Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 2

Belfast: Its Painful Past, Present Situation, And Hopeful Future

Belfast, A city with a painful past. How painful of a past I didn’t realize until my husband and I started listening to the audiobook, Say Nothing. We found listening to this book while driving in Upstate NY to be interesting. But when we listened to it while driving around Ireland and Northern Ireland we found it to be very intense. We were listening about the painful past in Belfast and all the violence going on. We were listening to that Irish voice read the book and explain the going ons and the cover-ups. There was so much pain and suffering of the people in Belfast both Protestant and Catholic alike. So many innocent lives were taken as well as some lives that weren’t so innocent. I understand I am an outsider looking in. I am only sharing my thoughts and observations in the blog, so please don’t get mad at me. Before this book, I was not as aware of all the things that happened and how things are still tense today.

While my husband and I were in Northern Ireland last week we went on a Black Cab Political tour of Belfast to see what its present situation is. I can tell you right now we didn’t do that tour for the fun of it. We did it so that we could see for ourselves what happened in the past and how it affects Belfast now. This Black Cab tour was informative and extremely emotionally draining. We didn’t realize that there are still gates surrounding parts of Belfast where people live that still get closed and locked every night and then opened each morning. We saw the “peace” wall that is still up so neighbors can’t be bombed by other neighbors. If you ask me that is not a wall of peace more like a wall of fear. We saw an area where a bar used to stand. Now its walls are covered with pictures of lives that were taken away years ago with one of them being Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widow and mother of 10, from her Belfast home in 1972. We saw 2 memorial plaques with names of people who died. Two of those people had my family’s name McCann which caught my attention and had me wondering if they were distant relatives of mine. At the end of the tour, we stopped at one side of the “peace wall” where people write notes of encouragement/prayer and we were able to write our own little notes on the wall. All the while we were there you could still feel some of the tension in the air from the past. There was seriously a lot to take in, in a short amount of time.

The future of Belfast was discussed with our cab driver. I didn’t realize that there are still relatives alive today who can remember their parents or their brother being killed by the opposing group. And I didn’t realize that some of the people from that group became politicians and made it into the government of Northern Ireland. I am praying for Belfast because I hope that somehow some way their past can eventually stay in the past. As an American/Irish person whose family started in Armagh, Northern Ireland I hope and pray that the next generation of both Protestants and Catholics in Belfast can start talking to each other and become friends with each other and not live in fear of each other. It would be wonderful to hear about that “peace” wall coming down and for everyone in Belfast to be able to get along with each other. Yes, I know I’m an outsider, but there is no reason why I can’t pray for all of that. Northern Ireland has a special place in my heart because of my family origins. Seeing everything I saw from that cab tour gave me new insights on Belfast and its painful past, its present situation and I pray a hopeful future.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

It’s Not Goodbye, It’s I’ll See You Later

Right now I’m sitting in my car trying to figure out the best way to write this blog. In all honestly I didn’t think I would write this particular blog for another couple of years, but here I am about to write about my dad. I loved my dad very much, in fact, I still love my dad very much. The difference now is my dad passed away two weeks ago. I will always love my dad and have great memories of him. I guess that’s what this blog is about what my dad was like and how much I miss him.

When I was little I loved doing different things with my dad. Whenever he was going to work on his station wagon I always asked if I could help. He in return always said yes. Granted I wasn’t allowed to do much, but I got to spend time with my dad. Growing up my dad taught me how to ride a bike and how to swim. He would take our family to Dunkin Donuts as a treat every once in a while. He also drove us to Nelly Blies, a small amusement park in Coney Island, in the summertime. Almost all of our Summer vacations were spent at a resort in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York where my dad would drive us and I loved spending time with him there in the pool or horseback riding.

When I was a teenager my dad was very active in our Church, Salem Gospel Tabernacle. My dad was best known for his Jiu Jitsu, magic tricks, playing his drums, and most importantly being a Bible teacher. I was fortunate to have my dad as my Youth Group Leader and I loved it when he taught God’s Word. He would always tell us “Don’t take my word for it open your Bible and read it for yourself”. He would also always tell us if you find something different come back to me and let’s look at it together. I will miss hearing my dad teach from the Bible. On my wedding day, my dad proudly walked me down the aisle to my then-fiance, now husband. My dad loved to make jokes or as he liked to call them his yokes.

