Gary A. McMahon

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Here is an update on some of the work we've been doing on the new place.... Started painting the house an off-white and added some shutters around the window... old color, new color. Turned one of the 5 horse stalls into a chicken coop for 8 new chicks. Yes, Pinterest is where this idea came [...]

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Len has created a wonderful blog. I very much enjoyed this posting. It is really such a joy to read about the life journeys of so many people, all over the world.

This one inspired me to continue writing the lyrics for a song I’ve had in mind:

Verse 1

I had a dream

Oh such a dream

You were alive

I had a dream 

Oh such a dream

You were alive

You and I walked hand in hand

Irish dreams tonight

Chorus:

Irish dream have filled my heart

Irish dreams tonight

Irish dreams are all I have

Irish dreams tonight

Len's Diary

I original posted this last year and have updated and reposted for this year.

Its St. Patrick’s Day and I’m listening to the refrains of “The Field of Athenry” sung by Frank Patterson. I always spare time for quiet celebration, on this the holiest of drinking days, listening to Frank Patterson, Josef Locke, James Galway or John McCormack; the great Irish artists. Taking another sip of Smithwicks I fondly remember my mother’s and great aunt’s Irish influence on my life.

Survival against the odds, the courage to follow your own path, the determination to never give up, the ability to find solutions where others only see problems and a sense of what’s important in life – these are the characteristics that for over 300 years have made Smithwick’s Ireland’s favourite brewer of ales.

My mother was born 1926 in Waterford, situated in the south east and the oldest city in…

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It would take me 20 paragraphs of mostly typos and poor grammar to convey what James Hollis wrote in one sentence. A person strong enough to face the futilities of most desires, the distractions of most cultural values, who can give up trying to be well adjusted to a neurotic culture, will find growth and [...]

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Here is another blog that I enjoy very much. Check out her recent post regarding the extraordinary bloom of poppies in Southern California.

Eliza Waters

IMG_1596Seeing California’s spring wildflowers has long been on my bucket list. With the long drought quenched by soaking rains the past few months, this year’s bloom promised to be a big one. I am most fortunate to have friends in SoCal willing to take me to see the show at Walker Canyon, Lake Elsinore and wow, what a mind-blowing event it was. The tiny people on the far ridge above give you an idea of how vast the coverage was, 180 degrees of mountain vistas covered with California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and several other wildflowers.

Below is a slideshow to enjoy–

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The image is still vivid in my mind. My father, sitting in an old chair, out in the middle of the backyard, just staring out and over his property. He sat there for hours. He was not a man to sit anywhere for much more than thirty minutes, certainly not for hours. We had just [...]

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I've been thinking, actually no, I've been feeling lately about great opposites, mostly love and suffering. It is sort of like buying a pair of shoes that at first glance don't seem to match at all. Yet, the longer you wear them, stare at them, feel them, you realize they are indeed a pair of [...]