Author Archives: rike52

My dad, Dick Ike, Jr., would have turned 104 tomorrow, August 8th, an age his own father had reached.  But Dad’s colon cancer was higher up and more invasive than Grandpa’s, and he only lived 9 years after diagnosis and resection.  But he died a happy man, as he had lived.  Just as his retirementContinue reading “Happy Birthday, Dad!”

In an old country with a proud history like Ireland’s, you’d expect a lot of that.  This morning’s side trip from Beaufort to Cork brought me to a sterling modern example of this phenomenon.  We set out to hike nearby Tomies Woods, at the edge of Killarney Park.  The trek we’d take took us aContinue reading “respecting tradition”

“A bad doctor makes the same mistakes day after day and calls it experience” – Tommy Palella, 1982.  I’ve swapped patients for posts, and surely had a few duds, but have been at it a while and it’s been quite the experience.  I thought I’d learn from WordPress that this would be my 300th post. Continue reading “300!”

I swore several months go I’d blog no more about Mr. Corona, the “pandemic” behind us and figuring the annoying umpteenth generation variants of SARS-COV-2 as mere cold/flu agents. Hardly worth any attention, let alone a mask, vaxx, lockdown, or quarantine. But info trickles out about how things really turned out that deserves commentary. ReleasedContinue reading “oh no!*”

After our magnificent dinner at Half Door (1), Mom got a hankering to go to a pub and hear some real Irish music.  She’d heard O’Flaherty’s was a good spot (2), so off we went.  It wasn’t far, but the little side streets and Gaelic signage proved a challenge. Fortunately, the proprietors emblazoned their nameContinue reading “innealtóireacht iontach Éireannach*”

One of the joys of this Ireland rip has been to hang out with Jolene, a.k.a. “Ish”, my 6’1” favorite sister, a pharmacist who became that when her plans to become a vet fell through.  The main reason we’re here is to celebrate our mom’s 90th birthday, with a big blowout planned for Killarney nextContinue reading “Ish”

When yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, after close to 24 hours of travel , we finally landed in Shannon prepared to head to Dingle to start our 2 week family Irish adventure*, you can guess the first place I sought out after clearing customs and heading to baggage claim.  SNN is a charming airport – all directionContinue reading “fualán iontach eile”

This time, that stands for “power shortage”, a bedevilment of electric car drivers much worse than when we see our gas guzzler’s gauges dip into “reserve”.  So, what do you do when your fancy Tesla runs out of “juice”?  Tesla drivers get a lot of warning.  On the top left corner of the Tesla display,Continue reading “p.s.”