SEASONS - ST. PATRICK’S DAY IS COMING SOON

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I'm always amazed at the number of funny Irish drinking jokes that come out on St. Patrick's Day.  Is that because everyone is drinking green beer?  Here is one of my favorites:

An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. The bartender approaches and tells him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it, and it would taste better if you bought one at a time."

The Irishman replies, “Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the other is in Australia, and I'm in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days we drank together. So I drink one for each o'me brothers and one for me self."

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.

The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way: He orders three pints and drinks them in turn.

One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars take notice and fall silent.  When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss." The Irishman looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns and he laughs. "Oh, no, everybody's just fine," he explains, "It's just that me wife had us join that Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking. But it hasn't affected me brothers though."

I hope that little joke made you laugh out loud, and I hope it gets you in a jovial and happy mood for St. Patrick’s Day. 

Remember to wear green on St. Patrick's Day!  Any other day of the year it would be very rude to pinch someone; but on this day, if you are not wearing green; it is perfectly acceptable for anyone to come up and pinch you!  Be careful!  Wear green!  

Did you know that originally at the first celebrations the color was actually blue?  The blue has been long forgotten in honor of the fact that Ireland is the Emerald Isle, Ireland’s flag is green, and St. Patrick used the green 3 leafed clovers to teach about The Trinity.  An old legend also goes that wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns who will pinch you if they can see you. 

For the hidden, not often shared, educational value of the green; we do know that wearing green commemorates the Irish Rebellion of 1798, when the British, who were oppressing Ireland, declared that wearing a shamrock, or anything green, was considered a symbol of support for Irish rebellion and was punishable by hanging. Many people were shot on sight for the offense back in those days.  Back then green was used by the Society of United Irishmen; a political organization that was fighting for parliamentary reforms as well as a Republic for the Irish people.  An Irish Republic would have ended the English rule.  The wearing of the green is, therefore, a "fist in the air" act of defiance representing the brave men and women who fought for their independence.  Today, if you do not wear a touch of green on St Patrick's Day, you get symbolically punished by getting pinched, instead of getting killed for wearing it.  I'm happy to be living on this side of history.

In the 1700's, Irish immigrants in the United States started the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.  Those old Irish traditions came to be cherished in the land of the free and the home of the brave ever after; making Americans enjoy this day as much or more than they do in ole Ireland.   

 

In the very beginning though, the Irish Catholics originally noted this day for celebrating the life and times of their patron Saint Patrick, which is a real interesting twist of the story, considering that the real St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish.  He was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family, who owned a townhouse and a country villa and plenty of slaves. 

Patrick professed no interest in Christianity as a young boy.  At 16 Patrick’s destiny unfolded.  He was kidnapped and sent overseas to tend sheep as a slave in the chilly mountainous countryside of Ireland for seven years.  It was during this horrible experience that Patrick met God and became a deeply convicted Christian.  It is a long and intriguing story but according to St. Patrick’s Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of the shamrock to explain the Christian Holy Trinity; the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.  

Many traditions have evolved from this day over time, some centering around St. Patrick and some not.    

In 1962 in a show of solidarity in Chicago, the city decided to dye a portion of the Chicago River green.  A parade organizer for a plumber’s union noticed how a dye used to trace possible sources of river pollution had stained a fellow worker’s overalls a brilliant green.  He decided why not use the dye to turn the whole river green on St. Patrick’s Day?  It not only added to the celebration, but helped to keep the river healthy.  The custom is still traditional in Chicago today. 

5.5 million pints of Guinness beer are consumed around the world on any given day, but on St. Patrick’s Day that number more than doubles to 13 million pints.  It seems those Irish immigrants brought this habit with them too.  This is a night when Irish pubs, as well as pubs in general, are packed.  If you happen to run into a real lrishman at one of these happy establishments, he will probably tell you that St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland at one time was only a special story and possibly a nice dinner at home until the American’s turned it into parades and huge community celebrations to raise money for charitable causes.  They aren’t complaining in Ireland though, they have even upgraded their own celebrations in order to attract more tourists in the spring.  Everyone wins, and it is really a lot of fun.

Do you have a favorite Irish food that you eat on St. Patrick’s Day?   You will find corned beef and cabbage in all the finest restaurants on this day, as well as, Irish stew, colcannon and soda bread all served up with green beer.

