"I like it better when there's a sink outside the bathroom," Cormac said as he waited for me to finish brushing my teeth at the Days Inn in Liberty, Sullivan County.
"Yeah, well, we're camping," I reminded him.
Our annual camping trip is enough of a tradition that my 7-year-old nephew wrote about it in the family traditions unit in his first-grade class. My brother-in-law and I pack up our sons and as much camping gear as we can haul and head for the wilds once each year.
"My sister and I, having been brought up properly, stay home," my husband tells people.
I think that Cormac was behind this, when we started out at a state park campground four years ago...
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 Aug 08 Wilderness retreatkmccarthy, Having it all Aug 20 Luck of the Irishkmccarthy, Having it all
The beautiful thing about jet lag is it gets you completely lost as to the day of the week. Still, though, I want to savor every minute of this year's trip to Ireland, so I keep track of the days. Today's Monday; we've been here since Friday; but I don't like to say the day we're leaving or count toward those days. So I give the date, which still seems far away.
And enjoy the magic that our part of the Emerald Isle contains. Since we got to our remote part of Ireland, we stood and watched a seal pop its head up very close to my sister-in-law Lanna's deck. We watched sailboat races back and forth on our particular harbor of the Atlantic Ocean... Continue Reading Aug 22 An orange moonkmccarthy, Having it all
The orange moon rose over the proud house.
That's how Caroline Sheehan and I started a novel this evening, as we stood on a patio in the middle of a lively party. It had been a top 10 day Crookhaven day. Sunny, warm, still, and all we happy holiday makers talked of how we'd spent the day and planned for tomorrow, the annual fishing competition. The moon had been up for quite a while, and actually looked like it might be getting ready to settle into the ocean for the night. There's ocean everywhere in this part of Ireland, and from Mags and Mark's patio, we looked across fields and out at nothing but ocean. The moon can be more of a rarity, since weather can be iffy in this part of the world... Continue Reading Aug 27 O Levelskmccarthy, Having it all
This was the first year that I knew a lot of kids graduating from high school. With Christopher going into his senior year this fall, I queried parents and students alike: how is the college search process going? How did you choose the schools you applied to? What was the deciding factor in choosing the one you will be attending?
In June, my children's elementary school invited grads back for a small ceremony, and I went along. It turned into what I think of as my first practice cry for Christopher's graduation... Continue Reading  |
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