Margaret R Kelly – Writer & Travelling Raconteur 

I write. I travel. I read. I learn. I dream and I live my dream.

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Fresh From the Mind

  • Slaughterhouse-Five

    —Kurt Vonnegut When I first read this novel, back when I didn’t have grey hair, it was marketed as ‘a classic of Science Fiction’. I read it because I liked science fiction, without really understanding the context of the novella, and was bitterly disappointed. Stephen King, I will point out, was also marketed as ‘Science…

  • Over the Sea to Skye

    Over the Sea to Skye

    It’s November and late autumn in Scotland. My brother and I are on a ‘Family Heritage Tour’ —a kind of pilgrimage— to the stomping ground of some of our ancestors—the Macleods of Dunvegan and Talisker on the Hebridean island of Skye, a popular holiday and tourist destination in summer. The tempestuous Atlantic crashes against Skye’s…

  • A Sacred Sanctuary in the Mountains: The Essence of Real Japan

    A Sacred Sanctuary in the Mountains: The Essence of Real Japan

    It is early spring in Japan. We are to the west of Mount Fuji, about three hours by train from Tokyo. Minobu, nestled on the side of a holy mountain in Yamanashi Prefecture, is off the beaten travel track and has a rich history, beautiful scenery, and spiritual significance as the home of Kuon-ji, the…