Inside View

23rd Christmas in Ireland

I ENJOY LOOKING BACK ON CHRISTMAS every year, enjoying memories that revolve around the special season. I rarely spent Christmas in the same place when I lived in the States but this century I've been in Ireland for nearly every Christmas nearly a quarter century, able to walk under the lights of Grafton Street (pictured).

My Christmas traditions have evolved since my days as a teen in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Back then, I would work with my brothers between Christmas and New Years, rotating fresh poinsettias from the family greenhouse to churches, rectories and convents.

We had to empty the greenhouse of Christmas foliage in order to make way for Easter lilies. We used the green company station wagon to run full loads to happy nuns and priests.

Journaling at LIT

WHILE PAGING THROUGH several dozen creative media journals at the end of the autumn semester, I discovered several unfamiliar logos woven into some very memorable content. And I recorded a half hour of ideas that were sparked by student work.

Journaling

 

Shifting Away from Twitter

PEOPLE HAVE CHANGED the way they interact with me electronically. Ten years ago, "ping me on Twitter" but now that has faded away.

Our Table is Starting to Understand Us

WE HAVE AN Echo Dot in the house and she is really getting to know what we like to hear by listening to us ask her things. This isn't anything unusual but for visitors who never have seen Amazon's Alexa adding to human conversations, it can be a little unnerving.