St. Paddy's Day

St Patrick's Day, on March 17, remembers one of Ireland’s patron saints, St Patrick. It largely celebrates Irish-American culture in the United States.

Stories like the Leprechaun's pot of gold are shared on St Patrick's Day.

©iStockphoto.com/SharapaAndriy

Celebrate St Patrick's Day

Celebrations concentrate on Irish themed parties, drinks and food. Many people get into the spirit by dressing in green clothing and eating green colored food. Irish clubs and pubs often hold parties or have special deals. Large street parades mark St Patrick's Day.

Water is dyed green in public places in some towns. The most notable body of water that was dyed green was the Chicago River in 2005.

What's Open or Closed?

St Patrick's Day is not a federal holiday in the United States. Schools, businesses and organizations are open as usual. Public transport systems run on their regular schedules. There may be some local disruption to traffic due to St Patrick's Day parades. This is particularly true in cities with a large Irish-American population, including New York, New Orleans and Seattle. The parades may be on or around March 17, so it is a good idea to check local sources for the exact location, date and time.

About St Patrick's Day

St Patrick is one of Ireland's patron saints and many Americans with Irish ancestry remember him on March 17. Patrick's Day is fixed on March 17, but may occasionally be moved by Catholic Church authorities. This happened in 1940, so that the celebrations would not fall on Palm Sunday, and in 2008 to avoid Holy Monday, the last Monday before Easter Sunday.

Symbols

The most common St Patrick's Day symbol is the shamrock. The shamrock is the leaf of the clover plant and a symbol of the Holy Trinity. Other symbols include:

• Almost anything green.
• The green, orange and white flag of the Republic of Ireland.
• Brands of beer associated with Irish culture.

Religious symbols include snakes and serpents. Other symbols seen on St Patrick’s Day include the harp, which was used in Ireland for centuries, as well as the leprechaun and a pot of gold that it hides.

Memories

Today we are visiting my mother in her assisted living facility.  I have brought along some recipes and photos to jog her memory.  She has dementia but overall she does pretty good for a 95 year old gal--she can dress herself, feed herself and of course, give you her opinion on everything you say and do!

I found the handwritten recipes from my Granny and wanted mother to see them

and make comments, if she remembers any of these recipes.  I remember one she always made at 

holiday time--

"candy date roll"--I hated this candy!  And now to find the recipes and see my Granny's notes

certainly brings back memories--She notes that this recipe came from Iona Scott (35 years ago)

and Granny wrote it out October, 1974--I must ask mother who Iona Scott was--a friend, a relative? 

and then there is the recipe for

Green Tomato Pie from Chloe Egger (note says--mom's sister)

I really need to pull out my ancestry log and look at it again

I'm glad we reproduced these recipes and others in a family booklet that was a gift to all members.

we did this for both sides of the family

Have you done this for your family?  A collection of old favorites is the way to go--

and each member loves to tell you what they liked best in their cookbook.

Beware The Ides of March!

The Ides of March

Just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year

by Borgna Brunner

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a dark mood—it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Surely such a fanciful expression must signify something more than merely another day of the year? Not so. Even in Shakespeare's time, sixteen centuries later, audiences attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have blinked twice upon hearing the date called the Ides.

The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:

• Kalends (1st day of the month)
• Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
• Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days).

Days in March

March 1: Kalends;
March 2: VI Nones;
March 3: V Nones;
March 4: IV Nones;
March 5: III Nones;
March 6: Pridie Nones (Latin for "on the day before");
March 7: Nones;
March 15: Ides

Used in the first Roman calendar as well as in the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.E.) the confusing system of Kalends, Nones, and Ides continued to be used to varying degrees throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.

So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calendar is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundane meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on which bills are due.

Brioche Knitting--Well, Trying.......

Okay, I'm at it again......................................................!  Stephen West came up with a selection of Brioche knitted patterns and I was right there with my charge card--what was I getting into?  I wrote a blog about brioche (What is Brioche Anyway?, Sept 22, 2015).  I just can't resist Stephen's patterns--so creative, colorful and wearable!

I found my fiber--been using this fiber for multi projects--start, rip out, don't like, so the fiber is well aged, that's for sure!

it's a nice fiber and I like the colors and this pattern (Briochevron Scarf) uses two colors.

I began--I cast on--looks like one big mess to me!

okay, go watch some youtube videos--I'm on the right track--just need to 

concentrate for awhile until I've got this stitch under my belt.  After several attempts of

getting this right, I decide to sign up for Nancy Marchant's lessons on

Craftsy--perfect--on sale too!

Doesn't this look so cool?  Maybe, I should have stuck with one color brioche knitting 

before tackling two colors?  

Cyber Fiber '97

Many moons ago, as social networks were just heating up the internet, I joined an internet group of fiber artists that discussed everything from dyeing to weaving, etc. 

We were an eclectic group.............

and a fun time for us as we ventured through the wide world web learning the 

ins and outs of fiber art.

Then, there was the chance to do an art apron challenge

The other day while cleaning out my fiber closet,

I found my apron! 

There was an catalogue with all the aprons, photos, reviews from the

judges and artist statements for each apron.

Here is my artist statement--I know--it's hard to read, but now if you have a 

smart phone or reading from an Ipad, you can enlarge--

we had no such thing in 1997.

My apron was titled--"Mother--still attached"

Our aprons were displayed at International Quilt Festival, Fall, 1997 and

the collection went on tour in various states.

My apron was selected as one of the ones that

was presented in lectures----aren't we all still attached to our

mothers--even though we try to cut those apron strings time and time again.

There is always a way we are mending those ties......

Still Attached to Mother!

Almost There..........................................Bonnie

OH, yes!  It's almost there--just need to add a few touches to call it a complete project!

I'm talking about Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery,  Allietare .  The pattern was free for a few months but now it's a digital download--well worth the $8.

So the final pieces to the puzzle are these corner blocks

one star block with gold centers and the red center blocks were shown in a previous post

The little 'fishy' blocks were used in the red center blocks--I think I could use these in another

quilt with water as the background...................hmm, I'm thinking.............

sorry--did a little aside there

Here it is laid out on the floor.  I always have trouble with diagonal layouts,

so, doing each row at a time is helping and starting from both sides to meet in the middle

is the best for me. 

Yelp, we are almost there................

just a couple of more seams, borders and

it will be off to the quilters! 

You Had Me at Mystery!

This a Mystery KAL for a semi-circular. top-down shawl, designed by  Maria Rosa Spighetti

There will be 3 clues, scheduled as follows:

March, 11 — clue 1
March, 18 — clue 2 
March, 25 — clue 3

This clues version will be free until March, 27 when the full pattern will be released.

Happy knitting!