In the last half of the 19th century Alexander Carmichael collected poems, prayers, and songs from the people of the Highlands of Scotland and the Scottish islands and translated them from Gaelic to English. His collection is known as the Carmina Gadelica, or Songs in Gaelic. Although it’s clear that Carmichael used a style of…
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A Legend About St. Columcille
This post originally appeared in an older blog and has been updated. I’m going to share one of my favorite legends about one of the three patron saints of Ireland, St. Columcille. Better known by his Latin name, St. Columba, he was the founder of Iona. He is also the subject of the first Loch…
The Celtic Circle
Circles are important in Celtic culture. The ancient sacred spaces were circles or enclosed by circles. Many buildings were circular. Towers were round. Celtic crosses bear circular rings. Did the ancients look to the heavenly bodies in the sky for inspiration? Or did they feel safe enclosed in a circle, like in a mother’s arms?…
Dublin Irish Festival
Dublin, Ohio, that is. Like Dayton, I’ve been going to this festival for a long time. It feels like a reunion as each year I get to chat with vendors I’ve known a long time and reconnect with the wonderful staff at the Book Loft of German Village. I should note that this is the…
Cubs World Series Anniversary
Amazon affiliate links are used in this post. On the last day of June, Scott and I received an email from the Chicago Cubs historian Ed Hartig. In case you don’t know Scott Brown (who happens to be my cousin) and I wrote a biography on the great Cubs pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. Scott…
Dayton Celtic Festival 2026
We’ve been in the cultural area at the Dayton festival for more years than I can count. The people in the Dayton area have been wonderful supporters of my books and I usually get to see some old friends when I’m there. I attended high school and college in the area and still have many…
A Revolutionary Story
This is how the story evolved… Way before the internet existed, my husband’s grandfather received some information on the Thomson family from his uncle who researched at the New York Public Library. Much of what he learned about more recent generations was accurate but about the earlier generations some was not. We didn’t know that…
America’s Great Symbol of the Liberty Bell
A few years ago my husband and I visited Philadelphia because we are history buffs and always wanted to go. The Liberty Bell, however, was not on our bucket list. If the line was too long, we were fine to skip it. We passed it one day. Line too long. The next day, it was…
Ancient Irish Medicine
This post was first published in 2010 on my old blog. Makes me wonder if this influenced me when I was writing the character of Juniper in Finding Juniper. It may surprise people that medicine and surgery was studied in Ireland from early times. Physicians were professionally trained. Medical practice and knowledge was handed down…
The Druid’s Fog in Colonial America
This post first appeared on an old blog of mine from 2010. As we approach the 250th birthday of the country, I thought it might be interesting to revisit this. Féth Fíada, or the druid’s fog, is thought to be an enchantment. The fog conceals someone, makes them invisible, and fog can truly do that…