Happy New Year: 2023
2023 found us in in Texas with old friends. It was a great way to start the year! Our whirlwind of a holiday month started on December 11th with my …
2023 found us in in Texas with old friends. It was a great way to start the year! Our whirlwind of a holiday month started on December 11th with my …
It took a while for me to understand the irony of booking a room in the Rostrevor Inn in County Down, Northern Ireland for the 4th of July. It’s a …
My old friend Jay Rascoe, known to many as the man behind Guns & Tacos sent me this lovely care package from Houston. The teenagers were overjoyed to see the familiar …
Ireland is on lockdown again, this time for 6 weeks until early December. The schools are open, but there was no “trick or treating” this year. Sacrificing Halloween to save …
30 years ago, I founded the Austin Hot Sauce Contest. I served as head judge for 26 years. Covid cancelled this year’s party, ending a tradition. Here’s an intro I …
Tourism is the dominant industry in the Burren region of Western Ireland. Now the Burren has gone eerily quiet. No bright green “Paddy Wagon” tour busses whizzing along the narrow …
Visited Manchester for the first time in January to celebrate Julia and Andy’s wedding. The defining Mancusian experience– I watched Liverpool play Manchester United on TV at the Shakespeare Pub …
The end of a decade is upon us and the English-speaking world is weary of political dramas. So let’s turn our attention elsewhere. The time has come,’ the Walrus said, …
The days are getting shorter and the temperature rarely breaks 60°F these days. But it was quite a summer. Our 4th of July BBQ was a blow-out. Kelly’s Houston book …