Saturday 17 March 2012

Happy St Patrick's Day Part 2

Oh all right then! Well done, England! And thank you, Betty for this fabulous leprechaun! I love him! Most gracious of you, given our Six Nations defeat of this evening!

And thank you, Lisa, for the fabulous ancient swamp willow with happy boys! I love it! Today they didn't enjoy quite the nice weather that you give them!

All started sunnily enough- for a picnic with Nedboy and co at Navan Fort. Here in days gone by the warriers of Ireland met and feasted, and Cuchulainn became the Hound of Ulster, and Macha cursed the men of Ulster. All good grim stuff! This morning we just had to contend with the Willows feasting on our quiche, as real warriers do, apparently, eat quiche.

On we continued to Armagh: city of Saints and Scholars, Ard Macha after she of the chariot race and the twins and the curse. Also, as the sign says, a town of opposites. Aren't we cheerful in the rain? Mattman is licking it, and I don't know what Cooking Catherine is doing with it.

Here comes St Patrick leading his parade. Behind him his modern day successors- both Archbishops uniting opposites at the front of the procession. This did nearly make up for the irony of us all being held back by orange rope (the parade had been re-routed because of a bomb scare further down in the town)!

Happy, bouncy leprechaun, and then lots and lots of animals, which must have been this year's theme. I think they had heard that the Willows would be there! The boys were, however, safely out of the elements, for fear that more of poor Mole's ink would run!



This is St Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Our book says that he drove out the snakes as he had driven out sin. Well. I wish he had driven out Macha when he was about it- here she is screaming fury at us all! I unfortunately took her photo just as she caught my eye- and now she has me cursed along with the men of Ulster! Suggestions for avoiding disaster in the comment box below, please- we don't need any more lachrymose! Angela and Betty- I shall be posting the boys out of harm's way this week!

7 comments:

Jane and Chris said...

Mags, would you mind terribly if I said "England 30 Ireland 9 ...do da do da"?
Jane xxx

Lisa Richards said...

Wow! To see a real Irish St. Patrick's Day parade! I feel like such an insider now!

Thanks for posting my painting. I had a lot of fun doing it, though Toad is a little skinny. I just couldn't seem to make him look portly enough no matter how I tried.

Please be careful. That Macha gal looks pretty serious! Glad you kept the boys dry. ;)

Elderberry-Rob said...

Mags so glad you liked the little leprechaun - this was an interesting post as I know very little about life in your part of the world or about St Patrick! I think everyone put on a good show and made the best of the day despite really miserable weather. Bettyx

magsmcc said...

Oh Jane, ha ha ha ha ha and on St Patrick's Day. You should be ashamed of yourselves!

Jane and Chris said...

Mags...blush blush!
Jane xx

Left-Handed Housewife said...

Funny, in a strange way I think of St. Patrick's Day being an American holiday, which I realize is ridiculous, except we do have a habit of taking days of religious observance (All Hallow's Eve, for a famous example) and turning them into something quite silly. Interesting to see that the silliness--and fun--can be universal!

xofrances

The dB family said...

This looks like fun -- even if scary Ulster caught you taking her photo. I hope you will have no more lachrymose.

Blessings!
Deborah

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