It's all so green

 I hope you all have had a pleasant St. Patrick's Day whether you are really Irish or only a little Irish like me.  My west coast brother suggested that today I should go looking for shamrocks and four leaf clovers.  That got me wondering if there is a difference.  

There is indeed a difference.  A shamrock is a three-leaf clover and is used as a symbol of Ireland and Saint Patrick.  The name comes from the Irish word seamrog which means little clover.  The three leaves represent the Holy Trinity. 

When I was very young our yard had lots of clover growing in it and we would search sometimes to see who could be the first to find a four-leaf clover.  Everyone knows that four-leaf clovers are lucky.  I did not know until this evening that only one in 5000 clovers possess the extra leaf.  No wonder our searching took a while.  The four leaves are said to represent faith, hope, love and prosperity.

Unless of course you grew up in the country like I did and belonged to a 4-H club.  The 4-H symbol is a four leaf clover with an H on each leaf.  The H's stand for Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

None of which has anything to do with Saint Patrick's Day but it has been fun to remember.

a fishy Finn

 Everyone knows that tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day but did you know that today is Saint Urho's Day?  This special day is based on a Northern Minnesota legend begun in the 1950s. Richard Mattson, a Finnish American founded the day as a playful reason to celebrate on the day before Saint Patrick's Day. "Why," he asked "Should the Irish have all the fun?" Since the 50s this day has evolved from a joke to a beloved tradition celebrated in many cities throughout the United States, especially by Finnish Americans.     

The serious celebrators wear purple and green, purple for grapes and green for grasshoppers (the bugs not the drink).  The legend goes that Saint Urho drove all the grasshoppers out of Finland, thereby saving the vineyards.  

If you seriously doubt that Finland has vineyards, or grasshoppers for that matter, I suggest that you visit Finland on your next holiday.  It's a wonderful country and I highly recommend a visit.  

But if you want to celebrate Saint Urho's Day you will have to stay in the USA. Saint Urho's Day is not celebrated in Finland.  It is, however, celebrated in Finland, Minnesota and many other US cities, also at least one in Canada.

a misunderstanding??

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "Eat an Animal for PETA Day."  I really don't think this is what PETA is all about but I did have Swiss steak for supper. 

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is the world's largest animal rights organization. focused on stopping abuse of animals in laboratories, food, clothing and entertainment. It was founded in 1980.

I only bring this up because last night my spouse and I watched the old John Wayne movie "Hondo" filmed in 1953.  It was a good movie, excellent entertainment, ahead of its time in many ways, and involving what appeared to be hundreds of horses.  

I don't know, nor do I care to know, if any horses were maimed or killed in the filming of that movie, but as I watched it I kept thinking that it must have been filmed before PETA was founded.  I was right; see the dates above.  There were lots and lots of horses running all over the place in this movie.  Soldiers on horses, homesteaders on horses, cowboys on horses, Apaches on horses and horses pulling covered wagons and other conveyances.  It was a very exciting movie, but I can't help thinking that films like this were part of the reason that PETA was founded. True or not, I do recommend the movie.

Oh happy day!!!!!!!!!

 


The big day has finally arrived.  My great grandson is nine days old and I got to meet him and hold him and rock him for almost a half hour.  I had to wash my hands before I could hold him.  Can you tell he's a first baby?  My son (his great uncle) says "They'll be passing the second one around like a collection plate." We shall see.

In addition to the joy of holding him, I had the pleasure of rocking him in this old maple rocker.  I could tell he liked it and he should.  My mother rocked me and my brothers in this rocker and I have rocked my children and grandchildren in it.  And now my great grandson.  Life is GOOD!!

when the bough breaks...

 Rock a bye baby in the treetop.

When the wind blows the cradle will rock.

When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,

Down will come baby, cradle and all.

Isn't that the most depressing lullaby you've ever heard?  Who would sing that as you were trying to lull a child to sleep?  It has been a very windy day here today and I think that's what brought this poem to mind. The more I thought about the words the more I thought that this is not a cheery little ditty. 