About a year or two ago my dad started to get dementia. At that time he was living all by himself in Brooklyn. My husband and I did our best to see him as often as we could and helped get him aides for around his apartment. Five months ago we were able to bring my dad up to Glens Falls, NY so he could live in an assisted living place. This place gave my dad the care he needed and at the same time my husband and I were able to see my dad at least once a week. Sometimes we got to see him two or three times a week. It was great. We took him for vanilla ice cream. We took him to the barber. We were even able to take him to Church a couple of times. Two weeks ago something happened and my dad’s body decided it was time to stop working. He spent his last week of life in palliative care while we sat by his side. For a brief moment during that time, my dad remembered me and called me by my name. And he was doing his Jiu Jitsu moves to perfection.

It’s only been two weeks now since my dad died and went home to be with his Saviour in Heaven and with my mom, but I miss him terribly. I know my dad heard God say “Well done my good and faithful servant”. I know my dad is now rejoicing in Heaven and walking and talking with Jesus. As much as I am in pain on this earth I know without a doubt my dad is with God in Heaven. If you are wondering how I can be so sure about this I will gladly tell you. All you have to do is ask. In the meantime, I hope this blog did my dad justice. I miss my dad so much and I will always love him. But I also know that he is in a better place with my mom.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

My First Cruise to Key West and The Bahamas

Everyone has a fear they need to face at some point in their life, at least I assume they do. I have faced many fears over the last couple of years. About two weeks ago I faced my fear of the water and going on a cruise ship. For years I’ve told my husband how much I want to go on a cruise ship just so I can see what it looks like inside. However, you can’t just go on a ship to look around. That isn’t allowed. So I finally faced this huge fear of mine and we took our first cruise to Key West and The Bahamas.

How did it go? Well, let me tell you. I was seriously stressed. I was also amazed at how the ship looked inside. When it was time for the ship to sail we went to the front of the ship as high as we could go to watch it head out to sea. I figured if I’m going to face this fear I might as well go all in. It was fun and scary at the same time. I seriously couldn’t believe I was on a cruise ship FINALLY. My husband and I wandered all around that ship. We checked out the 3 pools. The stores. The restaurants. The Library. The quiet area. We went on the elevator numerous times. We looked outside on the back of the ship for a bit and quickly realized I get dizzy on the back of a ship. I do much better at the front of the ship. Have no idea why. There were music groups to listen to. Games to watch. There were shows to see and a comedian. I do feel like the best part was standing on one side of the ship each night and watching the sunset. Each night it was beautiful to see. And, yes, there were definitely times when I could feel the ship moving from side to side or should I say back and forth. And, No I didn’t like that feeling at all. I didn’t get sick, but I didn’t like it either.

Key West and The Bahamas were nice. My husband and I have been to Key West once before so we actually knew where we wanted to go that day. Key Lime Pie, buying a mug and a magnet was our agenda for that day and we got that accomplished. The Bahamas were ok. We walked up the Queen’s staircase. We went to a chocolate store that had a really good chocolate drink that we shared. We got 2 coconuts to share, One was a straight coconut, and the other was a non-alcoholic pina colada coconut. And of course, we bought a magnet and mug. We did find after 2 hours in both places we were done with what we wanted and went back to the ship.

In between those two days was a day at sea. We had that day all planned. Breakfast then the indoor pool for a while then lunch, back to the pool for a bit. After that were showers, reading, and crocheting and then we realized we were getting bored. We walked around that ship for as long as we could that day at sea. We sat under the sun for as long as we could. What we both found out was a relaxing day at sea isn’t so relaxing for us. We would much prefer to be looking for castle ruins in Ireland or England or somewhere. We would rather be walking to different places and exploring. We both love history and we both love exploring new places, so a day at sea for us turned out to be on the boring side. And we did our best to come up with things to do. But we don’t drink and we don’t gamble which a lot of people were doing.

Would I go on another cruise? Well, we talked about it. My husband and I agreed that a cruise to some of the Greek islands and visiting places like Ephesus would be more what we would like, where we can get off the ship each day, explore, and then go back to the ship. We would also like to do a family-based cruise someday with our family. The kind of cruise where they have gocarts and such. On the bright side, I did face a huge fear on this cruise and we found out that I do much better when I can watch the water rather than walking around inside the ship or sitting in our stateroom.

