On the seventh day cloudy skies foretold an approaching storm. Winds began to blow from the north and first snow of the season soon swept into the wagons where the weakest huddled under heavy bedrolls. Those walking alongside the wagons pulled heavy blankets tightly around their bodies to shield from harsh gusts. Children old enough to walk with adults found a bit of fun with the icy white flakes, gathering the snow in handfuls, making snowballs, and tossing them in the air.

By 1838 violence spread across the State of Georgia as ancestral Cherokee land was seized by white residents. Seven thousand Federal troops were sent by President Van Buren to take the place of Georgia militia and peacefully enforce the Indian Removal Act of 1830.     

These words are a transcript of a Peace Pipe Ceremony which took place in Boston, April 13, 1974. Participants, all now dead, were Lakota Medicine Man (Wikasa Wakan) John Fire Lame Deer from the Rosebud Reservation, Chief Beaman Logan of the Tonawanda Seneca People, Tall Oak Weeden of Narragansett and Wampanoag Peoples, Rod Skenendore of the Blackfoot and Mayor Kevin White of Boston.

Sharing this again. It was originally posted her on April 1, 2025. ENJOY! Is it the woman who has a sign saying “KICK ME” on her ass? Is it the man who spits out his first sip of morning coffee because someone in the family put salt in the sugar bowl? Perhaps both people would qualify under usual circumstances, but this year there are many candidates of a far greater April Fools Day prank. The history of this day of foolishness goes back to 1582, when France switched from the

This post is the Preface from Conflicting Roots. It explains why and how the novel came to be. The second is a full transcript of a Peace Ceremony which took place at Boston University in April, 1974. It was my attendance at this event that inspired me to learn more about King Philip's War and to, eventually, write a novel with it at the center.

Acts of witchcraft and tricks played on human beings by the Wee Ones often take place in Ireland’s County Clare. Tales are told of timeless leprechauns, clurichauns and shapeshifters who are still encountered in remote spots left untouched by modern times. One such location, not marked on any map, nestles darkly on the damp eastern shore of an unnamed lough near the ruins of Skahard Castle in Stone Forest townland at the edge of the Burren, Ireland’s stoniest place. 

When wind wishes wall stones to whisper she coaxes them with gentle breaths. Whisking only gentle stirrings through nitches in limestone flats. Hot, still days you walk Green Road, barely hear such quiet sounds, even with ear to wall, no audible gossip or innuendos just “oohs”, “ahs” and “whooshes”: germs of conversation.

Roy, stone cutter at Irish Natural Stone, visited us in South Waterford during a summer thunderstorm. “The rain drops here are much bigger than back home in Clare,” he said. That made me consider how many different kinds of rain fall in the Burren, where it rains nearly every day.

Kiltackymor House, Boston Road, The Burren My Ireland Between 1993 and 2017 Gere and I had the unique privilege of spending many, many days in Ireland. The first few visits, we traveled as tourists, driving thousands of miles around the island, taking in as much scenery, culture, and history as we could absorb. Then in 2000, we were taken on as partners by a couple who owned a stone cutting business in County Clare. Our office here in the USA was called Irish Limestone, US. O

This photo of eighteen Buddhist monks on Day 96 of their 2300 mile Walk for Peace was shot in southern Virginia yesterday during a winter storm. The image illustrates quite clearly to me the effort and perseverance shown by the group all along the route from Fort Worth, Texas to the final destination, Washington, D.C.   At a time when violence and unrest is plaguing our nation, an example of devout people walking… sometimes barefoot… along highways and paved country roads, st