So go ahead – Go green!

THE HOUSE DOCTOR - GOING GREEN AT HOME FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY

PRE-SPRING - GIVING THE HOUSE THAT IRISH LOOK

Here we are all the way into March!  It is almost St. Pat's Day and I've had the house all decked out in it's "Irish Look" for several weeks now.  

This all started a few years ago when I got to share my green with a few nice house guests from Pennsylvania.  They are Catholic and they love celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  We got to catch up on old times in the spirit of a house-gone-green.  Even the guest rooms went a little Irish.

My granddaughter loved pulling all my green shamrock necklaces out and making me wear them around the house.  

She also loved collecting all the gold hiding in the pots of gold I had laying around in two different places.  

She now understands that my kitchen window is where the rainbow ends.  

That is where one pot of gold resides.  

There is another one on the couch table in the living room area.  It seems that someone is storing that gold all over the place.  I hope they leave some of it for us after the season is over!   You know our Family Tree had to get into the act.  It is full of green three-leaf clovers with one little red bird perched in the middle. 

We really did have fun decorating the family  tree.  

This little tree has turned out to be a seasonal standard for my kitchen.  We keep thinking of more and more ideas to use it for.  

The red bird that lasted through Christmas, then hung around for Valentine's Day still wanted to remain; so why not?  You know how I love Cardinals!

It adds a little red to the trinity of clovers and the red seemed to be quite appropriate; plus it was just the little pop of color we needed to offset everything else that was going on here.

I put a few shamrocks on the laundry room doors.  Anything to make doing laundry more fun works for me.

I wanted to have some other old friends over to visit with our Pennsylvania girls; so we formed a small group and ate Italian food together in an Irish House that called itself a castle.  What a blend!  There were Catholics and Protestants and Jews; and all of them were happy!   I'll bet you won't find that combination anywhere else!  It was quite the cultural affair, and we enjoyed every minute. 

The house was as diverse as the group of people who gathered, happily sharing their lives and telling their stories.  

It made for a very merry day.

I wanted something sweet and special to say welcome to them all and my first thought was that pretty white roses would make just such a statement.  They greeted everyone with their lovely fragrance as they first came inside the door, and the white tulips on the door wreath joined in with their welcoming. I loved the contrast of the pure whites against so much green in the room.

I also filled the vase on the kitchen table with bright cheerful yellow tulips and set them inside a crystal vase on a bright green tray, which I surrounded with sugar cookies made in the shape of 3-leaf clovers with green sprinkles.

Loved seeing these smiling happy faces.  There were more guest that didn't get into the photos.  Wish I had a group photo of everyone that came and went that week.  You have never heard such interesting stories as those that flew around the room when we all gathered together.  Every person in the room seemed to have something of utmost importance on their mind.  

One of our guests was known for her talents in weaving.  She has some amazing looms set up in a house that is over one hundred years old!  Some history was shared for sure.  

Another guest who just happened to be a theologian and he filled us in on the latest books and movies that speak about all the complex issues of life.  

One guest was about to take an adventurous trip to explore the new life-sized reproduction of Noah's Ark in Kentucky.  Can't wait to hear about what he discovers there.  

Me....I was all ears and serving Irish cookies and coffee with all that Italian food.  My husband and granddaughter were helping.

You know my Mom had to do her part of the fun.  She blessed us with a coconut pound cake.  I am now wearing that cake; and a few other people are doing the same.  It was delicious!

Seasonal decorating is just a good excuse to invite people over to celebrate all of the phases of life. 

Someone pointed out that although we were paying a lot of attention to St. Patrick; St. Joseph was a focus for this month too!  I always say "the more Saints, the merrier!"  

So much to teach my sweet little grandkids, one of which was enjoying the glory of a beautiful sunny day and making huge bubbles with her bubble wand on the back deck while all the adults socialized.

The green hats and clover necklaces added to the fun in the living room area.  
So it was that we celebrated St. Patrick's Day by going green at the castle.

I hope you had a chance to do a little Irish at your castle too.

I'll just end here with a little Irish blessing for all of you:


May you always have walls for the winds,

A roof for the rain, 

tea beside the fire,

laughter to cheer you, 

those you love near you,

and all your heart might desire. 


