Tuesday, February 11 Vacation time in Punta Cana! I chose to return for the third time to the Iberostar Grand Bavaro (inexplicably also called the JOIA Bavaro now). Our previous visits were in 2024 and 2019. Southwest Vacations makes it very easy to book this trip: one click for nonstop flights, the all-inclusive hotel and …
A plunge into the Duncan side of the family. I first took this dive in 2021 and originally incorporated the Duncan family notes in my original Goodloe Geneaology post. I built an extensive Duncan Family Tree but the software I used became unworkable somewhere along the way. In 2025, I decided to update things by …
Yasmin Williams, Baltimore Creative Alliance, February 5 Say Sister Festival, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, January 10-11 Yasmin Williams, Baltimore Creative Alliance, February 5 Larry joined me for this show supporting Yasmin’s Acadia album, the second time I’ve seen her at the Creative Alliance — the first was in 2021. Yasmin still performed mostly solo with a …
January 5 – Restaurant Summary January 8 – Snow, VISTA post, and Harry Washington January 19 – Pre-Inauguration Anxiety February 3 – Harry Washington, Ancestry.com, moves and more March 1 – February funk March 15 – Political rallies March 31 – Birthday catching up January 5 Notes on 2024 restaurants: Within Howard County I had …
In 2021 and 2022 I first came across the stories of Harry Washington and James Lafayette, two enslaved men with links to Revolutionary War heroes George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. I found their stories compelling and put together a lengthy post comparing their respective timelines. Since then, their stories have remained with me …
Our final day in Ireland, the flight to Boston, and a few days with Allie including her birthday Wednesday, Oct 2 – To Dublin We slept in a bit later than usual, had a relaxed breakfast then waited until 11am when our driver Jason arrived to take us to Dublin. Jason was a strappingly tall …
Galway (Connemara, Kylemore Abbey) Breakfast at the Victoria was OK, a full Irish but one could pick and choose what one wanted. Like the hotel itself, not luxurious but functional. We met Michael for an early 8:30am start on a much calmer day. This was our last day with Michael which automatically made things a …
Killarney (Killarney House, afternoon tea) I specifically planned for a day off from our vacation this vacation, and this was the day. I wanted to have a low key day to rest, catch up on notes and reading (and laundry) and just kind of take it easy in an interesting place. Killarney seemed to be …
To Galway (Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, The Burren) We checked out of the Ross and met Michael on this rainy and windy Sunday morning. With the weather poor and the forecast uncertain, Michael aborted the ferry across the River Shannon that we were due to take, so we drove highways toward Limerick. Along the …
Killarney (Dingle Peninsula) Michael told us that Walter, the owner of Walter’s Way Tours, wanted to meet us while we were in Killarney. They arranged for us to get together at 9am for a cuppa (actually a Diet Coke for me) at a cafe down the street from our hotel. Walter turned out to be …