St Patrick’s Day Celebration and Giveaway
You are most welcome here today, St Patrick’s Day (well, almost, as I am posting it an hour or two early, before I head to bed!)
A Wish for a Friend
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers-
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours-
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!
This sign hangs in the Guinness Museum in Dublin.
However, I must start with an explanation /confession …….this is the first time I have ever celebrated St Patrick’s Day! Growing up it was not a big deal in our town, and it was not even a day off school, so I have never been to a St Patrick’s Day parade…ooops! Even if I wanted to go to a celebration today – all 3 of my kids are in school/playgroup so it is just a normal day. My husband does have the day off work as it is a public holiday – we may celebrate by both going to the gym later for a spin class!
So here are a few typical images of Ireland, with some commentry from me!
I do not live in a thatched cottage
I don’t like Guinness
We don’t own a donkey
I have never learned Irish Dancing (but have nieces that have!)
I have never met a leprechaun
We don’t own an Irish Red Setter
I don’t play the harp!
I have never eaten Corned Beef and Cabbage – nor seen corned beef on sale, except in a tin. (a number of american/canadian friends have mentioned they eat this on St Pat’s day – but we don’t – sounds like a good marketing ploy to me!).
However, here are a few local food items associated with Northern Ireland which I have enjoyed
Brown Lemonade
Bailies Irish Cream Cheesecake
Champ
Irish Stew
Potato Bread
Soda Farl
Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps
Ulster Fry
Veda Bread
Yellow Man
Wheaten Bread
I hope I have not disillusioned you all about St Patrick’s Day here in Ireland. For some it certainly is a big celebration – and even more so in other corners of the world!
But I am very proud of our wee corner of the world, and I do think it is stunningly beautiful. I have made you a slide show of photos I took through the year – the slide show starts in Spring, and ends in Winter (if you make it too the end!). The “diddley-dee” music was the most appropriate of the choices available, but I would probably prefer Van Morrison, Brian Kennedy or Peter Corry.
Here is the layout I made as a RAK for her
Credits
kit used – Jingle Jangle by Melissa Bennet
font – Pea Alicia
alpha – Sticky Scraps by Zoe Pearn
paper curl action – T Murphy
So on to the give-away, which I have cruelly prevented you from seeing in all it’s glory.
If YOU would like to win these very cute and springy (is that a word?) egg cup and mug, you just need to do the following:
- leave a comment either telling me if you celebrate St Patricks Day, or 3 things you think of as associated with Ireland. It doesn’t matter if you don’t celebrate, or if your 3 things are not original (but that would be more interesting reading for me!
- Please make sure I have a way of contacting you if you are the winner. The comments must be made by 12 midnight on Tuesday 18th March (GMT)
- I will select a random winner, post the winning comment on my blog and email them for delivery details. This is open to everyone, worldwide! If the winner does not respond within 3 days, I will select another winner.
So that’s all from me, enjoy your St Patrick’s Day, wherever you are in the world. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let me know, and I will do my best to help.
I will leave you with this…..
An Old Irish Blessing May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. And rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
All the photos today which were not taken my me were from Stock.xchng – click here for more info.
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HI! I’m glad you caught the Focus on the Family broadcast! I loved seeing your pictures!
Jill Savage
http://www.hearts-at-home.org
http://www.jillsavage.blogspot.com
I loved your video, I really must visit the North sometime.
I only celebrate Paddy’s Day if I happen to be visiting my daughter.
The 3 things I associate with Ireland has to be:
my daughter and grandchildren ( youngest 2 were born there)
the friendly Irish folk
Beautiful scenery and of course guinness (I don’t like it either).
Your slide show was gorgeous, as was the LO!! Three things I associate with Ireland are the band U2, Leprechauns and red hair! LOL
My email is erecinella@gmail.com
what a great show – thanks for sharing!
what a great show!
Happy St. Paddy’s Day, JanMary! May good luck follow you and yours today!
Absolutely gorgeous pictures! I would love to visit some day. We don’t do anything spectacular for St. Patty’s, but I did go out of my way to make sure I was wearing green today,lol. All of the kids are having parties at school with green food and tonight I’ll probably make something green for a fun desert.
