No Blarney in this St. Patty's history

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. As you wear your green and look for leprechauns here are a few things about this special day.

St. Patrick has quite a history of adventures including being kidnaped and held for 6 years. He traveled many places. How do we know these things? There are two documented letters totally or partially written by St Patrick in which he describes his life. One is called the Declaration and the other is a letter to soldiers of Corotius.

The history of St. Patrick contains quite a bit of folk lore. For instance the legion of him chasing snakes out of Ireland cannot be true. Scientists have determined there were and are not snakes in Ireland. It is one of the few places in the world with that distinction. The symbol may be connected to the fact that he was known to change heathens minds to Christianity. Change serpents to angels as has been said.
In many of the pieces of artwork found from St. Patrick’s time showing him wearing blue not green. Lue is often associated with Ireland and its flag. The change of color for his vestments may have something to do with the “emerald isles” of Ireland as they are often called.

If you are a betting person don’t bet that you can find a 4 leaf clover in a day or a week or a month. The chances of finding one is 1 in 10,000.
Did you know? There are more people of Irish decent in the USA than in Ireland in the 1900’s . In the 1900’s the Irish immigrated to the USA because of discrimination and famine in their country.
We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the anniversary of his death. He died on March 17th 461.
Did you know that the in the early 1900’s to 1970 St. Patrick’s Day was a religious day in Ireland and because of that all pubs were closed for the day in honor of him. In 1970 it became a national holiday and then it became a day to drink.
So whether you are irish or only Irish for the day if you are pinched for not wearing green you now can prove your origin by sharing these tidbits of knowledge.

http://www.rubylane.com/item/357173-101895/Charming-Kelly-green-Elf-w

A bit of the Irish

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  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Treat yourself to one of the   wonderful old movies that remind us of the Irish culture we all become a part of for St. Patrick’s Day even   if we were not ‘born Irish”.  One delightful movie is full of the Irish Brogue and is called   Little Nellie Kelly.  This movie is from   1940 and features Judy Garland & George Murphy.  Judy sings her own version of “Singing in the rain” and” It’s a great day for the Irish”.  This movie is based on George M.  Coan’s   Broadway   play.   Another   wonderful movie to watch is   My Wild Irish Rose from 1947 which was nominated for an Academy Award.  Featuring the tenor voice of Dennis Morgan & acting of Arlene Dahl.  It tells the story of Chancellor Alcott in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century.  Not only does it have the movie title song but also the beautiful ballad, “When Irish Eyes are smiling” in it.  And if you want leprechauns, dancing and song watch   Finian’s  Rainbow from  1968.  Featuring  Fred Astaire & Petula Clark it is a whimsical childlike quality.  Each of these movies will put the Irish spirit in your day and the Irish jig in your walk.

   

  

           I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending out a love letter to the world.
                                                                 Mother  Teresa

:Sparkle Shirley Sparkle"

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Think of a girl with curly bouncy blond hair tap dancing and singing and your mind always goes to  Shirley Temple.  No matter what age,  whether you are 10, 30, 60 or 80 you have been somehow touched by her image or her talent.  The fact that there are DVDs out again in 2014  illustrates that point.  I could easily speak of her movies but I’d  like to share the other Shirley Temple who was hidden from the public eye but who leaks out of the pages of books and stories  written about her. Shirley was more than that talented child that director Allan Dwan was quoted saying, ''With Shirley, you'd just tell her once and she'd remember the rest of her life," ''Whatever it was she was supposed to do - she'd do it. ... And if one of the actors got stuck, she'd tell him what his line was – she knew it better than he did”, the director of Heidi said" As Shirley matured her life changed remarkably but each of her new experiences made her an impressive woman. When she found her film career was not going well she made a surprising announcement that she would retire.  At age 17 she married John Agar Jr  who had starred with her in Fort Apache.  She found out quickly that he could be a mean drinker  and philander.  She was forced to drive herself to the hospital when she went in to labor with her daughter Linda Susan. With the reality of her life she divorced and decided to retire from her film career to give her daughter all her time.  A year later she fell madly in love with Charles Alden Black a California businessman.  He was also interested in world economics and politics.  Shirley found she had a real interest in it.  She and her new husband had two children, Chuck and Lori.   Her next focus was helping others doing community service. When her brother developed multiple sclerosis she involved herself in learning all she could about the disease.  She went to the doctor with George to learn as much as she could. She found that more people needed to be doing research on the disease so she became co-founder of the international Multiple sclerosis Society.  She could be seen visiting at the hospital doing things like  serving meals and visiting tirelessly. Her focus was on them, never herself.  Later she was asked to be a UN delegate.  She saw that her film reputation helped her to be able to speak to many political  figures and she took advantage of that fact and became an asset to the UN. Later she became the Ambassador to Ghana.  She was able to help with the crisis there,  Her next  appointment was as  Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.  After arriving in Czechoslovakia she and her husband heard a group of youth demonstrating.  They followed the noise and ended up right in the center of the start of a revolution.  After escaping  to the hotel 61 yr. old  Shirley took a seat on the upstairs window ledge as the  Ambassador and  watched the event. She was spotted by the newspaper and she again became a new kind of leader.  The area of Prague was a political hot spot and she fought  a huge battle trying to free prisoners ,  fighting for human rights and working for democracy  behind the scene.  She worked for 20 years in service starting with Nixon and ending with Carter when he came into office.  Her ability to see and work through the complex issues of a foreign power showed the abilities she had.  One day she discovered a lump in her breast and returned to the US for a mastectomy.  She decided that she should use this recent crisis to make women aware of the need to take care of themselves.  She was the 1^st celebrity to speak of her mastectomy and cancer  publically.   She helped to promote self - breast exams.  Over the years she received many film awards including a mini Academy Award  but she lovingly said at age 80 that her greatest roles were as wife, mother and grandmother. "There's nothing like real love. Nothing." Her husband of 55 years, Charles Black, had just died a  few months earlier.  That curly topped singing dancing little girl changed the morale of the US during  the Great Depression  and gave us so much more in her 85 years that sadly is not often recognized. Thank you Shirley, you sure did do what your mother said   “Sparkle Shirley Sparkle” in your life.

