March 17th is
Saint Patrick’s Day
This
year, March has five Fridays, five Saturdays, and five Sundays. This only
happens once every 25 years, and is called “Irish Pot of Gold Day.” That means
you will be 25 times more likely to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
You don’t have to be Irish to find a pot of gold, but you do have to look very
carefully at the bottom of a rainbow.
On Saint Paddy’s Day, green is King. You
know the routine, get out and about and be seen in green. Mother Nature is dressed
in green. She dips her brushes into her paint pots and spreads her lovely
shades of green plentifully over mountains, hillsides and valleys. The little
birds fly about and sing sweetly to all of the children. It’s spring once
again. The air is filled with laughter;
buttercups, scarlet combine are coming up, and in the sunny meadows the
dandelions shine. It’s enough to make anyone feel jolly and gay.
Saint Paddy is a day for releasing
inhibitions, for laughing, and for having fun along with the little Irish
leprechauns. Of course, there are leprechauns. They were created long ago when
people first began to believe in those 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 with white owl
feathers in their head band. Frogs, you will notice, are dressed green on
Patty’s Day. You can hear them. They are the leprechaun’s watchdogs, croaking
all night, music clear and sweet, and you feel very fortunate if you have been
part of all of this.
Dress in the
morn wear something green to avoid getting pinched; add a trinket or two so you
don't look ordinary. Eat lotsssaa corn beef and cabbage to 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. The Irish have cultivated a reputation for irreverence and a history of
picking fights with the big guys. They have a remarkable ability to take on,
the world’s elite cricket nations and win. The outcomes spark frenzied
celebrations. Did you not know that not very long ago their National Cricket
Cloverleaf’s team kicked England in the teeth, sheer shock. The best game ever.
You’ve heard of Ben Franklin, I’m sure, and
his experiment with electricity using a kite, and the boy who flew the kite
across Niagara Falls started the begging of the building of a massive bridge,
and there’ll be kites over the roof tops the sun warming children’s faces, with
children and dads flying kites e buffeted by the blustery wind in the parks all
around town. The kids will be out and about, carrying kites with fluttery tails,
crafted from newspaper, plastic, and balsa wood. The kites you’ll see rise in
the air like a bird on the wing. Dad’s and leprechauns can to anything. And don’t
forget you are 25 times more likely to find your pot of gold where you wouldn’t
expect it, at the end of a rainbow.
Wishing you all
my blarney love and a very happy good St. Patrick Day.
DR. KARL WALLACE D.D.S.