I did take a video while we watched as the ship sailed away. I made it into a short on my YouTube channel so it’s easier to watch. You will hear my strange commentary on it.

Facing My Water Fear

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Closing the Door For the Last Time in Brooklyn

Growing up in Brooklyn my family moved a couple of times. With those moves always came some emotions and questions. As my family and I closed the door behind us with each of those moves, we would always wonder what the new place would be like. And like other families, we had our good and bad times in each new place. For me personally the last neighborhood I lived in in Brooklyn was Bay Ridge. That is where I lived when I met my husband and moved from Brooklyn to Upstate New York.

A couple of years after I got married my parents had to move from their two-family house to an apartment building. And I can honestly tell you when I heard they had to move I remember being upset. I didn’t like them moving again, especially into an apartment building. And to be honest with you I’m not completely sure why I was so upset. I didn’t like the idea of my parents living in an apartment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with people living in an apartment building. I know other people who lived in one. I’ve been to their apartments and they always looked nice, but the idea of my parents moving into one just didn’t sit well with me. Maybe it’s because I wanted my kids to be able to have space to walk around like I did. Or maybe it’s because two-family homes were all I knew growing up.

And this is where we get to the doors of 81st and 3rd Ave, the last place my parents will live in Brooklyn. This is the apartment my children would call Nana and Papa’s place. This is the apartment where my husband, my children and I would spend weekends with my parents when we would visit them in Brooklyn. That elevator door would get used by us with each and every visit. That apartment on 81st and 3rd Ave is where my dad would let my children play his drums. That apartment as much as I didn’t like it for whatever reason had it’s own share of good and bad times with my family.

Ten years ago my mom walked out of that apartment for the last time never to return to it. Ten years ago she went from that apartment to the hospital and after 2 months of being sick in that hospital, she passed away. Two months ago my dad, who is suffering from dementia, left his apartment with us and closed his door for the last time not even understanding that it was his last time in his apartment. Last week was a difficult time for me. Last Thursday my husband and I spent the last couple of hours in that apartment waiting for the movers to move some of my parent’s stuff to my house. Last Thursday we closed the door to Apartment B7 on 81st for the last time. As much as I never cared much for that place it was still a very emotional time. It meant no more reasons to visit Brooklyn. It meant none of my family was in Brooklyn anymore. It meant an end to an era for my family for my parents and that was very painful to deal with. Closing the doors for the last time in Brooklyn was a very difficult and very emotional experience. It had to be done, but that didn’t make it any easier. If anything it was more of a reminder of losing my mom 10 years ago. Watching my dad slowly decline and remembering watching my kids having fun with their grandparents in that place.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Christmas Markets in Strasbourg and Colmar, France: It’s Spectacular!

Yes, I know I’ve written blogs about the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg and Colmar before, but these markets never get old. And my husband and I were able to revisit them this Thanksgiving which means a new blog about them and I’m excited to write about them for the second time. And let me say the title of this blog doesn’t do them justice. These markets are so much fun to walk around, but they are also like a huge maze and it’s really easy to get lost in them, but I also think that is part of the fun.

First I should probably let you know about the Airbnb we stayed in. This place was about a block or two away from the Chrismas Markets which made it very easy to walk to. It was a very cute place and I would recommend it to anyone. Walking through the front door to this place was like walking into a fairytale and that is always cool.

We started our Christmas market shopping in Strasbourg. We walked up and down the different aisles looking at all the pretty ornaments and smelling the delicious food. We did have some vin chuad (hot spiced wine), some hot chocolate, and some Jus de Orange with honey (hot orange juice with honey). The hot orange juice with the honey was my favorite. Just to let you know there is a deposit that you need to pay for the cups. If you return the cups you will get your deposit back, but if you keep them, they make a nice souvenir. That’s what my husband and I like to do. We also ate plain pretzels, a pretzel with sugar on it and we bought some flavored marshmallow things that always taste SO good. Oh, and the gingerbread! There is one store we love to go to Fortwenger. We bought a couple of small gingerbread loaves from their stall at the market. They are that good!

The side streets in Strasbourg are also cool to walk around. The window displays of all the different desserts, gingerbread cookies, cheese, and nougat is a site to behold. I was having such a good time walking around everything that I forgot to take a lot of pictures, but I should have enough for this blog.

