The Hesitant Traveler’s Travel Guide
“Let’s go to Vienna!” “Let’s go to Sarajevo!” “Let’s go to Belfast!”… says my wife. And my go-to response? The very first loving words out of my mouth? Are… “NOOOOOOOOO [...]
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Posted October 01, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
Posted September 03, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
The Irish lilt is a thing of beauty
The Irish lilt is a thing of beauty. It moves up and down the vocal scale like a soaring and diving bird rather than the flat and plodding groundhog of [...]
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Posted August 06, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
Grandpa Joe goes to a dance recital
With an anxious stomach, I stand behind the long black curtains and watch off stage as the teenage girls tap dance before the large audience in Boone. It’s the Betty [...]
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Posted July 02, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
Gardening as self-defense
“Fill the bathtub with water,” my wife yells in a high crescendo while gesturing with her hands as if she is has me by the ears and is trying to [...]
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Posted June 04, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
Al Capone’s vault and the unopened lockbox
“Directly beneath me, in this hotel’s rubble-strewn basement, a massive concrete chamber has been discovered and there is evidence to suggest that that vault once belonged to Al Capone, the [...]
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Posted April 30, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
Well, that was something
“Well, that was something,” she said out of the blue on a Tuesday. A phrase she was fond of saying for nearly any event from the grand to the not-so-grand. [...]
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Posted April 02, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
One more loss
The letter began well enough: “Dear friend.” Who doesn’t want to be a friend? But then it quickly went south: “Back Country will be closing its doors for good in [...]
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Posted March 05, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
The fun of being under the weather
“I think I’m going to die.” “Well, yes you are, sweetie. The question, of course, is it today or in some mythical future full of butterflies and freshly popped popcorn.” [...]
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Posted February 05, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
A Saint Valentine story
“You know what’s going to happen if you do that?” I say this in my sternest grandfather voice with a glower of hard eyes, a very pursed mouth, and a [...]
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Posted January 01, 2025in Joe's Neighborhood
A simple room above an Irish pub — a New Year’s resolution
I tired of New Year’s resolutions long before I became an old man. But, before I did, my resolutions were the typical nutty variety that I always circumvented by the [...]
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