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Today’s guest is Peggy Blann Phifer, a retired executive assistant, who is plunging into writing now that she has the time. Her debut novel, To See the Sun, was released in 2012. Then came a novella, Somehow, Christmas Will Come, … Continue reading
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Today, I’m interviewing Vickie Phelps, a woman who has published over 200 articles in both regional and national magazines. She has also published five gift books with Barbour Publishing and is the co-author with Jo Huddleston of How to Write … Continue reading
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Today, Award Winning author Vannetta Chapman writes about how stories come about, and what makes them into a book. Vannetta has published over a hundred articles in Christian family magazines, has won dozens of awards from RMA chapters, and been … Continue reading
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John M. Daniel is a freelance editor and writer. He has published dozens of stories in literary magazines and is the author of fifteen published books, including four mystery novels, two of which (The Poet’s Funeral and Hooperman) earned starred … Continue reading
Today’s guest blogger is Jordyn Redwood, a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. Her Bloodline Trilogy, Proof, Poison and Peril, are medical suspense books. In those, she shows how to build tension. Today, she tells us about dealing … Continue reading
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We had planned this trip to Ireland. But while looking at the map, I exclaimed, “Look at this. Scotland is only fifteen mile away. We should include Scotland, as long as we’ve flown all the way over to Ireland.” And, … Continue reading
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Today’s guest is award-winning author Laura Hilton. A breast cancer survivor, she lives in Arkansas with her husband and five children she homeschools. She has several Amish series published, and another three-book series is under contract. She gives us a … Continue reading
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Today, we get some good advice from Jennifer Slattery. She writes soul-stirring fiction. She also writes for several Internet sites. Take it away, Jennifer. “This story stinks,” I say, as I close my computer and stomp toward the kitchen—to make … Continue reading
At long last, the blog has been disinfected and virus free. Welcome back.
We took off again this summer, this time to northern Europe. We started with Ireland. It became clear why it is called the Emerald Island. Beautiful green fields
were everywhere. And probably the most beautiful flowers we’ve seen anywhere. Of course, as one of the locals said, “If it rains every day, you can have green fields and beautiful flowers.” We did see a lot of rain – gentle rain – but a fine rain during some part of almost every day.
Of course we visited Callan, Ireland. Found some Callan graves in an old, old cemetery, (fortunately none was mine). We stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast and enjoyed walking the streets of Callan.
We were in Ireland, so we had to visit the Blarney Castle, which almost demands that one kiss the Blarney Stone. The stone was set into a tower of the castle a few years back – in 1446. The legend is that if you kiss the Blarney Stone, you will receive the gift of eloquence, or nowadays, the gift of gab.
The word blarney is often used to indicate a person is a flatterer, and not necessarily sincere. But Irishman John O’Conner Power said, “Blarney is something more than mere flattery. It is flattery sweetened by humor and flavored by wit.” That’s the essence of the Irish.
Kissing the Blarney Stone is not an easy thing to do. As my back
was not in great shape that day (and some said I did not need to get any more gift of gab), I did not kiss the Blarney Stone. It is not a simple task. You must lie on your back, hanging out over the edge of the castle about four stories above the ground. (There are some bars to insure that you won’t fall to the ground.)
Still, we couldn’t visit the castle without one of us kissing the Blarney Stone. So, Earlene did. I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of that.
We visited the graves of St. Patrick and W.B. Yeats. St. Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, and there seems to be no snakes there to this day. Yeats is not the most famous Irish author, but in the top few and a writer should not go to Ireland and fail to visit Yeats. We also had lunch with the son of famous Irish playwright/author John B. Keane. And naturally, one of my generation would visit the area where The Quiet Man was filmed.
Other 
memories include lots of sheep, many fascinating small towns, beautiful countryside, hundreds of churches and cathedrals older than the U.S., and so much more. It was a great visit.
Ireland was only the start of our adventure, but I won’t bore you with more – today.
Anybody want to add their fond memories of the Emerald Island? Just leave a comment. And if you’d like to hear less, or more, about our northern Europe adventure, leave a comment “More” or “Less.”
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Many years ago, we bought a new computer. It was bigger than a large side-by-side refrigerator and cost as much as a small house. The hard disk, a separate cabinet the size of a washing machine, weighed in at just … Continue reading