Notre Dame De Strasbourg

Another must-see/do in Strasbourg is visiting Notre Dame De Strasbourg. This Cathedral is beautiful to look at inside and out. Everything about it is beautiful and its clock is amazing to watch. It has animated machines that move around (automatons?) when the hour changes and it shows lots of different information than just time (date, zodiac, moon phases, etc.)

And then there is Colmar. I think Colmar might have more buildings decorated with Christmas lights. Their markets go on and on and are just as easy to get lost in. There is a map, but still, you can get lost. There was one particular stall we were looking for in Colmar for our grandchild and that happened to be in the very last area of Colmar we were looking at. That area has so many different rides for kids to go on, which would make sense as to why that stall was there. We had so much fun walking around the Christmas Markets in Colmar and seeing all the buildings decorated for Christmas. It truly felt like we were in a fairytale.

I would seriously recommend both the Strasbourg and Colmar Christmas Markets to anyone. If you are planning to visit France before Christmas or if you live in France, I would highly recommend visiting these markets now. They are beautiful to see. They are amazing to walk around. They are fun to do Christmas shopping at. The food is tasty. And those marshmallow things are soooo good!

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Acropolis: The Historical Center of Ancient Greece and More

Good day to you! Or good evening depending on when you are reading this blog. This is another one of my travel blogs that should have been written two months ago, but finding the right words is not easy for me. This blog will be about the ancient city of Acropolis and Mars Hill in Athens, Greece.

I should start off by saying in all honesty I wasn’t all that impressed with modern Athens. It’s a lot like going to New York City or London. On the bright side up on a high hill is the historic sites of the Acropolis and the many ruins that surround it. And at the bottom of that is Mars Hill. I would highly advise visiting these sites on a cool day. My reason for this is simple. My husband and I went on a very hot August day. We got up early that morning in hopes of beating the crowd, but apparently, we weren’t the only ones with that idea.

I have to say once we were able to get through the seriously long crowded line to get to the top of the Acropolis, it was worth it. When we got to the top everyone scattered to the ruin they wanted to see. And I have to say those ruins were impressive. They were all under some kind of construction to keep them up. And there is a beauty to all of these ruins. If I could have I would have gladly walked in all of them. Sadly that isn’t possible. There was one ruin with statues of I believe a number of ladies as pillars in a temple which had me intrigued. I did manage to get a bunch of really cool-looking pictures. I think for me the only downfall to these ruins is to know that way back they were used to worship the Greek gods. I think every one of those temples had their own god that the people worshiped. Putting that aside these ruins were cool to see and walk around.

What really meant the most to me was listening to the Biblical Book of Romans on earphones with my husband as we were leaving the Acropolis and making our way to Mars Hill. Mars Hill is a very big rock outcrop that was used to hold discussions. What I do know is back in the days of the Bible Paul the Apostle stood on top of Mars Hill and while there he could see the people of the Acropolis praying to their gods and knew he needed to teach them about the God of the Bible. I know some people listened to him. For me as much as I love ruins Mars Hill meant more to me because that’s where Paul was standing when he saw the need for Christ in those temples and told people about him.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Corinth Greece and Corinth New York: One is Ancient the Other Not so Much

Did you know there are two Corinths? Did you know one is ancient and one is only a couple of hundred years old? Did you know one is in Greece and the other is in Upstate New York? If you didn’t know any of this don’t feel bad. Up until two years ago, I didn’t know anything about the Corinth in Upstate NY either. I was only familiar with Corinth in Greece.

So the story goes like this: two years ago my husband and I moved to the Adirondacks near a small town called Corinth to be closer to our family. We also started attending a Church in that little town where our son-in-law is the Pastor. From what I understand, many years ago when they named this little town they left the decision up to a prominent lady in the town. She opened her Bible and the first book it showed was Corinthians so she picked the name Corinth. I don’t know if she knew that Corinth from the Bible had a bad reputation, but she chose that anyway. How was that for some useless information?

Moving forward two years now. My husband asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday this year and I asked if we could go to Greece and visit the ancient Biblical city of Corinth. He liked that idea and he started his vacation prep. I was very excited about visiting ancient Corinth. I wanted to see where Paul lived for a while and worked as a tent maker. I love anything and everything that is ancient and Biblical.

