Author Archives: Liz Barron

Unknown's avatar

About Liz Barron

Returned US Peace Corps Volunteer (Armenia 17-19). Permanent address in Washington DC. Deep roots in Northern Ireland and persistent Belfast accent. Blogger, cook, painter, mother, grandma, Scrabble-player and enthusiastic world traveller.

My inner voice is aristocratic

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Liz Barron

I have renamed my inner voice Lady Louisa Chick. LLC is the impossibly smug sister of the always-socially-distant Mr Dombey in Dombey & Son. (I have yet to read this Dickens’ novel, but binge- watched an old BBC version this … Continue reading →

Posted in America, art, BBC, bras, Charles Dickens, clothes, coronavirus, Household tips, lockdown | Leave a comment

Tacos and Knuckles, Alive, alive, oh

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Liz Barron

My six-year old grand-daughter has been staying for a few days. Like almost every other kid in America, she is out of school as part of our communal attempt to contain coronavirus. We bake and cook all day, and Niya … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooking, Cross-cultural understanding, family, Ireland, making bread, molly malone, music, National pride, nationality, St. Patrick, story-telling, things kids say, Things that gladden the heart, wheaten bread | 5 Comments

A life in pictures

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Liz Barron

I have only myself to blame, which makes the loss of the pictures even more galling. They are all gone: the limited edition William Conor print Sour Apple which I bought from the Linenhall Library in Belfast because it reminded me of … Continue reading →

Posted in accident, art, errors of judgement, friendship, grieving, havjng a bad day, life lessons, Lonely this Christmas, loss, moving house, packing | Leave a comment

Splash-down in Shady Side

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Liz Barron

I had not been back in Shady Side for even an hour before I was using a tumble-dryer, an appliance I hadn’t seen for nearly three years. In Armenia, where I spent twenty-seven months serving with Peace Corps, a washing … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Armenia, Cross-cultural understanding, Odd One Out, Peace Corps | Leave a comment

How did it change you?

Posted on August 11, 2019 by Liz Barron

If people ask questions at all, they ask ‘How did it change you?’ At first I was rather sheepish in my answer. Following two-plus years as an international aid volunteer in Armenia, I seemed to have managed re-entry to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, drinking, eating out, English, Food, friendship, joy, Language, Language learning, life lessons, Shakespeare, Things that gladden the heart, Things that make a difference, travel, United Kingdom | 3 Comments

Pure moments of bubbling joy

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Liz Barron

At the wedding, we all sang along to the music played by the DJ. The bride and groom were in their sixties, and so all the music was of a certain vintage. The only people under 40 in the room … Continue reading →

Posted in Beauty, British food, British Royal Family, cocktails, Cross-cultural understanding, drinking, eating out, Food, Gin, joy, love, Northern Ireland, Nostalgia, singing, The Proclaimers, Things that gladden the heart, ulster fry, United Kingdom | Leave a comment

Welcome back–Belfast

Posted on June 22, 2019 by Liz Barron

The streets were teeming with teenagers, celebrating the last day of school exams. Many were drunk, although it was not yet six o’clock–or legal drinking age. One girl was wearing a yellow bikini and, over her hips and thighs, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Armenian food, Belfast, Cross-cultural understanding, drinking, Gin, Teens, travel, young women, Youth | 1 Comment

Leaving gracefully — traveling light

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Liz Barron

My two big bags have been packed for weeks. I have a couple of changes of clothing in my hand luggage. I have kept this deliberately light, due to my still-wonky right wrist. None of this counted for anything when … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, kindness, leaving gifts, saying goodbye, time to go, travel | Leave a comment

Bari Janapar—strolling through Artsakh with Ara

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Liz Barron

In Vank village in Artsakh they built a wall with all their obsolete number plates after the war was won, and independence declared. The ‘A’ on the old tags stood for Azerbaijan. The Republic of Nagorno Karabakh issued its own … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Artsakh, Azerbaijan, Cross-cultural understanding, Environment, friendship, Nagorno-Karabakh, Soviet Union, Things that gladden the heart, Things that make a difference, travel | 3 Comments

Artsakh: a Northern Ireland woman writes

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Liz Barron

Show your passport and get your handwritten visa as you cross the border from Armenia to the Republic of Artsakh and discover this: some of humankind’s most hellish hating took place in some of the most beautiful landscape in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Armenia, Artsakh, Azerbaijan, Cross-cultural understanding, Nagorno-Karabakh, Religion, Stalin, travel, war | 3 Comments