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Citizen Daisy

Mulligan Stew

Mulligan Magic

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I grew up with my great-grandparents as our nearest extended family.  My great-grandmother shared her knowledge of her homeland and my hunger for more.  She and my great-grandfather enjoyed sixty-six years of marriage, and I idolized them both.  After he died when I was thirteen, she lived with us for quite a while.  She was very Victorian as well as Irish--born in 1881--and taught me more than I'll ever remember.  Most of all, she taught me about family, and made me curious enough about Ireland to be the catalyst for my creation of the Mulligans.
 
I desperately wanted to visit Ireland to research these books in person, but I had to depend on the generosity of dear friends who live in Ireland--Peter and Kemberlee  Shortland but the timing did not permit it.  My husband's cancer came out of remission, and family comes first.
 
So I returned to my childhood memories spent in my great-grandmother's kitchen, and stories from my own mother of the years she spent in that same kitchen.  I remembered the lilt of Great-Grandma's accent, and the special way she laughed.
 
Most of all, I remember how my great-grandparents adored each other.  At age eighty-six, my great-grandfather drove his old 1957 Chevy down to our house, as he frequently did, in the middle of a snow storm.  My brother and I had a snow day from school, so there must have been a great deal of snow.

They didn't call off school for a little in Wichita, Kansas back then.  He delivered his bride safely into my mother's keeping in the warm house, then promptly joined my younger brother and I on the hill across the street, where all the neighborhood children had gathered to ride our sleds.  Hills are few and far between in Kansas, so this one drew children from miles away, as there was a large field at the bottom leading down to the Arkansas River.
 
When my great-grandfather joined the sledders, the children all cheered.  I saw my great-grandmother step out onto the porch, and my mom followed her out to place her coat over Great-Grandma's thin shoulders.  Curious--and cold--I went back across the street to join the "womenfolk" just in time to hear my great-grandmother's words when Great-Grandpa took my abandoned sled down the hill, hooting and hollering with glee.
 
"Ye old fool."
 
She was smiling even while she shook her head.
 
My mom laughed, as did I, and that was my first inkling of what Romance really means.
 
My great-grandmother lived until near the century mark--just before my first child was born.  She adored my late husband, and he felt the same way about her.  I'll always remember the time she told me he reminded her of her Otto.  In fact, my own father has said many times that my late husband reminded him of my great-grandfather.
 
I have Great-Grandma to thank for teaching me how to pick a winner, and how to love Ireland.
 
I hope you enjoy the Mulligans as much as I did.  The reincarnation thread in MULLIGAN STEW and MULLIGAN MAGIC was no accident.  I hope you understand why after learning about my great-grandparents.

Happy reading!

Love,