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
EVERYONE!

OH THE PLACES WE WILL GO - ALDRIDGE GARDENS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A TWO YEAR OLD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

It is gloomy outside today, but we don’t want to stay in the house, even though G-Ma has begun her spring decorating and I like all the bunnies and flowers.  We’ve already hidden eggs and played with the bunnies and eaten robin's egg candy and peeps and taken a walk outside to G-Ma’s pretty plumb tree that is all white and blooming to listen to the “tweet-tweets sing.”  

What else can we do G-Ma?

Okay……it might rain on us, but we will take the chance.  

Let’s load up the stroller and drive over to Aldridge Gardens.  

"Yea!  That would be grand!"

So we hop in my car seat in G-Ma's car and drive out to Hoover, Alabama.

When we first arrived it was sprinkling rain.  We were not too sure about getting out of the car, but we grabbed our bag of bread for the ducks, put the top up on my stroller and headed out anyway. 

A kind man with a BIG umbrella came to meet us at the car.  He began walking us to the guest house thinking we were here for the wedding party.  

He laughed when G-Ma asked if he was going to walk around the lake with us! 

By the time he figured out we were not with the wedding party, the sky had cleared and we were not getting wet anyway.  

I let the top down on the stroller, and I decided I mostly wanted to walk on my own.  

I told G-Ma to look after my vehicle while I explored this awesome place.

The first thing we saw was this.  G-Ma told me it was a sun-dial.  I still am not so sure what that means.

It is so pretty here!  

Even at the end of winter, the little spring flowers are starting to bloom and there are petals scattered all over the sidewalks where the wind has blown us a carpet of them to walk through.  Nice welcome before looking up to see two BIG bunnies and a friendly turtle.

They like me!  I think I’ll visit with them awhile.  

These are not interested in my bread.  I wonder why G-Ma insisted that we bring it along.  I think I'll just nibble on it myself!

They are close to where the wedding reception chairs are being placed, we skirted around that area and went to see the pretty little waterfall.

Look at the lake!  It is so pretty!  See the trees in the lake!

Look!  There are some ducks swimming in this water!

I will feed them my bread!  Come here little ducks!

This is fun!  They like me!  

Here is a wooden bridge.  Let's walk over it and see what is on the other side.

Wow!  This place is really cool.  I think I know why G-Ma likes to come here so much.

We walk down to the lakeside where wedding chairs are waiting for their occupants.  Oh!  The ducks are having their own private ceremony.  How convenient!  Shhhhhh……don’t frighten them.  “Quack-quack” but in a whisper.

Look!  There is a boat house.  I see people there, maybe I can make some friends today.

Can we go inside????  Pleeeeese!!!!!

It is easy to make friends when you are the only one with bread.  

Look!   The fish and turtles swim right up to our feet!  

How exciting can things get around here?  New kids, fish, turtles and water.  Nothing is better than this!

So sorry fish and turtles.  I'm all out of bread!  I gave it all away to my new friends and I fed you all the rest.  The ducks got some you know!

Goodbye little fishes and turtles!

Just one last look at the pretty water from the boat house.

Okay G-Ma......I'm coming.

Lot's more of the park to see.  We will probably not be able to see it all today, if we walked around the lake it might pour down rain on us.  Something to do on another more sunny day.

Oh!  A goose comes up to us!  “Honk Honk…..I want some bread!”  I discover that my grandmother can speak goose!  “Honk-Honk” she says back. I try it too.  "Honk-Honk!!!  Honk-Honk!!!"

Well, it was fun, but we have to be moving on if we are going by Toys-R-Us and stopping for Ice Cream at Brewster”s today.

Okay…..but look!  More friends!!!!!

We pause to greet more park lovers before strolling back to the gate.  

We stop by the funny man’s head  (I'm not sure about him)  and the other sculptures people put into the wood along the pathway.  I’m sure no one would appreciate them in quite the same way that I did.  G-Ma says Art is in my blood. 

As we go back toward the gate I  think the yellow flowers are the prettiest!

Good bye pretty gardens . 

And we are off to get ice cream and look at toys.  

I’m sure they could never be as entertaining as walking in this lovely garden during the sprinkling rain.