An Irish Blessing

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's hoping you planned ahead and wore green PJs to bed last night. Randy says we won't have to wear green clothes. We have another day of sorting mamas and babies, then treating the calves to their well-baby checks. Our "green" even comes with a lovely aroma.

When I was growing up, not wearing green on St. Patty's Day meant you got pinched. My sisters and brother were especially happy to remind me if I forgot. I couldn't even eat my Frosted Flakes in peace. (I was, of course, angelic and didn't return the favor. You believe me, right?)

We  weren't immune at school either. But sneaky people could get you in trouble there. What if you pinched someone, and they said, "I've got on green underwear!"? Well, it's not as if you could make them prove it. Teachers were usually quick to help out any forgetful student by supplying a green shamrock to pin to your shirt. I mailed shamrock pins and stickers to Kinley and Brooke this week, hoping to help them avoid any mishaps at school.

I'm not Irish, but I love Irish blessings. So I've illustrated sayings from the Emerald Isle with photos from Kansas. I've heard several of the blessing ones before, but I had to laugh at some of the funny ones. You have to appreciate a sense of humor - Irish or not!

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May your feet never sweat, your neighbor give you ne're a treat. 

When flowers bloom, I hope you'll not sneeze. 

And may you always have someone to squeeze!

This is a lousy photo, which I took by accident this week when we were working baby calves. Believe me, there were times when my feet were sweating as we tried to push calves into the trailer.

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May those who love us love us.
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles,
So we'll know them by their limping.

(I hope none of us come up limping today with Round 4 of working baby calves!)

***

May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.

***

May your troubles be less and your blessings be more
And nothing but happiness come through your door.

***

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face.

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

***

Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you're looking for a little "luck of the Irish" on your dinner table today, try this Reuben Casserole:

Reuben Crescent Bake

Or, if you want some themed snack mix to watch K-State, KU and Wichita State play in the NCAA tournament tonight, here's one that's appropriate for your green theme. (And it shows no team favoritism. I'm the one to show favoritism - Go 'Cats!)

Good As Gold Snack Mix

Irish Blessing

An Irish Blessing
with snapshots from Kansas

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face.

The rains fall soft upon your fields.


And until we meet again


May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Don't forget to wear your green tomorrow!
Happy Weekend, friends!

The Best Perfume

Rain is grace;
rain is the sky descending to the earth;
without rain, there would be no life.

John Updike

Is there anything that smells better than a much-needed rain? It's better than any fragrance bottled by a celebrity and sold for exorbitant prices.

I was going to impress everyone with the why and how of this wonderful, enticing aroma. And then I found out there really is a word for the smell after a rain: petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr), a noun, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

Petrichor is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces and released into the air after a rain. So says Matthew Bettelheim at Nature's Laboratory, Mount Shasta, California.

Now there's a little something to talk about at the dinner table today.

We were in Oklahoma this weekend for a wedding (more on that later). But we came home to rain and cooler temperatures. Hallelujah! We got 1.10 inches on the County Line Sunday afternoon.

It was a timely rain. Though plenty of variables still exist for the milo crop, my personal crop consultant (AKA my husband) says a rain at this time should boost bushels, since it helps the head of the plant fill with grain.

I vote for that!

When I was looking for rain quotes, I thought this one from Thomas Haden Church best applied to life on the County Line and for farmers everywhere:

"I love going to the feed store and drinking coffee and talking about how much rain we need."

Just insert the proper location (co-op of your choice, AmPride, Joan's Cafe, the Byers mechanic shop, your local convenience store, etc.). You fill in the blank.

Randy filled in the blank this morning by going to breakfast at Joan's Cafe in Stafford. He tells me he eats oatmeal with raisins, so I don't think he's going for the breakfast. I think he's going to learn how the County Line fared in the rainfall total tally.

So my wish for you today: I hope you're able to go to the location of your choice and talk about how thankful you are for the rain. That means you got some.

And my other wish for you:

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be ever at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until we meet again
May God hold you
In the hollow of His hand.


An Irish blessing

(The photos illustrating the Irish blessing: Road at Elm Mills, Barber County, KS, July 2010; a sailboat in Sausalito, Calif., March 2007; our niece Emily, Summer 1999; a milo field on the County Line; a friend and her baby, February 2010. The leaf photo was taken in a mud puddle in our yard on Sunday.)