Stores in Ancient Corinth Greece

When we went to Greece Ancient Corinth or Korinth as they like to spell it was pretty much our first stop. That ancient city is much bigger than I expected it to be. The buildings that held the stores where Paul would have done his shopping were still there for the most part. Unfortunately, they were blocked off so we couldn’t go in them just to look around. There are still pillars up here and there which I love seeing. Overall this ancient city of Corinth is a lot bigger than I thought it would be and there was a lot to see all things considered, at least for me there was. There were a bunch of headless statues. Not sure what the deal is with that. These ruins were really cool to see not only because I love ruins, but also because I love seeing Biblical sites that I have read about in my Bible.

Corinth, NY & Corinth, Greece

Without a doubt, Ancient Corinth is completely different from the Corinth in Upstate, New York. To be fair there are some tourist stores right near ancient Corinth, but that’s about it. The Corinth in Upstate is a town that is a couple of hundred years old where people live, work, and visit during the Summer months with their boats. It is a cute little town, but I hope it isn’t living up to its name-sakes reputation.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Blarney Castle: The Irish Tourist Trap That Is Actually Worth Visiting

Blarney Castle, Yes I called it an Irish tourist trap and I mean it, but if you keep reading I will explain why I called it a tourist trap and why I think it’s worth visiting. And yeah, I should have written this blog months ago when I came back home from Ireland. My bad, but let’s keep going.

So my husband and I have been to Ireland many times now, probably 4 or 5 times, and each one of those times we talked about where we wanted to go and what ruins we wanted to try to see. Blarney Castle always came up in the conversation and each time my husband suggested we not go because it always sounds like a tourist trap. I agreed not to go cause I figured there are other castle ruins we would find.

On our last visit to Ireland, we had the same conversation. This time I told him I want to go to Blarney Castle. I don’t care if it’s a tourist trap it’s still a ruin. I mean I could care less about kissing a stone so many other people have kissed. I just want to walk up the stairs of a ruin in Ireland. So he agreed. The day finally arrived for us to go to Blarney and when we got there I was pleasantly surprised. Just the outside of the ruin alone was enough to wow me.

Here’s the thing about Blarney Castle I didn’t know that made me love this ruin, you don’t just walk up a bunch of steps to get to the top and kiss a stone. Now to be fair I have seen a couple of documentaries about Blarney Castle and not one of them showed the entire castle ruin. They would show the outside and then they would show you the inside from way up top. So I had no clue what was actually there until we got there and saw for ourselves.

Blarney Castle is in reality a rather cool-looking ruin to visit. We waited in line to walk up the steps and then to my surprise I found out there are rooms we can go into and walk around. I love that! Getting to explore that castle ruin while we walked up the windy steps until we got to the top was so cool. Getting to do the same exact thing on the way back down was just as much fun. Seriously, Blarney Castle was fun to explore. Any time I get to walk the halls of a castle ruin I’m going to take it. When I get to see the windows or sit in a nook in a castle ruin I’m going to take that chance.

So, yes Blarney Castle is a very touristy place to visit and you do need to buy tickets to get in and I will say that their souvenirs and cafe are on the expensive side, however putting all that aside, this castle is a good place to visit if you love castle ruins as much as I do. For a side note, we went in March which is not tourist season and the lines were a bit on the long side, so if you are going to go during tourist season be prepared to stand in a long line and have fun.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Things I Never Thought I’d Do… I Did

There are so many things I never thought I would do and yet I have. I thought writing a blog about them would be nice and it would be a little different from my travel blogs and it would be a little personal too. There are so many things I never dreamed I would do growing up. I mean when I was little driving from Brooklyn to the Catskills was a big deal for me. So the idea of me of all people traveling to different places wasn’t something I ever thought I would do. And as much as I like to read growing up, writing wasn’t anything I was interested in and yet here I am writing a blog. So below I’d like to share about what I’ve done that I never thought I would. Here we go!

Ruins in Israel

1. As much as I dreamed of flying to Ireland and Italy and so many other places I never thought I would actually ever do such a thing. Here I am many, many years later traveling the world with my husband, well at least part of the world. These things take time. We have been to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, India, and Israel. I feel like I’m missing a country. All these places I dreamed of visiting when I was little. I’ve had the privilege of going to with my husband. I have been to so many ruins and have climbed them. I have seen Biblical cities. I’ve tried foods in these countries I never thought I would.