 

BIG NEWS!!

Are you tired of the cold?  Tired of the ice?  Frustrated with the snow.

Wishing you could go to a garage sale....Well here is your chance 

Coming on February 22nd & 23rd, many shops on The Vintage Village  will be hosting a huge on-line yard sale

 

Keep the  days open  and get ready to browse. 

Changes in Sneezes and times

Pretty handkerchief from Vanity Flair Vintage

http://thevintagevillage.com/photo/hanky-vintage-1950-s-sheer-flocked-b-monogram-valentine-s-day?context=latest

 

As I sit here coughing and sneezing with what has become the annual New Year cold there was a knock at the door.  The UPS man stood there with a package in hand.   I was a bit surprised as I had not ordered anything.  Looking at the address label I found it was from my sister-in-law, Ann.  Thinking it was a very late Christmas gift I opened it.  Inside I found an envelope with a note and a couple of “things to treasure from a time gone by”. We had lost my mother-in-law before Christmas and Ann was breaking up the house.    In it were four embossed and embroidered handkerchiefs.  They were perfectly   ironed and folded.  Her request was to share them with the four little girl grandchildren as a bit of great grandma.  Perfume wafted up from the envelope as I held them.  I got to thinking about what she wrote.  With the tissue boxes and take Kleenex   packages that my grandchildren knew as a part of their life those handkerchiefs probably would seem pretty strange to them.  The other part of those hankies that would be foreign to them would be the time Mama   had spent ironing them.  Mama loved to iron and took it very seriously.  She ironed everything from sheets and pillowcases   to underwear for her family of seven kids and husband.  It was serious business   and I can remember my bewilderment when I learned she even ironed Papa’s underwear which my mom did not do.  Things have sure changed since then and I don’t know that either of my daughter-in –laws has an iron.  Guess maybe we will have to have a little lesson on ironing for the little girls later.  The perfume tried to fill my nostrils.  Ladies never left their house without perfume.  I remember my first bottle of cologne and later at graduation a bottle of special perfume. Definitely another time and a different  normal for me.  Memories are filling my mind and I will have to share them with the girls.  Maybe I need to give them each a new hankie of their  very own as well.    



                As I watch the contributions one man gave the world some thoughts come to me.

 

One small soccer ball and one simple gesture from a man  changed a country.

Imagine what could happen if each of us thought of ONE move to make

 

In the US wearing a team jersey is an act of pride

In South Africa that action spoke of reconciliation.

It became the first step of acceptance of the hated.

 

One act of allowing the world to hear of his son's' HIV

changed every  "HIV leper" into someone worth knowing and  gave HOPE to a whole country.

Just a few sentences changed so many

What could we do in our life that would do the same?.

 

One man spent 27 years, 9850 days in  jail and  still found a way to meet the challenge of   loving  his enemy.

He spent another 23 years, 8395 days meeting one person at a time, changing attitudes and teaching acceptance with love.

Imagine what could happen if each of us met 365 people in a year and met them with love and acceptance.

What a change that would be to our world and there's.

 

Nelson Mandela was no angel, he had flaws just like all of us.

His gift was his ability to move on, to live the law of love and illustrate it to all of us.

One handshake at a time, one soccer game jersey,  or one carefully worded sentence at a time.

Imagine what the rest of us could do if we followed his example.