Buried Gold
The photograph of the little gold boat from the National Museum of Ireland’s Broighter Hoard is used by permission of Irish silversmith Eileen Moylan. The boat was among a group of exquisite gold artifacts found in 1896 in a farm field near Limavady, Northern Ireland. Finding the objects buried about 14 inches deep and covered in mud, ploughmen Thomas Nicholl and James Morrow did not realize at first that they were gold. The hoard included the boat, two necklaces, a bowl and a hollow collar called a torc. The boat was so badly damaged by the plough that a goldsmith needed to restore it. It measures 7.25 inches (18.4 cm) by 3 inches (7.6 cm) and weighs 3 ounces (85 g), has benches, oarlocks, two rows of oars, a paddle for steering, grappling tools, three forks, a yardarm and a spear. The boat and other objects in the horde may have been offerings to the Celtic sea god Manannan Mac Lir. They date from the early Iron Age in the 1st century B.C.E.
I started throwing all my bucket lists overboard just over a year ago. Set adrift by my employer and uncertain of my next career move, I began doing what came naturally–pursuing the activities that have always kept my life at home afloat. Instinctively, I buoyed my battered spirits with 
