Saint Patrick’s Day

                                           KARL WALLACE

                                        March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day

     This year, March has three Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. This happens once every 16 years, and is called “Irish Pot of Gold Day.” That means you will be 16 times more likely to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  You don’t have to be Irish to find them, but you have to look carefully at the end of a rainbow.

    On Saint Paddy’s Day, green is King, you know the routine get out and about and be seen in your green. Mother Nature dips her brushes into her paint pots and spreads her lovely shades of green plentifully over mountains, hillsides and valleys. The little birds fly over and sing sweetly to all the happy children 'tis spring once again. It’s a day for releasing your inner leprechaun, for laughing for having fun along with the little Irish leprechaun. Of course, there are leprechauns. They were created long ago when people first began to believe in these sorts of things. You never saw a leprechaun? Well, how could you? They come out very late on starry nights. They live in colorful flower cups, dance on rose buds, and are so small you can hardly see then at first. But then as your eyes adjust to the moonlight, you will see tiny people with little green jackets and red hats that have white owl feathers in the head band. Frogs you’ll notice are dressed green on Patty’s Day. You can hear the frogs; they are the leprechaun’s watchdogs, croaking all night, a music clear and sweet, and you would feel very fortunate to have been part of all this. Air filled with laughter, buttercups coming up, scarlet columbine, and in the sunny meadows dandelions shine. It’s sure to make anyone feel jolly and gay. Dress in the morn, wear something green to avoid getting pinched, and then add a trinket or two so you won't look ordinary. Eat lottsssaa a corn beef and cabbage---give a touch of gas to the air.

       Do you have to be Irish to enjoy cricket? No, no more than you have to be a rabbit to enjoy Easter. Irish cricket players have cultivated a reputation for irreverence and a history of picking fights with the big guys. They have a remarkable ability to take on, and beat the world’s elite cricket nations. The outcomes spark frenzied blarney celebrations. Did you know not very long ago they kicked England in the teeth, which was sheer shock value, their best and most humiliating game ever.

      You’ve heard of Ben Franklin I’m sure, and his experiment with electricity using a kite, also the boy who flew a kite across Niagara Falls to help build a massive bridge. There be kites o’er the roof tops, with children at play on this day, with the sun warming their faces, and with their dad flying kites buffeted by the blustery wind in the parks around town. The kids hold a string carrying a kite with a fluttery tail, crafted from newspaper, plastic, string and maybe balsa wood. The kites rise in the air like a bird on the wing. Dad’s and leprechauns can to anything.

    Don’t forget you are 16 times more likely to find your pot of gold where you wouldn’t expect it, at the end of a rainbow.

     May the luck of the Irish be with you on this day and always.