Frugality is a risky business for cooks. "Please don't ask me where these courgettes are from," I thought as we gathered around the table. "I don't want to jeopardize anything." It was springtime, and things were looking up for Comeragh Camp. Two social workers had come to visit, and they were friendly and relaxed and had agreed to stay for lunch. No youth were at the camp right now, so I had made lunch for the staff, plus our guests who were visiting as part of camp's efforts to get … [Read more...] about Irish Amish Cooking: Memories of the Emerald Isle IV
Humor
Hedges & Highways: Memories of the Emerald Isle III
I saw the BMW too late. I was on an Irish country lane, hemmed in on both sides by towering hedges, driving my little white van too fast for the narrow road, and I had to make a quick decision. I yanked the van's steering wheel to the left and plunged into the hedge. After I came to a stop, van partly in the hedge, the BMW driver, a kindly older gentleman, got out of his car to check on me. "Are you okay?" he asked. I told him I was okay, even if the van wasn't. "I should have been going … [Read more...] about Hedges & Highways: Memories of the Emerald Isle III
How to Catch a Bus—Memories of the Emerald Isle I
Comeragh Wilderness Camp was little more than a muddy meadow with a few trailers in those days, and even catching the bus didn't go like we planned. I was the cook, and Naomi was the secretary, both of us American volunteers in the southern part of Ireland. I had been there only a few months when Naomi asked me if I could drive her to the bus stop, so she could catch the bus to the Dublin airport. She had booked a flight to visit her family. "There's just one catch," Naomi added. "It will … [Read more...] about How to Catch a Bus—Memories of the Emerald Isle I
The Plays at Penn Johns School
When the night of the school program came and the red gingham curtains parted, our classroom was a theater filled with wit, drama, and far more comedy than we intended. Last week I went with my sister to watch my niece play a bit part in a children's music film, and the experience made Brenda and I recall the plays we acted in at Penn Johns School some twenty years ago. "I wish I could get my hands on the old video of me playing Mrs. Brown." Brenda told us. She, her daughter Angela, and I … [Read more...] about The Plays at Penn Johns School