So I did a little research.  It turns out that this English nursery rhyme first appeared in print as "Hush-a-bye" in "Mother Goose's Melody" around 1765 but seems to have been sung since about 1688. It seems that the innocent sounding lullaby was actually a death wish aimed at the infant son of the Catholic King James II.  Some of the citizens were wanting him to be replaced by a protestant king.  James Francis Edward Stuart was born in 1688. His birth, as a Catholic heir trigggered the "Glorious Revolution."  He spent much of his adult life in exile in France.  

I'm glad that he got to spend most of his adult life in France and probably in royal splendor but I can't help wondering how he felt, knowing that people were wishing him dead from the time he was born, and even singing about it.  It's enough to give a child a complex.  That's enough tid bits of history from me.  Feel free to do more research on your own.

star light star bright...

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "National Milky Way Day."  While I'm guessing that they (the mysterious they who make up these days) are referring to the candy bar, which is admittedly delicious and worth celebrating, it reminds me of how much I long to see a starry night.  

My spouse and I live in a very comfortable older subdivision which has been surrounded by more and more housing as the city expands around us.  Consequently, there is lots of ambient light even in the middle of the night.  Street lights, porch lights and security lights bathe our nights in soft light.  Which is all good and well unless you want to see stars.  On a really clear summer night I'm able to see two, sometimes three, stars.  Technically one of those is a planet.

When my first husband and I lived in what was then "country" we were able to stand with our children in the front yard and see the Big and Little Dippers, Orion's Belt and sometimes the Milky Way.  Then a traffic light was installed on our corner and it was never quite the same.

Before you feel too sad for me, let me assure you that I have seen stars in recent years.  A few years ago a friend and I were traveling in Finland.  One night our group was taken by bus way out into the country in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights.  They did not appear but the stars were spectacular.  On a cruise that my wonder spouse and I took last year, everyone was invited up on deck one clear night for some star gazing.  We did see stars but, for safety, some lights on the ship had to be left on so it wasn't as spectacular as it might have been. 

However, I see two good star gazing opportunities coming up.  When my spouse and I go on our cruise in May we will be at sea for several nights so I have hope of seeing stars then.  Even better, on the way home from that trip we will be visiting my west coast family for a few days and, if I know my brother, he will indulge me by turning off all the lights if there is a clear night, and we might actually see the Milky Way.  Fingers crossed.

Eastward ho...

 In 10 weeks and two days my spouse and I will be departing on a cruise which starts with four days in Tokyo, Japan.  I have begun to daydream about this trip already.  Part of the reason is to avoid thinking about the crazy weather going on here at home. Today, for instance, began at 60 degrees with warm rain, thunder and lightning, and finished, as of 6:00 this evening at 37 degrees with a cold wind blowing. 

I have no idea what the weather will actually be like in May in Japan but to really enjoy my daydreams I decided I should check it out.  68 to 70 degrees is the average high in May in Tokyo with temperatures gradually warming through the month.  According to one source, May is considered the best month to visit Tokyo, when it's warming up but not yet humid.  Sadly we will be too late for the cherry blossoms but you can't have eveything.  

Based on previous excellent experiences with Viking, there will be a guide to greet us at the airport (we are flying first from Chicago to Tokyo).  And, if things work out as they did in Cairo. that same guide will spend the first couple of days of our visit showing us aound Tokyo, then make sure we get on the ship for the rest of our trip/cruise which will include several stops in Alaska.  

I know this might not sound as adventurous as some people's travels.  It doesn't compare to scaling the Himalays or finding the remains of a lost civilization in a jungle but it works for us.  We enjoy our creature comforts like good food and a comfy bed.

'Arigato gozaimasu' is a very polite way of saying thank you in Japanese.  I am by no means a linguist but I think that would be a good phrase to learn.   I should be able to learn that in 10 weeks, don't you think?