A Bit O' Blarney

May The Luck Of The Irish Be With You On St. Patrick's Day.....

In honour of St. Patrick himself......

There’s a dear little plant that grows in our isle,
‘Twas St. Patrick himself, sure, that sets it;
And the sun of his labor with pleasure did smile,
And with dew from his eye often wet it.
It grows through the bog, through the brake, through the mireland
And they call it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

If'n yer 'ave a little o' the "green" running through yer veins, we'll be a'celebrating today.........

Who knows...we may be lucky enough to find a Pot O' Gold....

Be sure to say "Good Morn" to the wee fairies..........



Grab yer old walking stick.....


Cog over the fence....be careful now..



A little further up the lane......



Watch out fer the sheep.......


We'll rest and have a bite of lunch....



Will yer be having corned beef and cabbage ?



A nice piece of soda bread with that ?



What will yer be drinking .......Maybe a pint of Guinness ?



We'll be on to the shenanigans now.......

Well......would you just look at that !
Glory be......

Credits: Video/you tube/shastasheene

Mothering Sunday In England

Today is Mother's Day in England.
Since we celebrate the day at different times of the year, England being in March, and USA in May, I feel it is only appropriate to mention both of them during the year.

This post is dedicated to all our wonderful mums, without whose unselfish, love and devotion
our lives would be forever changed.

"Happy Mother's Day" mum, I hope your day is filled with muchiness.

"A Mother holds her children's hands for a while
.......their hearts forever."


His Mother
Even He that died for us upon the cross, in the last hour,
in the unutterable agony of death,
was mindful of His mother,
as if to teach us that this holy love
should be our last worldly thought - the last point of earth
from which the soul should take its flight for heaven.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Mother Love ~ James John Hill

Who ran to help me when I fell, And would some pretty story tell, Or Kiss the place to make it well? My mother."

~ Anne Taylor

Reading to Mother ~ John Morgan

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.

~Tenneva Jordan

Alice In Wonderland

To turn off the PLAYLIST scroll to the bottom of the sidebar, and click the LARGE round button.

As previously planned, my granddaughter and I went to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie today.
Rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations and for a smoking caterpillar.
We decided not to see the 3-D version instead opting for the 2-D.

The storyline is of nineteen year old Alice who once again falls down the rabbit hole, that takes her to Underland; a strange world inhabited by anthropomorphic creatures in search of someone to save them from the dreaded Red Queen.
The character of the Mad Hatter played by Johnny Depp was one of the most colorful and entertaining portrayals to date, together with the role of Alice, superbly played by actress,
Mia Wasikowska.

Not a movie I would recommend for small children, but if you're an Alice in Wonderland fan, a definite "two thumbs up"...... an Alice in Wonderland on steroids if you will.

Early Spring

"Harshness vanished. A sudden softness

has replaced the meadows' wintry grey.

Little rivulets of water changed

their singing accents. Tendernesses,

hesitantly, reach toward the earth

from space, and country lanes are showing

these unexpected subtle risings

that find expression in the empty trees."

~ Rainer Marie Rilke, Early Spring

Wordless Wednesday

Just A Little House

An Old Woman Of The Roads.

O, TO have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods upon the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!

To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!

I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!

I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave

The ticking clock and the shining delph!

Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!

And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house—a house of my own—
Out of the wind's and the rain's way.

~Padraic Colum 1881 - 1972

Grinning Like A Cheshire Cat

The grandchildren and I have a movie date this week, with the much anticipated release of the Walt Disney Productions picture Alice in Wonderland.

Tim Burton takes a stab at Lewis Carroll's timeless tale of a young girl lost within a fantasy land with this 3-D production of Alice in Wonderland, co-starring Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter.

I'm curious to see how this magical and imaginative tale will compare to previous presentations, especially since my hometown in England is home to it's renowned Victorian author, Lewis Carroll.

Lewis Carroll - 1832-1898
Born on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was the son of a clergyman, and the third child born to a family of eleven children.

Carroll published his novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, followed by Through the Looking Glass in 1872. Alice's story began as a piece of extemporaneous whimsy meant to entertain three little girls on a boating trip in 1862.

Both of these works were considered children's novels that were satirical in nature and in exemplification of Carroll's wit. Also famous is Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky," in which he created nonsensical words from word combinations.

Cheshire Cat: If I were looking for a white rabbit, I'd ask the Mad Hatter.
Alice: The Mad Hatter? Oh, no no no...

Cheshire Cat : Or , you could ask the March Hare, in that direction,

Alice: Thank you, I think I see him......

Cheshire Cat: Of course, he's mad, too.

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.

Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can't help that. Most everyone's mad here

Cheshire Cat:You may have noticed that I'm not all there myself.

The Lewis Carroll Society Website - Homepage

Photo credits: Literature Network. Wikipedia.

March Days

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot

and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light,

and winter in the shade.

~Charles Dickens

Wordless Wednesday

Glass Flowers

The calendar shows the first day of March, and yet we are forecast more snow in the eastern counties including our area.
I'm feeling the need for flowers, yet it is still too early, and so settling for the glass variety is my only option on this snowy March day.

I'm feeling renewed already !