St. Patrick’s Day Crawl

Cuisine Kathleen is having a sharing of the green party. If you’ve never visited her blog you should because she always has such yummy goodies to share and pretty tables to show. She knows what to put on a plate! For the 6th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Crawl I’m putting some goodies from the past together.  Thank you, Kathleen.

This little Belleek bowl is about the only thing I have that is Irish and worthy of St. Patrick’s Day. I found it at a thrift store for under $5.00 and thought it was a steal!

The Dear Little Shamrock

by Andrew Cherry

There’s a dear little plant that grows in Ireland.
‘Twas Saint Patrick himself sure that set it.
And the sun on his labor with pleasure did smile.
And a tear from his eyes oft-times wet it.
It grows thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
And it’s called the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

That dear little plant still grows in our land,
Fresh and fair as the daughters of Erin,
Whose smiles can bewitch, and whose eyes can command,
In each climate they ever appear in:
For they shine thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
Just like their own dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

That dear little plant that springs from our soil,
When its three little leaves are extended,
Denotes from the stalk we together should toil,
And ourselves by ourselves be befriended.
And still thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
From one root should branch, like the Shamrock of Ireland.

shamrock ~ In the irish language, this tiny three-leaved -and, with luck, four-leaved – plant is called seamrac or semrach, the diminutive of the word for clover, seamar. Thus shamrock means, literally, “little clover,” which is just what it is.

The Dear Little Shamrock

There’s a dear little plant that grows in our Isle,
Twas Saint Patrick himself sure that set it;
And the sun on his labour with pleasure did smile,
And the dew from his eye often wet it.
It shines thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
And he called it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

Chorus:

The dear little Samrock, the sweet little shamrock,
the dear little, sweet little Shamrock of Ireland.
That dear Ireland.

That dear little plant still grows in our land,
Fresh and fair as the daughters of Erin,
Whose smiles can bewitch, and whose eyes can command,
In each climate they ever appear in.
For they shine thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
Just like their own dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

CHORUS

That dear little plant that springs from our soil,
When its three little leaves are extended,
Denotes from the stalk we togethr should toil,
And ourselves by ourselves be befriended.
And still thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
From one root should branch, like the Shamrock of Ireland.

CHORUS

From 2008 at Fado an Irish Pub in downtown Seattle…

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

IMGP7563I love Celtic Crosses. This one is from Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

 I will be making Corned Beef and Cabbage this weekend at our son’s place in Eastern Washington. Do you make it this time of year?

I is for St. Ives

When we were in England last September we traveled to St. Ives and I’m ignoring the St. and calling this Ives for my ABC Wednesday Post. Thanks to Denise Nesbitt for starting this meme and for friends in keeping it going.

St. Ives is on the West coast of Cornwall, England.

St. Ives sunny 008As I was going to Saint Ives,
I crossed the path of seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kittens,
Kittens, cats, sacks, wives,
How many were going to Saint Ives?

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2013-09-18 St4

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St. Ives sunny 013

St. Ives sunny 090

 

It was a nice train ride in and out of St. Ives. St. Ives draws the crowds and even in September it was wall to wall people in the narrow lanes in town.

Andrew and Katie

Today is our Katie and Andrew’s 3rd wedding anniversary. He is in Afghanistan and she is in the Seattle area. Quite far apart but close in heart.

BP03112012_194cKatie was trying to calculate how many days they’ve actually been together in these 3 short years. They’ve spent a lot of days apart because of Andrew’s service in the Marines. That’s the way it is and that’s what they signed up for. It’s good to understand that going in and then it’s good to have the support of God, family and friends to get you through.

Happy Anniversary you two. May God bring Andrew home safe and may he bless you with many years of growing together in love for each other and for God who is the architect of marriage.

HT: Jeremy Leffel Photography

Repetition…

For my flashback this week I’m going back to England in 1973/1974. When we travel to England this coming July we hope to duplicate some of our visits from the 70’s.

img511Chalk Church Gravesend

img514This might be Canterbury.

img521Stonehenge

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img529

img530img534Windsor

img535Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

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england raspberries

img507Maybe I’ll get tea in bed, too.

If you could travel anywhere for 2 weeks where would you choose to go?

Rain Won’t Stop…

…our parade!

We had a full day of celebrating this past Saturday and we didn’t let the pouring rain dampen our spirits or our celebrating.

sounders-Wilma1Opening the game with the National Anthem and all the branches of the military represented is one of my favorite parts of being at the game instead of watching it from home. Our soccer crowd sings along and it’s great to hear close to 40,000 people singing.

sounders-Wilma3There are lots of creative ideas to get the fans behind the team and to keep us cheering. The blue and green plastic squares were in our cup holders and they had blue sections and green sections and had us all hold up our squares at once. Fun times. At every kickoff the green streamers fly. Our most expensive player, Clint Dempsey, has lots of fans and someone created a Dempseyland banner using Disneyland printing. Fun times.

P1040873We are fortunate to have our season tickets under some cover so the rain does not fall freely on our heads. If the wind picks up we can get some rain blown our way but for the most part we stay dry when others in the stadium get soaked.