Château de Pierrefonds

2. When I was little there were no home computers. They didn’t start to exist until I was in my teens so the idea of me learning how to use a computer and using it to write, is something. Using my laptop to start a blog and ending up using my blog to write about my travel adventures with my husband along with some personal blogs is not something I would have ever thought I would do, again here I am doing it.

Podcast

3. Growing up the radio was pretty much the only thing people listened to. And then eventually people started listening to records and tape cassettes. You know podcasts weren’t around then just like the computer wasn’t around. Once again something new happened people started this thing called podcasts where people could listen to them on their laptops and their phones. And again me starting my own podcast (Kathleens Korner), seriously not something I thought I would do, but I decided to start it and I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now. I may not have a lot of listeners, but that’s ok.

My Books

4. Here comes another shocker for you! Growing up I didn’t like writing anything. Reading I loved, writing I didn’t. Unless I was studying for a test. That was the only time I tolerated writing because it helped me to remember what I needed to for my test. So if anyone would have told me when I was growing up that I would become an author I probably would have laughed in their faces. I know not a nice thing to do. But you know what happened? After I had my third miscarriage I felt the need to write about all 3 of them. I wanted other women to know that they weren’t alone and I still want women to know that they aren’t alone. So I wrote a book and I published it. Yes, I became an author. Crazy, right? I did it though. And my book has helped women. My book in case you are wondering is titled Miscarriages My Story and I am thankful that it has helped women all over the world. And then my husband asked me to write another book. I thought he was crazy, but I did it anyway. He has a crazy idea that people would want to know what it was like for me growing up in Brooklyn and then moving to Upstate NY. I wrote the book, not sure how good it is, but I wrote it. Again if you are interested the title of this book is Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate.

My app company

5. Oh, we must not forget I have my own business. Um, yeah not something I ever thought about growing up. I was just trying to survive school while I was growing up in Brooklyn never mind owning my own company. I have been the CEO of BearsWithApps for about 2 years now. We are a very small app business, but we are growing slowly. I take this business very seriously even if I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. We have apps for the entire family. I am also looking forward to getting more out there. Yes, this is a very slow process for us, but like I said we are a very small company.

Haggis

Seriously, growing up I never, ever thought I would have done any of this. It’s crazy. It’s mad. And yet I did them all! Me! Who would have thought? Not any of my friends. Not my family and certainly not me. But you know what I am so glad and I am so thankful that I have been able to accomplish all of this. And I did it all by God’s grace and guidance. Cause without Him I can’t do anything.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel

Muckross Abbey: For Me, This is One of the Best Ruins

All ruins are the same, right? Just a bunch of old stone castles and abbeys that are no longer in use, right? Wrong! If you have ever read one of my blogs about ruins or listened to my podcast (Kathleen’s Korner) about ruins, then you will know how much I LOVE them. And Muckross Abbey is definitely one of the best, intact Abbey ruins I have ever been able to walk around. The Abbey is in the Killarney National Park and there is no fee to get into it. It’s a peaceful ruin that is cool to walk around.

So why do I think Muckross Abbey is one of the best ruins I’ve ever been to? Because of how much I was able to walk around it with my husband freely. This abbey is almost like a maze. Usually, when we go to a ruin like this there are bars in the doorways so you can’t enter into a room or walk up the stairs. In the case of Muckross Abbey, we were able to walk into I think almost all the rooms. They were dark and a bit eerie but put a flashlight on and you are fine. It was cool to be able to explore all the rooms in that abbey. I also love the fact that there is a very old tree standing in the middle of the abbey’s cloisters.

I loved walking up and down all the different rounded stairwells with my husband. I was rather impressed with the upstairs part of Muckross Abbey. All the walls are still there. There is so much to walk around. The doorways are cool to look at and walk through, remember to mind your head if you are tall. I love the fact that the doors are still on some of the doorways. Being able to walk all the way up the tower part of the Abbey ruin was so cool. All in all Muckross Abbey for me was worth visiting. I love ruins and this one is definitely at the top of my list for Abbey ruins. It’s free. It’s beautiful to look at. It’s cool to wander around. It’s peaceful. And I absolutely loved walking around it with my husband and getting to walking up the winding stairways. This is definitely my kind of ruin and I look forward to going back to it someday.

Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel