3.17.2011

Luck 'o the Scotch-Irish?

Ever since I was a child, I have loved St. Patrick's Day. I can't put my finger on why that is as I'm not technically Irish enough to authentically claim it as a holiday which celebrates my heritage. We're some of those Scots who moved to Ireland prior to coming to America and are now branded as "Scotch-Irish". Once you throw in a good dose of our English ancestors (including a great-great grandmother from Lands End) and add a pinch of Cherokee to the family tree - well, we're basically good ol' American mutts from the great Melting Pot. Perhaps it helps explain why I'm an opinionated, quick-tempered, fair-skinned (i.e. I never tan, I only burn), brown-haired, blue-eyed Scot with a Cherokee nickname.

This picture was taken back in 2009 - no pinching here!

So yes, I'm a hopeless sap for St. Patrick's Day, but not in a green-beer-drinking, Irish-stew-eating, soda-bread-making sort-of way. I grew up with a mom who would dye the food green on St. Patrick's Day and made sure that we were wearing green so we didn't get pinched.

I'm carrying on the green-food tradition, thanks to the bread machine and some green food coloring

I love the way we have created our own traditions to celebrate the holiday, including a yearly showing of Darby O'Gill and the Little People - how can you beat listening to Sean Connery sing?!


And I love quoting lines from The Quiet Man:

"He'll regret it to his dying day, if ever he lives that long." 

"Sir, sir...here's a nice stick to beat the lovely lady!"

So from this Scotch-Irish/English/Cherokee lass to you...

Top o'the Mornin' and
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

4 comments:

  1. Top o'the Mornin' to you too!!

    Can't wait for corned beef and cabbage tonight. Though a bit of your green bread would be a nice addition...

    I'm a mutt in real life too, but consider myself 100% Irish on this greenest of days. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE the quiet man. My dad gave my husband a stick once and quoted that line...hubby had never seen it before and was HORRIFIED. It was hilarious. I think we should check our family trees, lots of similarities. I'm pretty well mutted up too! Have a wonderful St. Patricks day, one Scotts-Irish to another!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hahahahaha, man, I needed a laugh today and that picture of you all clovered out did it, lol! LOVE IT!

    Happy St. Patty's Day!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am ashamed and appalled to disappoint you, but nevertheless will reveal, that I had a/ never heard of a film with Sean Connery singing and b/ the gall to look the film up in Wikipedia just now to check if it really was him singing. And it wasn't.

    Check it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darby_O'Gill_and_the_Little_People, the article in which we learn that indeed both voices in your clip were dubbed by other singers.

    Nevertheless, I am a sometimes reader of your blog, which often brings me much enjoyment!

    Best wishes!
    Ali from Switzerland

    ReplyDelete

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