THANK you for sharing the REAL Irish traditions….
your layouts are beautiful and so is your land….gorgeous!
Have a wonderful day…..
lori
Thank you for all the great info! I dont celebrate St. Pattys Day,
1. Green Beer
2. Red hair
3. 4 leaf clover
Now I know 2 of these are not original bt its all I could come up with. I hope you have wonderful day!
Enjoyed your video so much. Hmm thre things I associate with the Irish. First off would be the music, so lively and full of happiness (a favourite of mine would be My Wild Irish Rose which was sung around the piano at every sing song when I was a child).
Second has to be the colour green. Who could ever get through St, atricks Day without wearing something green even if you are not Irish (which I am not).
Third I think would be folk tales of leprechauns and fairies.
When I think of people who are Irish it always brings a smile to my face even though I know some of them do not have it so easy and there are still squabbles going on.
Blessings to all from Canada on this St. Patricks Day
2008
Parker315@shaw.ca
Happy St. Pat’s to you too!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I have enjoyed reading your blog for the last month or so. Living in the States, some people celebrate and some don’t. We happen to have a very Irish name, so we have started making it a family tradition to do something as a wee family each year. This year we went to a Rennasaince Festival on Saturday.
Three things I associate with Ireland….
1. The stories, I have loved to read books about the old storytellers, the fairies and little people, and any thing that takes place in Ireland.
2. The lilt to the music and language.
3. St. Patrick
Someday, I hope to visit….
Hi JanMary, Love your slideshow, you take such beautiful photo’s!! I have never celebrated St Patricks day, although when I was still in school I would try to wear green….but that was just so I wouldn’t get pinched all day…since everyone seemed to think if you didn’t wear green, you were fair game! LOL
HAHAHAHA first i have to say i LOVE the prizes but really thought the picture (from yesterday) was a swirlly plate of some sort LOL GREAT fooling (yes i READ it, still my eye and brain fooled me) some days are easier than others (sigh) lol
anyways, although we don’t celebrate, when i think of Ireland, i think of, well, NOW, YOU, hehe leprachuans and shamrocks 😀 Thanks soo much for offering such FUN!!!!
i found that Ultimate Blog Giveaway a few months back and WHAT FUN!!
i hope you have the BEST day and thank you again for sharing!! 😀
I wanted to say Happy St. Paddy’s day to the only true Irish person I know (well sorta) and now I’m so bummed that you don’t celebrate it. Leave it to the American’s to take a day and make it a big party.
Hope you have a lovely day.
Thanks for the information! A couple questions:
Brown Lemonade – why is it brown?
What are these?
Champ
Soda Farl
Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps
Ulster Fry
Veda Bread
Yellow Man
Wheaten Bread (is this regular wheat bread with a different name?)
I also don’t understand the corned beef either, as far as I know, there isn’t a whole lot of corn crops in Ireland. I’m from Iowa originally, where the bulk of corn is grown. Corn beef comes from cows that are only fed corn (or almost all it’s food). This changes the flavor, color, texture of the meat (although I don’t know how healthy it is for the cow!). I thought perhaps it is a tradition created by Irish in America, rather than Irish in Ireland.
I’ve only really celebrated St. Patrick’s Day once in college where I drank some green beer. It was fun. I agree, Guinness is nasty! I tried it on that same day.
I hope you have a great day! 😀
We don’t have it off as a holiday in CANADA, but we do celebrate by the wearing of the green.
When I think of Ireland, I think of:
1. Pubs serving green beer. Of course all the wait staff would have pointy ears.
2. Fields amass in four-leaf clovers.
3. Lucky (the cereal guy) floating amidst the clouds over Ireland. Where else would a cartoon leprechan hide???
4. I KNOW I ONLY NEEDED 3… but hey I also think of people getting pots of gold in leiu of pay.
Subsequently, according to my calculations the Irish ought to be the luckiest, richest, most affluent Lucky Charm eaters this side of the clover fields.
Oh yeah, does green beer and Lucky Charms constitute a good breakfast??? HEHEHE.
