Stories from travels in

Mary Murphy

Salem, MA: Of witches and wizards

There was a stage in my life when I would drive the length and breadth of Ireland to see a fortune teller. I was fascinated,

Live free or die

I’ve never quite known what to make of New Hampshire’s state motto but have concluded, on my own, without asking anyone, not even Google, that

One tree too many in Maine?

Em…. how many states make up New England again? Maine? And? I can’t believe I had to ask that question. I suppose I didn’t HAVE

Art of the Underground

I have a fondness for statues. I can talk to them for hours. I used to visit József Attila quite often a few years ago

Backstreets wanderer

‘So’, I said, ‘what do you want to do?’ My visitor technically wasn’t my visitor at all. I’d borrowed him for the afternoon from a

Cold war, warm heart

I’m not a planner. The sole plan I have in life is to have no plan. Planning has a way of, well, getting in the

Closed for the season

Time is a wonderfully malleable thing. We think that have just 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a

Thin bloodlines and lone stars

We were on the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton. You sure you know where you’re going? he asked. Absolutely – Meat Cove – most northerly

Remind me where I am again

In a world of constant change, it’s almost gratifying to know that my abysmal sense of geography is still matched by my equally pathetic knowledge