St Patrick's Day

A day late and a dollar short. Oh and now it's past midnight so it's two days late!

Marrying into a very Irish family drove home the importance of St Patrick's Day early on. When we first started dating, that was the first family party J took me to, although his aunts thought I was a friend of his sister- Probably because he brought me in and dumped me with the womenfolk to avoid questions.

J's maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland to Rhode Island and his father's family was Irish as well, I'm not sure exactly when they got here though. Good Irish Catholics, J is the middle child of 10, and all of them love talking, singing, dancing and laughing. Our kids grew up listening to Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, and marveling when their milk and J's beer turned green on March 17.

This is the first year, I think, that no kids have been around on the holy date, hence no one to take pictures, since I was at work when J's 'friends' showed up for the annual bash. He convinced them to pose for me today so he would have pics to send the family.

Here are J and his ghoulfriends:


Can you guess that J's other favorite holiday is Halloween? These guys normally see the light of night just once a year! Every year, J gets to buy an accessory when they go on sale, to add to his collection.

I do have some Irish blood in me as well, but it's, shhh-from the Protestants. My father used to wear an orange shirt to school on St Pat's in his youth, just because he thought it was funny. My family also likes to laugh, talk and sing- not so much the dancing. And while we do love to sing, we don't do it very well. In fact, lots of us are tone deaf. But, as long as it's only us singing, we don't hear how bad we sound.

A new in-law who happened to sing for a living heard us one night, when even the piano was out of tune- She was horrified and asked her husband if we knew what we sounded like? I guess it's sort of like being the only sober person at a party- you're the only one annoyed by the drunks.

I must say my kids can carry a tune decently, lucky them. My son Shoeshine once sang a bit of an Irish favorite for his answering machine message.
"I'm a rambler and a gambler, and a long way from home, and if you don't like me, then leave me alone" An apt choice.