A weekend up in wine country, with the mellow time that brings and some free-diving in a lake, had me curious as to the stunning white blossoms that lined the roads into Winters, near Napa. Even the trees can hold stories and meaning that are millennia old...! Joining a freediving session in Lake Berryessa with Fins and Foam Freediving, the drive pulled us out from the cutting and jiving of city traffic into the long, straight farmland roads of Napa County. As we approached a town called Winters, to stay over Saturday night, we were escorted in by rows and rows of white blossom. Almonds trees. For all my days spent driving down into California's Central Valley...the huge flood plain…

Another bundle of Donegal days this last week, paired with nights in London on either side. It was a first February trip back to our family HQ, methinks. A time of year where you can feel the optimism of the light shifting towards spring, and the shrill cold of winter months starting to be left behind. View from Dad's on a late winter's evening... The centrepiece of the trip was a big Irish wedding. Celebrating cousin Orla, one of twenty-six cousins on Dad’s side, making the ultimate commitment to a fine Englishman, Seth. “Definitely!” had been my immediate reply to the first WhatsApp mention of the wedding that I’d got last summer from Orla, last summer. I just knew this…

“Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.” — Erich Fromm Asking ChatGPT about Eric Fromm, I learnt: “Erich Fromm was a German social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. Born in 1900, he explored the interaction between psychology and society, emphasizing the importance of love, freedom, and non-materialistic lifestyles as pathways to true happiness and human fulfillment. He passed away in 1980.” Pairs well with our Donegal Dad who endlessly reminds us that money needs to flow more that stock, in a life well lived… “There are no pockets in a shroud” — Peter M. Brennan …funny too then, to this week be recommended a book by a friend in London called Die with Zero…

I’m finally reading this utter gem of a book, a compilation of hilarious and beautifully written perspectives on writing (and life!), after having heard it recommended so many times over the years. Bird by Bird consoles as to how hard writing is - from a 16-title author - weaving through observations from a lifetime of writing and teaching too. A few of the reassuring quips I underlined... “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it. Nor do they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow.” and… “E. L. Doctorow once said that “writing a…

Writing from United's UA 930, en route once again to the hills of Donegal, Dad time and Irish wedding time, a favorite Irish cousin marrying an Englishman (local controversy). As they forecast here, 'the craic will be mighty'! I noticed the feeling that when you make a journey regularly, it becomes part of the map of who we are. And it's the journeys that start to make our maps. Keep moving... On landing at DUB, Dad and I will tend to pull in for a coffee at the posh cofferia to the left of arrivals. Dad will have an Americano with milk (which is not an Americano) and I have an espresso doppio (simpleton, still). It's unsaid but crystal clear…

Starting a running list.... Mind The Waking Up app Body The Ready State for mobility exercises Media The Financial Times The Atlantic (thanks Dad) Making Sense by Sam Harris Finance The CFA Institute Money For The Rest Of Us

I pulled around the corner by the Cliff House, where the wide lens view of the ocean zooms into first tells of how the wave is running at the North end of Ocean Beach. Too much tide - I knew that - but tesselated swell lines running, fat and jumbling on top of each other. Still, corners of waves, the black seals of a few surfers in the water, and a bright blue sky whose light just adds fuel to that instinct. On days like these, the paddle-out is particularly tricky, only dealt with by really reading how the water is flowing, often zig-zagging and shift your paddle direction from straight out to diagonally up the beach to diagonally down…