Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Happy St. Patrick's Day

Irish dancers in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Washington, D. C. several years ago. Look carefully in the background, and you will see the Washington Monument.

Did you ever notice that this time of year, everyone seems to be part Irish? I claim the same thing, though I have some data to back it up. According to Ancestry, I'm about 40% Irish. Also, I know that at least one set of great-grandparents was born in Ireland. I think those two things qualify me to drink green beer and Shamrock shakes. Too bad that I don't like either one of those.

When I was a kid, St. Patrick's Day was "celebrated" by pinching kids who weren't wearing green. It wasn't until I was an adult that I wondered about this painful tradition. Supposedly, wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns who may pinch you for fun. Or something like that. 

More dancers from the parade.

And it wasn't until fairly recently that I learned that some wear orange on St. Patrick's Day, especially in Northern Ireland. Protestants wear orange in honor of William of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II in the 1600s. Wearing orange is often used to make a religious or political statement. A former coworker said that her Irish in-law family was quite adamant that Orange was the color for St. Patrick's Day.

And BTW, who was St. Patrick anyway? Not being Catholic, I never studied saints and have never been quite sure. But my trusty computer says that he lived in the 5th century and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. That's a little different from what I had heard previously, that St. Patrick rid Ireland of snakes. Apparently, there have never been snakes in Ireland, and snake banishing is some kind of metaphor.

And what St. Patrick's Day Parade would be complete without Irish wolfhounds?

And how am I spending this St. Patrick's Day? This morning, I got my hair cut, and this afternoon was spent at the DMV. However, I did wear a green shirt to both of those outings. :)

Did you do anything to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Until next time...

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

From a St. Patrick's Day Parade in Washington, D.C., several years ago.

St. Patrick's Day seems to be the time when everyone claims to have some Irish in them. That makes the celebrations more fun. Well, I'm going to stake my Irish claim, too. According to Ancestry.com, I am at least 20% Irish. As there is more data to work with, Ancestry updates heritage percentages from time to time. My percentages bounce around among England, Scotland, and Ireland. In some of the past iterations, I was almost 1/2 Irish. 

When I was growing up, I would hear my aunts talk about how I looked like my great-grandmother, who was born in Ireland. I never met her, but I always liked the fact that I had a "somewhat" recent immigrant ancestor. I especially liked it because one year, she was the queen of the Ritchie County Fair. Decades later, we found out through Ancestry that my mother's birth father was not the same one who was on her birth certificate. So the beauty queen, whom I supposedly looked like, was not my relative genetically, after all. I think there's some irony in there somewhere. :)

St. Patrick's Day is not one that we celebrate much, at least not like in our younger days when green beer was a must (for Ward, anyway). Or when we attended St. Patrick's Day parades in New Orleans. At these parades, they threw vegetables to make an Irish stew instead of beads. (And someday, I will find the picture of the cabbages, potatoes, and carrots we came home with from the parade.)

My nod today to St. Paddy's day was wearing a green shirt to exercise class. It was a fun class because we did relay races with chocolate coins from a pot of gold. And yes, we did eat the chocolate at the end.

Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year?

Until next time...

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today is a celebration of our Irish heritage. According to DNA analysis, I am about 40% Irish, and Ward is about 25% Irish. While I look the part with red hair and freckles, Ward doesn't with his black hair and olive skin. That's what is so interesting about genetics and our varied backgrounds. You're never sure what the almost infinite combination of genes will come up with. When I was younger and would lament to my mother, I wanted to be like one of my older sisters; my mother would always say how boring the world would be if we were all alike. She was right. 

Now to add a little more about St. Patrick's Day, I'm running an updated version of a post from three years ago.

  St. Patrick's Day This and That

Irish dancers in St. Patrick's Day Parade, Washington, D. C.

I usually don't do a lot to observe St. Patrick's Day except wear green--a habit that started in elementary school days to avoid being pinched. If you didn't wear green, you were fair game. I wondered how that crazy tradition got started and found out that, most likely, it was started by Irish immigrants in this country a couple hundred years ago. Supposedly, wearing green made you invisible to mischievous leprechauns who would pinch you if they could see you. A pinch from someone reminded you to be aware that a leprechaun could sneak up on you at any time.

However, it wasn't until last year that I learned about wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day. Apparently, you wear green if you are Catholic and orange if you are Protestant. A friend, whose mother is Irish, said she was always insistent that they wear orange instead of green on St. Patrick's Day. I think that detail was lost on most of us in this country, or at least me.

Shamrocks (white clover)

I learned another new thing this St. Patrick's Day--what a shamrock is. Sarah, my special buddy, gave me a shamrock plant for St. Patrick's Day. It was in a green pot from a store and labeled as a shamrock. However, it looked just like white clover to me and was not at all like my image of a shamrock. But I was surprised when I looked into it. While there is disagreement among the Irish about which clover variety is a shamrock, it is a clover plant. Yellow clover is what most agreed on, with white clover coming in second. I have a white clover plant. I'm not sure if I will let it join the rest of the clover in my yard or bring it inside. I may make it a house plant.

And while I usually don't do a lot on St. Patrick's Day (not green beer drinker or corned beef eater), I have been to a few parades. This was especially a big event when we lived in New Orleans. The fun part about a St. Patrick's Day parade was they threw vegetables from the floats to make an Irish stew. That means that they threw cabbages, carrots, potatoes, and onions along with the beads. We usually took them home and did just that--made a stew.

