We're off to Ireland

Although I had access to a computer when we were in Finland last year, I don't expect to be blogging from Ireland. I've posted our schedule and sites here. I'm hoping the weather will be coolish, because I've packed more fall clothes than summer. I've got lots of things here for you to read, in case you miss me.

It's not cheap to travel, but thanks to President Bush's tax cuts we can. I've written about this before. I watched our investments and my 403-b stagnate and sink the year I retired (2000), then they took another hit from terrorists the following year. Our house was on the market on 9/11, and talk about real estate going nowhere! But we've weathered the storm, and the economy has been booming regardless of how the Democrats have tried to stop it and nay-say it.

Mr. Bush and I don't agree on many things, like immigration reform, North American union, and his inability to regroup his Republican Congress so that he could push through some much needed reforms in Social Security. The war hasn't gone well, many mistakes were made, but I'm thankful we aren't abandoning the Iraqis like we did the Vietnamese, or negotiating millions into starvation the way we did in Korea. And looking at the current crop of candidates, he may be the last Republican president who will hold the line on killing the unborn and using them for medical research.

However, I do thank him for this wonderful trip to Ireland to visit the home of my ancestors (Scots-Irish, 18th c., settled in TN), a place about the size of Ohio but with a much bigger history, a fascinating culture and a now booming economy.