2020: Unprecedented

If there is one word in the English language that I’ve become sick and tired of over the last four months of the COVID pandemic, it is unprecedented. Sometimes it’s used several times in the same sentence (written and spoken). By now, we all know that the year 2020 has been a very different year…

Conversations with my grandson

When my 7-year-old grandson asked me, “Who would I be if you hadn’t ‘dopted Mummy?” I murmured “Mmm,” and said, “That’s a good question.” “Well Jana,” he insisted, “Who would I be? Would I still be me?  Would the lady who ‘dopted Mummy be my grandma?  I wouldn’t want that.  Would I have cousins in…

Ireland: The Spectacular Northwest

Carrowmore cemetery: a passage tomb within a stone circle Prehistory, history and mythology; glorious mountains and gentle rolling hills; literature and art, Ireland’s northwest has it all. I went there searching for lost relatives and found a place that would have grabbed my heart, whether or not it had little Irish blood flowing through it.…