“Top of the morning to ya! Will ye be having corned beef and cabbage for supper, deary? And how about a green shake to go with it from the Golden Arches place??”

“My goat friend and I are enjoying a ramble about yer roses and Old Ophelia bleats her pleasure of your fields of grass, we thank ye!”

Hello there! Just A little bit of decorating fun here for St. Paddy’s Day. 😉 I found this happy little leprechaun ornament at Hobby Lobby (I think) at Christmas time. He jumped right into my cart, he did! (Bless your heart for putting up with my Tom Foolery.)

I thought I’d pull out a few of my decorations and make us a little St. Paddy’s Day vignette. The Valentine’s napkin I made while we were living in the RV was still on the table has fun hearts on it, which seem just right since this little wee gentleman sends his love! So it is our base then I added the tall birdhouse (part of another vignette beginning), a sparkly candle in a favorite Limoge berry bowl for somewhere for Mr. L to sit upon.

The shamrock sign in back is something I found at a dollar store while on a school field walking-trip along with another similar one out in California, the last year we were in our Big House. It is perfect as a mini backdrop! The pewter creamer is part of a small set of creamer, sugar, and oval tray my mother gave us for a wedding present back 34 years ago. It is from Woodbury Pewter in Woodbury, Connecticut, where my parents lived, in their last home into retirement.

And here’s a poem I found for the occasion…

The Faeries by William Allingham

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!

Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain-lake,
With frogs for their watchdogs,
All night awake.

High on the hill-top
The old King sits;
He is now so old and grey
He’s nigh lost his wits.

With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with the music
On cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen
Of the gay Northern Lights.

They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,
Between the night and morrow,
They thought that she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of fig-leaves,
Watching till she wake.

By the craggy hillside,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn trees
For my pleasure, here and there.
Is any man so daring
As dig them up in spite,
He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.

Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!

Nana’s Corner had a fun list of Leprechaun poems, too!

Okay, technically The Faeries is a Scottish poem by William Allingham, but the “wee folks” part seemed apropos for our little leprechaun. ;)’

A Wee Bit of the Irish…

Well, how many of us have Irish ancestry?? I just looked mine up again on Ancestry.com and I am at 34% roughly (32-39% range) and another 53% Scots, and the rest (13%) is from the “Anglish” with some Swiss and Brittany/French showing up on the map nowadays! How about you?

I have a silly story to tell about when my Grandmother Helen came out to visit us in our last family home in Shingle Springs, California back in 1975 or so. Grammy and my mom would do this schtick, as if they were at a family member’s wake…

“Oh, look at him lyin’ there, so peaceful like,” said Grammy.

“Yes, don’t he just?” Mom responded.

I would just totally laugh at them! I can’t remember anymore than that, but they were funny together. I wish I could remember more of what they said but it’s just been too many years. They were rolling that day!

I do wish I could have known my grandmother more. She was funny! She was 5′ 2″ tall.

During the same visit, Mom and Grammy were staring up our fireplace mantel and making jokes when Grammy said “Just put me up on the mantel and talk to me sometimes,” still in her Irish brogue.

Our family has strange humor…

Oh! Back then, do you remember when we all said, when something was yucky, “Oooh, gross!” Grammy didn’t like that because her maiden name was Gross (like floss). That was a favorite phrase of mine then. 🙂

Well, while researching, I found out that Helen’s maiden name of Gross leads back to a couple named Le Gross, so they must have changed their name as they emigrated to something less French. Maybe they were hiding?? Who knows!…

Maybe that’s where the Brittany comes in… Lesser royals?? They did emigrate just after the American Revolutionary and into the French Revolutionary time periods (I knew it!!!) Okay, now I’m dreaming!!!

Must be the faery dust… (Silly Leprechaun!!!)

Well, enough silliness for the day! 😉

Barb