Dublin Rambling

May 27, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I hope that those of you who celebrate it had a fun and relaxing Memorial Day weekend with your loved ones!  I got my first hint of sunburn and ate far too much potato salad.  I’ll call that a success. I realized that I still had a few photos to share from my trip to Ireland.  We only spent one day in Dublin, but we managed to hit our two main objectives:  The Book of Kells in Trinity College, and […]

Categories: 2014, Dublin, Europe, Ireland, Playtime, Travel • Tags: Dublin, Guinness, Ireland, Travel, Trinity College

My Belfast Love Story

May 13, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I had one mission in Belfast, aside from getting my little cousin Rosie tipsy.  It was to find Jon Snow and get married and/or pregnant.  If that failed, my next target was Joffrey Baratheon. This may sound strange to those who don’t follow Game of Thrones.  First, I feel bad for you.  Second, it wasn’t really my idea.  I was threatened at proverbial gunpoint by a gaggle of bored female relatives to find a member of the Game of Thrones […]

Categories: 2014, Belfast, Cousins, Europe, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Playtime, Travel • Tags: Belfast, Cousins, Game of Thrones, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Photography, Travel

April in Ireland: Giant’s Causeway

May 9, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I remember the first time I saw a photo of the Giant’s Causeway (not long ago, embarrassingly), hypnotized by the black hexagons under sherbet sunsets.  “This has got to go on my bucket list! Where on earth is this place?” Ireland?  Really? Well, Northern Ireland.  Yes, it’s a different country, even though I never knew much about the distinction growing up.  Ireland was Ireland: one island shaped like a happy ghost floating toward England (seriously, look at it). Of course now I […]

Categories: 2014, Europe, Ireland, Northern Ireland • Tags: Coast, Giant's Causeway, Ireland, Nature, Northern Ireland, Photography, Travel

April in Ireland: My Return to Glenbeigh

May 6, 2014 by Meghan Johnson

I’m no stranger to Ireland.  This trip was not my first nor my last.  But it was my first time in Ireland as an adult, which opens the doors to the magical world of… But that didn’t impede my playtime on the farm.  There were lambs to cuddle and cow pies to dodge. Despite my very Anglo-Saxon surname, I’m more Irish than anything else.  My mother’s parents grew up in rural Ireland and immigrated to the United States in their early twenties, where they met […]

Categories: 2014, Europe, Ireland, Playtime, The Great Outdoors, Travel • Tags: Childhood, County Kerry, Glenbeigh, Ireland, Nature, Photography, Travel

Chasing the Wind

December 11, 2012 by Meghan Johnson

If the wind had a melody, I imagine it would sound something like this. This song that sounds like the wind is from the soundtrack to Monsoon Wedding, which my mother gave me before I left home in 2003.  I was sixteen and spending the summer in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a research internship with NASA.  It was the first time I spent a significant stretch away from home, and like most first-time experiences in our teen years, it felt […]

Categories: Americana, Europe, Ireland, Touchy Feelies, Travel