering what the hell I am talking about (likely not the first time), this cake and the associated recipe are drawn from Kate Quinn’s new book, The Briar Club.
Read more…
29/52 - Political Courage
A look back at the under-appreciated legacy of LBJ. A great read from Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Read more.
28/52 - Meditations on the Fourth of July
A year ago, I sat on the law at Monticello in the blazing heat. I was there for the Naturalization service and swearing in of a brand spanking new group of American citizens. As the grandchild of four immigrants, it made me cry.
Read more.
27/52 - My Happy Place
I wrote this 25 years ago and just came across it. It was published in a local paper at the time.
Read more.
26/52 - New Year’s Resolutions at the Halfway Point
A cheating way to keep pace with my new year’s writing resolution.
Read more.
25/52 - Finding Hope and Peace
Take the time to write down or record older people you visit; they won’t be around forever.
Read more.
24/52 - Beware the Golden Calf
A few quotes from German Church and Business leaders in the 1930s to remind us of the dangers of trying to appease that which would be crazy by all previous standards.
Read more…
23/52 - A slippery slope: 12 months in the life of the Nazi Party
In mid-1932, Germany stood on the brink of fundamental choices about its future.
Read more…
22/52 -- A picture’s provenance is worth 1,404 words…well, at least to me
Finding the provenance of old photos isn’t always easy…#genealogy
Read more
21/52 - Grief and Faith
My dad passed away unexpectedly in 1987 at age 62, the day after our son William was born.
Read more…
20/52 - Growing up in the Depression
I found some writing by my mom in her things and thought I would post some of her thoughts….
Read more…
19/52 - Finding my Irish Great Grandparents
In search of my Irish great-grandparents.
Read more.
18/52 - Sliding Doors - 4 - The Aftermath
The trauma of lynching leaves a long tail - one that needs to be viewed through the eyes of the victims, not the perpetrators.
Read more.
17-52 - Sliding Doors - 3 - When Worlds Collide
Part Three in my Sliding Doors series - tragedy in Chatham, North Carolina
Read more
16/52 - Pieces of an Irish Puzzle - 1
Did my grandmother leave Ireland because of the war for Independence? Or because of the Civil War?
Read more.
15/52 - Sliding Doors (2) - Prologue
The second in a series - the unexpected ways lives intersect can have tragic results.
Read more…
14/52 - Sliding Doors (1)
The chance encounters that change lives.
Read more…
13/52 -- A Rocky Start for My Grandfather
Much of my grandfather’s later life can be explained by where he started.
Read more.
12/52 - Angela's Ashes Averted
How many immigrants returned to their home countries after a frustrating experience with the American Dream?
Read more…