ST. PATRICK’S DAY? BAH! HUMBUG!
Here it is two days before March 17, and I’m resigning myself to be the Grinch who stole St. Patrick’s Day. Being a writer of (part) Irish heritage — and thus feeling obliged to beget my readers a post to celebrate the occasion — I’ve been roiling me brain to come up with something about Ireland’s fifth-century snake-chaser that isn’t the same old blarney, but I’ve hit a stone wall stouter than those that subdivide the Irish countryside:
Enough already. If St. Patrick thinks I’m going to waste another second of my busy day refraining from raining on his parade, he’s got another think coming. There are plenty of other dead fish in the Irish Sea who merit time in the sun, and though it may raise a stink, I am going to turn this post over to them and say “Bah! Humbug!” to St. Patrick.
I showed my appreciation of my native land in the usual Irish way by getting out of it as soon as I possibly could. –George Bernard Shaw
I am allergic to all Irish wit, charm and humor not provided by myself. –Denis Brogan
Good Lord, what a sight/After all their good Cheer/For people to fight/In the midst of their Beer. –Jonathan Swift (from THE DESCRIPTION OF AN IRISH-FEAST)
The lanky hank of a she in the inn over there
Nearly killed me for asking the loan of a glass of beer:
May the devil grip the whey-faced slut by the hair,
And beat bad manners out of her skin for a year.
If I asked her master he’d give me a cask a day;
But she, with the beer at hand, not a gill would arrange!
May she marry a ghost and bear him a kitten, and may
The High King of Glory permit her to get the mange.
–James Stephens (from RIGHTEOUS ANGER)
For the Great Gaels of Ireland/Are the men that God made mad,/For all their wars are merry/And all their songs are sad. –G. K. Chesterton
Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis. –Oscar Wilde
The actual Irish weather report is really a recording made in 1922, which no one has had occasion to change. –Wilfred Sheed
I saw a fleet of fishing boats…I flew down, almost touching the craft, and yelled at them, asking if I was on the right [course] to Ireland. They just stared. Maybe they didn’t hear me. Maybe I didn’t hear them. Or maybe they thought I was just a crazy fool. An hour later I saw land. –Charles Lindbergh (2nd day of first solo transatlantic flight, 5/21/1927)
BroadBlogs 12:47 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Love St. Patty’s Day! (My grandpa’s birthday). Happy day to you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 7:56 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
….and happy day to you and your grandpa, whose birthdate makes him an Irishman, regardless of his ancestry! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
BroadBlogs 10:34 pm on March 17, 2017 Permalink
We are Irish. Grandpa was very proud of that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
arekhill1 1:58 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
As an Irishman whose beloved is a Jew, I feel alarmed by Wilde’s observation, made here in your post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 8:03 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Well, Ricardo, at least you have the right to drown your troubles in a brew or two (or more). I leave it to you how to relieve your beloved’s psychosis.
LikeLike
Don Frankel 6:50 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
They most probably thought Lindbergh was a Brit that’s why they didn’t answer him. But I remember not so long ago marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York. The sun was out and the temperature reached into the 60’s. It was a great day for the Irish and anyone else who happened to be about.
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 8:21 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Don, back in 1927, those simple Irish fishermen may have never seen an airplane before. It’s a wonder that didn’t jump overboard at the sight and sound of Lindbergh and his big metal bird coming down at them from out of the blue.
Happy snowy St. Patrick’s Day there in NYC (though I hear you didn’t get the foot of the white stuff yesterday that was expected).
LikeLike
Garfield Hug 8:44 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Happy St Patty’s Day. Smile Mistermuse ha ha😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 11:58 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Likewise, me bonnie lassie….and watch out that your orange pet Garfield doesn’t celebrate by drinking too much green beer and maybe spilling it all over his fur — the colors might clash.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Garfield Hug 9:10 am on March 16, 2017 Permalink
Lol! Oooh Garfield is forbidden to “drink” – ha ha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don Frankel 9:51 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Muse we got about 4 inches and they didn’t even try to tell us it was 12 inches. Lately snow fall accumulations reported by weathermen seem to be like guys talking abut there you know what’s. Not quite as advertised.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Carmen 10:18 am on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
Kudos to the Irish descendant
Whose muses are comment dependent.
His genius, you see, is apparent to me –
And all other “Observation Post” attendants.
Happy St. Patty’s Day MisterMuse!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 12:20 pm on March 15, 2017 Permalink |
What can I say —
You made me day.
No way did I know it —
That you’re such a poet.
With envy I’m green —
Such talent I’ve not seen
Since Dickenson and Browning
And I’m not just clowning….
Well, maybe a bit —
But I must show I’m a (nit)wit.
Have a Happy yourself, dear lady! 🙂
LikeLike
linnetmoss 7:52 am on March 16, 2017 Permalink |
You made me chuckle with your dead fish. And reminded me that it’s time to buy some Guinness. No green beer for me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 9:07 am on March 16, 2017 Permalink |
I think Guinness owes me a commission, but I won’t press the issue because they might pay me in dead fish. No matter — your chuckle is reward enough. 🙂
LikeLike
In My Cluttered Attic 3:17 pm on March 17, 2017 Permalink |
And a happy St. Paddy’s Day to you mistermuse. :O)
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 4:24 pm on March 17, 2017 Permalink |
Same be to ya, sure and begorra!
LikeLiked by 1 person
RMW 7:31 pm on March 19, 2017 Permalink |
I signed up for a photography tour of Ireland for this summer but it was canceled due to lack of interest. Whaaaaaat???? I am so bummed…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 8:40 pm on March 19, 2017 Permalink |
I would be bummed too. The tour company must not have promoted the tour very well. I can’t imagine a lack of interest in such a tour if enough people knew about it!
LikeLike