Of course it would have been a bummer if after all this we would have lost the game but I’m happy to say we won. It took till the very last minute of the game but we won and we left elated and ready to face the horrible downpour and slick roads home. Once home we got ready for our next fun event.

P1040898Our Laura’s grandmother, Wilma, turned 90 this week and we all got together to celebrate her 90 years at her favorite restaurant.

sounders-WilmaWilma is such a sweet lady and we are so happy to have gotten to know her since Josh and Laura got married.

P1040896Isn’t the cake great?

These two events on the same day really brought a lot of sunshine into my world.

I’m linking up with Sunlit Sunday  at My Little Home and Garden and Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.

What is brightening up your world these days?

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus ~ Hymn

Wells Tuesday 115

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

Refrain

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Refrain

Words: Helen H. Lemmel, 1922.

Looking Up…

I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five. Five things that I can look back on that help me remember to be thankful.

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1. Dear has been down and out all week with a head cold and cough. I’m thankful that things are looking up for him. I’m also thankful that we are relatively healthy around this old house and we don’t go through many weeks like this.

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2. Signs of Spring are popping up all over and that really makes me smile.

 

3. My pop is doing well. We thought he might have shingles and he got the word that he doesn’t. I’m so thankful he doesn’t have to deal with that on top of his continued loneliness without my mom. I’m also thankful that my sister Kathy and her family have moved within 5 minutes to my dad’s apartment and they are willing to be there when he needs anything.

pop and kathyMy pop always travels with his checkbook in his shirt pocket. This habit of his makes me smile.

4. We had a wonderful time with our adult kids this past weekend. Lots of great together time eating and laughing and playing games. Dan and his girlfriend made it here and back across Snoqualmie Pass and I’m always thankful when I hear that they made it home safe and sound. The pass and the roads in Eastern Washington were treacherous for them and they saw lots of spin outs and rollovers on their way home. The day after they traveled the pass was shut down for most of the day.

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5. I’m continuing in my quest to scan many of our photos. As I scan the photos the memories of times and people that added so much to our lives make me thankful to God for family, friends and life changing events.

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This is a random photo from late ’76 or early ’77. My niece Debbee was born in May of 1976 and that’s how I can guess the timing of this photo. Love that my little babushka is in the photo. This was Dear and my second home in Huntington Beach, California. Dear, my best friend Heidi, my brother Steve, my pop, my mom, my sister Vera. Next row my brother in law Nick, niece Debbee, my sister Kathy, my sister Lana, my little babushka, and my brother Leonard.

I hope to be around to see what you are thankful for this week. You could share in the comments, too.

Delicious…

…if I have to say so myself.

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For a close up of this Avocado Mango Salsa and the easy recipe head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook.

We had to cancel our small group meeting tonight due to the lingering bug at this old house. I feel quite unmotivated to do much of anything. Hope you are all well and the weather is improving where you are. We are in a steady rain pattern with threats of flooding and mudslides.

H is for Hellebore

We are at the letter H with Denise Nesbitt’s  ABC Wednesday Meme.

How timely since my Helleborus, Lenten Rose is blooming. I’m not sure exactly what variety mine is. It looks similar to a Spring or Angel variety that I’ve seen on line.

I had to get down on my knees to take the photos because this is a humble plant whose blooms bow their heads to the ground for the most part.

hellebore 008This is the first plant to bloom in the middle or late winter at my house. I love that it is blooming during the Lenten season.

Hellebores are perennial and largely evergreen. They are deer resistant for some of you who have asked in previous posts.

Noteworthy characteristics: Year round foliage persists through shade and snow and is fairly deer and rabbit resistant. Flowers in early spring with daffodils and tulips.

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Hope you enjoyed seeing my Hellebore as much as I enjoyed showing it. I’ll be coming around to see your ABC offering for H.

I’m also linking up to Outdoor Wednesday with A Southern Daydreamer.

Our outdoors have been cold and rainy since Saturday. I know a lot of you might still be covered in snow so who am I to complain. Looking forward to this weekend and the opening of MLS Soccer season in the U.S.A. I’ll be at the Seattle Sounders opener against Sporting Kansas on Saturday. What’s new in your neck of the woods?

Daffodils and Sunshine

Although we were short on sunshine this past weekend we had some nice sunshine last week. I bought some daffodils that always have a way of adding sunshine to a table. They also make me smile. Today is Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The day before the season of Lent begins. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up leading up to Easter Sunday. In the U.K. this is Pancake Day. Shrove comes from the old word “shrive” which means to confess. Will you be eating pancakes today?

2014-03-01 daffodils1

 

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We had a great visit with our middle son and his girlfriend this weekend. I did not take one photo. We ate, played games, ate some more. Now that Dan has his own house we are slowly sending over his leftover belongings from our house. You know how that goes if you have adult children. This time around he was able to load 2 motorcycles in the bed of his truck to take back with him. I really do hope he didn’t take Dear’s head cold back with him. The roads were quite nasty on their trip home and on Monday the pass that they took was closed to traffic most of the day.

Everyone was talking about March challenges this weekend. Maybe I’ll challenge myself to do something in March, too. I’m thinking along the lines of exercise. How about you?

Those daffodils are now 13 inches high. It’s amazing how fast they’ve grown.