Thanx for hosting the giveaway.
Pop by soon.
I’m going to bow out of the contest but I did want to give you a St.Patrick’s day greeting and tell you 3 things I associate with Ireland. 1- the book of Kells, Jameson Whiskey, and beautiful green rambling hills. I’ve said before that I do so hope to visit your lovely land sometime soon…
I also have to say that my table is set with a lot of green right now. The corned beef and cabbage is finishing cooking. My married son and his wife are joining us for dinner. So we’ll have corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots. Along with something to drink that’s green and fun. Maybe a green apple martini! I use any excuse for a celebration and St. Patrick’s Day is a fun one to celebrate…
I blogged about our St. Patrick’s day celebration this year — so yes, we celebrate it though our celebration certainly wasn’t a traditional one (if there is such a thing!). Loved your slideshow!
OMgosh, I would LOVE to try Bailies Irish Cream Cheesecake!
Someday, someday I’ll get to Ireland. I never have made it to that part of the world. All over the rest of Europe, but not there. As you saw on my blog, we celebrate my son Quinn’s birthday on St Paddy’s day, and that’s about it! I used to go out when I lived in a city and was younger, but not anymore.
Three things I associate with Ireland are ummm…
dogs (not Irish Shepherds, but just I feel like everybody there has dogs)
chips wagons (from reading books)
and THE COMMITTMENTS!! Anybody remember that movie? It’s one of my very faves!
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by my blog!
Let’s see…3 things associated with Ireland…
St. Patrick
the shamrock
red hair
I have red hair and green eyes and my family is not Irish! LOL! Anyway, everyone always thinks I am. Have a great day!
I enjoyed your St. Patrick’s Day post. The slide show makes me want to visit your country. I have some ancestors who lived there. We didn’t do much for St.Patrick’s Day. My girls wore some green and tried to pinch their brother who wasn’t. I guess that it’s a big deal in NYC. There’s a big parade, a lot of drinking, and everyone pretends that they are Irish.
Happy St. Pat’s Day! I have never really been into it all that much, but my husband comes from a large Irish family.
I loved your slideshow! And I am still loving to look at my new LO!
Here is Chicago, they dye the Chicago River green for St. Patricks day and everyone drinks green beer. The South Side Irish Parade is a huge deal too…hundreds of thousands of people attend!
Just enjoyed looking at your slideshow, thank you so much. It’s a long time since I visited your part of the world….I had forgotten just how beautiful it is! :o)
Barbara – England
I really enjoyed looking at your slide show. Makes me want to come back! My husband was born there, but we have only been back twice. Now I have two sons getting married so our next trip will be put off awhile. The three things that remind me most of Ireland are the friendly people, the music and of course the color green. I think there must be a hundred different shades of it in Ireland, each one more beautiful than the next. Have a happy day! Kelli
I already did ( subscribe I mean)
I enjoyed this post very much thank you! I love Ireland and Irish people, should come back some day, it’s been so long ago, but I think it’ll always be beautiful, and that it has not changed all that much?
Hi Jan Mary!
I think St Patrick’s day is a big celebration in NYC because of all the Irish who immigrated here over the years wanted to celebrate their heritage.
The corned beef came about because ham (rashers?) was too expensive to buy for the early immigrants to use for a boiled dinner, and corned beef was less expensive and more available. It then became a traditional meal to have on St.Pat’s, although I know many Irish Americans don’t really like it 🙂 I do, however, and so does my Italian husband!
I also think some Americans feel like time stopped in Ireland the day their great great grandfather or grandmother came over, and that’s why they have stereotypes about what is Irish as they think it is like the old days when people did live in thatched roof houses and have donkeys.
I visited the Republic of Ireland 34 years ago, and then 2 years ago, and I saw a big difference as everything was much more cosmopolitan now, and the economy is booming.
When I think of Ireland I think of warm and welcoming people, beautiful open skies, and 40 shades of green! I loved all the beautiful pictures in your slide show — I have to visit the Giants Causeway someday.
I love Ireland, and I can’t wait to visit again!
Hugs, Pat