We've been to one parade here, and while it was enjoyable, it didn't quite live up to the vegetable throwing in New Orleans.

So as I go and figure out what green thing I'm going to wear today, I hope you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day, however big or small you choose to celebrate it.

Thankful Sunday, March 17, 2019

I am thankful that we're all different.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today is a celebration of our Irish heritage. According to DNA analysis, Ward and I are both 20% Irish.  I look the part with red hair and freckles, but Ward doesn't with black hair and olive skin.  That's what is so interesting about genetics and our varied backgrounds. You're never sure what the almost infinite combination of genes is going to come up with. When I was younger and would lament to my mother I wanted be like one of my older sisters, my mother would always say how boring the world would be if we were all alike. She was right. So for the uniqueness of each and every person, I am thankful.

Now to add a little more about St. Patrick's day, I'm running an updated version of a post from three years ago.

  St. Patrick's Day This and That

Irish dancers in St. Patrick's Day Parade, Washington, D. C.

I usually don't do a lot to observe St. Patrick's Day except wear green--a habit that started in elementary school days to avoid being pinched. If you didn't wear green, you were fair game. I wondered how that crazy tradition got started and found out that, most likely, it was started by Irish immigrants in this country a couple hundred years ago. Supposedly, wearing green made you invisible to mischievous leprechauns who would pinch you if they could see you. A pinch from someone reminded you to be aware that a leprechaun could sneak up on you at any time.

However, it wasn't until last year that I learned about wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day. Apparently, you wear green if you are Catholic and orange if you are Protestant. A friend, whose mother is Irish, said that she was always insistent that they wear orange instead of green on St. Patrick's Day. I think that detail was lost on most of us in this country or at least me.

Shamrocks (white clover)

I learned another new thing this St. Patrick's Day--what a shamrock is. Sarah, my special buddy, gave me a shamrock plant for St. Patrick's Day. It was in a green pot from a store and labeled as a shamrock. However, it looked just like white clover to me and was not at all like my image of a shamrock. But I was surprised when I looked into it. While there is disagreement among the Irish about which variety of clover is a shamrock, it is a clover plant. Yellow clover is what most agreed on with white clover coming in second. I have a white clover plant. I'm not sure if I'm going to let it join the rest of the clover in my yard or bring it inside. I may make it a house plant.

St. Paddy's day in New Orleans ( Photo source)

And while I usually don't do a lot on St. Patrick's Day (not green beer drinker or corned beef eater), I have been to a few parades. This was especially a big event when we lived in New Orleans. The fun part about a St. Patrick's Day parade was they threw vegetables from the floats to make an Irish stew. That means that along with the beads, they threw cabbages, carrots, potatoes and onions. We usually took them home and did just that--made a stew.

We've been to one parade here and while it was enjoyable, it didn't quite live up to the vegetable throwing in New Orleans.

So as I go and figure out what green thing I'm going to wear today, I hope you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day however big or small you chose to celebrate it.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 St. Patrick's Day This and That

Irish dancers in St. Patrick's Day Parade, Washington, D. C.

I usually don't do a lot to observe St. Patrick's Day except wear green--a habit that started in elementary school days to avoid being pinched. If you didn't wear green, you were fair game. I wondered how that crazy tradition got started and found out that, most likely, it was started by Irish immigrants in this country a couple hundred years ago. Supposedly, wearing green made you invisible to mischievous leprechauns who would pinch you if they could see you. A pinch from someone reminded you to be aware that a leprechaun could sneak up on you at any time.

However, it wasn't until last year that I learned about wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day. Apparently, you wear green if you are Catholic and orange if you are Protestant. A friend, whose mother is Irish, said that she was always insistent that they wear orange instead of green on St. Patrick's Day. I think that detail was lost on most of us in this country or at least me.

Shamrocks (white clover)

I learned another new thing this St. Patrick's Day--what a shamrock is. Sarah, my special buddy, gave me a shamrock plant for St. Patrick's Day. It was in a green pot from a store and labeled as a shamrock. However, it looked just like white clover to me and was not at all like my image of a shamrock. But I was surprised when I looked into it. While there is disagreement among the Irish about which variety of clover is a shamrock, it is a clover plant. Yellow clover is what most agreed on with white clover coming in second. I have a white clover plant. I'm not sure if I'm going to let it join the rest of the clover in my yard or bring it inside. I may make it a house plant.

St. Paddy's day in New Orleans ( Photo source)

And while I usually don't do a lot on St. Patrick's Day (not green beer drinker or corned beef eater), I have been to a few parades. This was especially a big event when we lived in New Orleans. The fun part about a St. Patrick's Day parade there was they threw vegetables from the floats to make an Irish stew. That means that along with the beads, they threw cabbages, carrots, potatoes and onions. We usually took them home and did just that--made a stew.

We've been to one parade here and while it was enjoyable, it didn't quite live up to the vegetable throwing in New Orleans.

I've been thinking about St. Patrick's Day more than normal this year because I found out I'm half Irish--DNA speaking that is. As a curiosity, I had my DNA tested by Ancestry. com and found out that I am 48% Irish. I knew that there was some Irish background, but didn't realize how much. That may be because it was only recently, through the same avenues, I got a new grandfather. Meaning birth certificates don't always represent what's really going on. It's a long story.

So as I go and figure out what green thing I'm going to wear to work, I hope you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day however big or small you chose to celebrate it.