Sentences become presents. Presents passed over back walls, outside the front gates, on the streets. Dorothy Nelson I am thinking about narrative gratitude. I am thinking about the deep gratitude I feel for words and story and connection and belon...

And so on that day in August, in my seventy-eight year, I sat down to begin the memoir which I swore I would never write. Edna O'Brien I wrote a memoir many moons ago. Part exercise in proving I could do it. Part exercise in the practice of writin...

We left Cork determined to return the rental car at the Dublin Airport early enough to get gas and beat the last day of charges. The two-and-a-half-hour drive allowed us to say goodbye to sheep and cow-lined roads, the taste of ivey on clos...

Blarney Castle is about a 20-minute drive from the City Centre of Cork. We left the River Lee Hotel early to be at the front of the line when the gate opened at 9:00. I realized what a smart move that was as we wound our way up to the castle, pa...