Ruby red at Ruby Tuesday's I'm NOT out of battery. The cute barman at Ruby Tuesday's said I could move my laptop to the bar, pass him the cord, and I'm plugged in (is that another Freudian thing?). He's from Parkersburg but lived away for a while--in
On the road again After a final excellent meal with Aunt K, mom and I headed west, back to Parkersburg, WV, where my mom has lived since 1982. Here's today's insight. I should be very happy about not reporting to my cube every day for a 10-hour shift (four days
Another world I've been staying within a stone's throw of the Radnor Hunt. When I run in the morning, I see hundreds of acres of mowed fields (mowed!) around very large and imposing homes. Talk over drinks the other night was about the price the M. Knight Shamalayan
Aunt K Mom and I are staying with my namesake, Aunt Kathleen at her eclectic barn conversion-house in Malvern. She is both an amazing cook and a gifted decorator who travels around the world decorating clients' homes. She loves entertaining and it has been a hoot watching her and mom compare
You can't go home again Today was busy. Haircut in the morning, lunch with my peeps at Vanguard, then a long visit with a former neighbor, who was kind enough to give my mom a tour of her antique doll house collection, then I went back to my house on Kimberton Road. I sold the
Rx One of the things I love about being back in PA is hooking up with my support team. Chiropractor, massage therapist, hairdresser. I've seen them all at this point and am feeling much better. I was under a lot of stress before I left town, due to the
Aunt and Uncle My mom was one of 10 Caseys, five of whom are still living. Today we went to see the oldest sibling, my Aunt Rosemary, who is also my godmother and my idol. She is 92 wise years old. Until very recently, her mind was sharp and her perspective on life
Billboard blues When you live in the U.S., you may not realize the extent to which advertising has invaded every available inch of your peripheral vision. As I left town, I tried to count the number of signs stuck in the grass beside the road. Along Route 401, I saw signs
No photos I realize there has been a dearth of photos in recent weeks. The visa process has been all consuming, so I haven't taken any photos. I'm writing blog posts in volume today at a Panera's because I can't seem to access my
Mom's house One of the great things about my mom's house is the constant stream of friends that stop by. West Virginia ranks right up there with Ulster for the friendliness of the people. I'm not here 24 hours before I've visited with Nancy, Judy, Shree,
What I miss I'll abridge Friday morning's visa panic (camera store in Paoli made wrong size passport photos, despite me writing down the dimensions and mentioning three times that it's very important that they are UK size). Waiting two hours for photos that are the wrong size
Using a lifeline Today was the fourth straight day of working on my 135-page visa application. The UK website made it clear that attending the biometric screening is critically important. One makes an appointment on the UK visa application website; prints out the biometric appointment confirmation, which includes a barcode; attends said appointment;
Spouse visa David headed back to Northern Ireland on Wednesday so we were under the gun to finish putting the visa application package together. It contains 37 documents comprising 135 pages. Wow. Being married to a British citizen doesn't carry much weight. We have to submit lots of documents showing
What do you miss? I'm enjoying catching up with friends, including dinner last night with former neighbors. One asked me what I missed about the U.S. while in Ireland. I stared blankly for a while before saying I miss my friends. Which I do. Which is why they all have to
Mow mow mow the lawn One of the things I enjoy about the U.K. is that everyone has a smaller carbon footprint. Cars get better gas mileage; commutes are much shorter; public transportation is heavily used; and roundabouts mean you don't spend a lot of time idling at traffic lights. Might this
Love and the stock market I had a wonderful dinner Saturday night with a group of women friends from my church. Every one of their lives has not gone according to plan. Either through divorce or death, they are not enjoying the golden years of travel and adventure with their spouses as they had planned.
Another gift from running I'm back in the U.S., staying with my friend, Judy, at her lovely Chesterbrook townhouse. I ran this morning for a half hour on a paved path that lead through woods, along, and across a river. It was lovely. Today's realization is that the many
White glove inspection Today (Thursday) I spent an hour and a half going through the Queens Parade house with Luane, the woman from whom David rented our temporary quarters. She has been rehabbing and selling or renting properties for years, including a Victorian townhouse near ours. The verdict? Two thumbs up. The house
Whip it! One of the great things about life is how it can serve up the most exquisite joys in totally unexpected ways. The joy of the experience is compounded by the way it rounds a corner and whacks you up side the head. In a good way. This morning I was
Piketty's conclusion I want to finish my Piketty highlights so they are in proximity to each other. How wars start "If you have free trade and free circulation of capital and people but destroy the social state and all forms of progressive taxation, the temptations of defensive nationalism and identity politics
Beating the drum for Bangor One of the reasons we chose a townhouse on the marina in Bangor is it suits our lifestyle to a T. T. Bangor is a Fairtrade Town [http://www.fairtradebangor.co.uk/about.html]. Here's the mission statement: "Bangor Fair-Trade exists at a local level to support
Homeless no more Today I bid on a beautiful Victorian townhouse on the marina in Bangor. The owners accepted the bid, I hired an attorney and arranged an inspection for Thursday. A very productive morning. I spent the afternoon reviewing websites about the visa application process. It's pretty depressing. So many
Piketty on taxes Piketty examines the role of the state in the concentration of wealth because it is much greater than citizens realize. The eye-popping salaries of the super managers came about after the top marginal tax rate [http://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/course/Labortaxes/taxableincome/taxableincome_attach.pdf] fell from the 70%
Piketty, abridged I recently finished a book on capitalism by French economist Thomas Piketty. It's attracting a lot of buzz because he has looked at more series of data over longer periods in more countries than anyone before him to reveal the underlying machinery of capitalism. In very very short
Day at the Museum I spent today at the Ulster Museum [http://www.nmni.com/um] with 16 primary school children (ages 10-11) and a high school friend, Cathy Arthur, who is the primary school principal. The kids were on a day trip from Derry, where I lived as a teenager. Cathy's