HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

                                                    The Fighting Irish are off to the parade! 

                                                                 THAT'S ME BOYS!
                                               

                                                                 OUR IRISH ROOTS

YOU GOTTA LOVE THE HATS

                                                                 AND THE TIARAS

                                                          AND THE SHAMROCKS

                                                                      THE KILTS

      THE BAGPIPES

THE MARCHING BANDS

                                                                  THE DANCERS


                                                   
                                                                      MEETING FRIENDS

    

                                                                 AND BROTHERS

                                                           GOING FOR A COLD ONE!

                                                        Now, my Irish eyes are smilin!

SPRING-LIKE WEATHER

Good morning! I have one big question for today:  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE TODAY WHEN YOU SHOULD BE OUTSIDE ENJOYING THIS DAY?

NAGGING THOUGHTS

I jumped out of bed last night with nagging thoughts of how demanding this business of publishing a book had become. There were forms that required personal information, emails to be sent, press releases, websites for inquiry and blogs to post, etc.

Well, it has become bigger than the writing and bigger than me. Writing is a meditative thing-a sedentary practice. With a quiet exertion of the mind, thoughts flow into words without strict guidelines and eventually produce a finished work. The din I now hear pushes me into a promotional frenzy where personal data, publishing dates and commercial deadlines are required.  If you want your book to stand a chance of reaching the vast audience of readers, you need to expose it to as many venues as possible. Commercialism grabs your leisurely writing brain and changes it into a frenzied robot that clamors, “WARNING! WARNING! WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! PROMOTE! PROMOTE! PROMOTE!”

It was late in the evening before I could get back to sleep. And this morning, even before coffee, I went on line to see if there were any more urgent instructions before I got Lost in Space again.  

THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!

Ground Hog Day has passed, Valentines have had their sweet date, the presidents have blown out their birthday candles and Leap Day is here. Winter lingers in the last snow of February, and soft flakes fall through the air and pile up against my door.

Visions of childhood winters capture my thoughts as I remember being in the classroom, feeling imprisoned, on a snowy winter day. My attention was somewhere outdoors, already into the white fun.  Finally, the bell would ring and the class would rush excitedly to the door.

Once outside, what child could resist gathering up a snowball? At least one snowball fight before going home would be in order. With rosy cheeks, and frosty noses, our laughter became muffled in the winter air. And unlike most adults, our clocks often stopped while having fun. We accepted the gift of winter so gracefully, as most children do.

So, I guess it had to snow, at least one more time this season, although most of us were looking forward to the spring. There are many reasons for it to snow but one good reason is for the gift it brings to children. With red jolly faces, we caught snowflakes on our tongues, raced our sleds down “Suicide Hill” and waited for the first snowball to be thrown.

 And sometimes, the child within me still remembers to reach down and create a snowball. This one’s for you!