Irish Thought for January 31...

Irish-American Facts

Twenty-two American presidents, from Andrew Jackson to John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, have been at least partly of Irish ancestry.  These include James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

Irish Thought for January 30...

Irish-American Celebrities

Walt Disney

Walt Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, international icon, and philanthropist.  Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century.  As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.  The corporation he co-founded now known as the Walt Disney Company, today revenues of approximately $35 billion.

Irish Thought for January 29...

Irish Blessings

Bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part.

Irish Thought for January 28...

Irish-American Movies

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Irish-American James Cagney stars in this rousing musical depicting the life of playwright, entertainer, and composer George M. Cohan, who was the son of Irish immigrants.  Directed by Michael Curtiz.

Irish Thought for January 27...

Irish-American Writers

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Born to an upper-middle-class Irish-Catholic family in St. Paul, Minnesota, F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after Francis Scott Key, his famous second cousin, three times removed.  Known for his breezy, witty style with theme of promise, disillusionment, and the idealism of the American character, Fitzgerald finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tender is the Night, and The Great Gatsby.  A fifth novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, was published posthumously, although it was unfinished.  Fitzgerald also penned many celebrated short stories.  Hugely popular, Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest writers, and the seminal writer of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself.

Irish Thought for January 26...

Irish-Americans By The Numbers

In 2009, 122,000 residents of the United States claimed to be born in Ireland.  Irish-born U.S. residents have a median age of 60 (significantly older than the median age of total U.S. residents, which is 37) and a median household income of $56,158 (higher than the national mean of $50, 221).

Irish Thought for January 25...

Quotations

I think there is a bit of the devil in everybody.  There's a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more.  He was more fun.
   -Gabriel Byrne

Irish Thought for January 24...

Limericks!

There was an old man who said, "Hush!
I perceive a young bird in this bush!"
When they said, "Is is small?"
He replied, "Not at all!
It is four times as big as the bush!"

Irish Thought for January 23...

Irish Folklore

Changelings

A changeling is a supernatural creature, usually a fairy and often described as ugly and nasty tempered, that has been secretly exchanged for a human baby.  In medieval folklore, the idea of a swapped child was quite common, indicating deeply rooted concern about misunderstood reasons for infant mortality, disease, and disorders.  One supposed way of discovering if your baby was a changeling was to boil egg shells in front of the suspect infant- if it laughed or spoke, it wasn't actually human.  To reverse the swap, changelings were sometimes supposed to be scooped up by a red-hot shovel and tossed into a chimney fire...and then the original child would be returned unharmed.

The folklore describes the misunderstood reasons for babies to be "different" in medieval times like so much has changed since then.  In many ways, we do understand more about afflictions babies and children might have.  However, for some people, understanding more does not necessarily equal "understanding."   I recently read an article about a couple who went to a restaurant for dinner.  When the couple was seated, they noticed a family at a table nearby.  One of this family's children had down syndrome in a way that was noticeable.  The couple asked the waiter if they could be moved to a different table because the child "made them uncomfortable."  The couple further said, "Don't parents know that those sort of children should be kept hidden away."  The waiter, because respecting customers was part of his job, moved the couple to a different table.  He may have moved the couple because it was part of his job, however, he refused to wait on the couple after such horrid remarks were made.  
If you don't know there are many degrees of down syndrome and, like so many illnesses, down syndrome is unique to every person.  I have read so many articles of people born with down syndrome growing up and these people are able to accomplish so much with their lives, more than I ever will. That couple in the restaurant showed that there are still people who think of afflicted children as people might have during medieval times.  Personally, I respect the families who are able to grow, learn, research, and adapt when a child needs a little more.  The people of these families are heroes who use love to guide them through a different path.

Irish Thought for January 22...

Irish Food

Irish Potato

This white potato, one of the major starch sources worldwide, is not native to Ireland, but originated in South America.  Because of its popularity in Ireland, the tuber was called an Irish potato by earlier American generations to distinguish it from sweet potatoes, and because the potato was so closely associated with the Irish diet after the Great Potato Famine.

Irish Thought for January 21...

Irish Movies

Ondine

On the coast of Cork, a fisherman (Colin Farrell) discovers a strange young woman (Alicja Bachleda) named Odine in his net.  Could she be a selkie, a mythical seal who transforms into a human while out of the sea?  Directed by Neil Jordan.

Irish Thought for January 20...

Irish Musicians

Damien Rice

Born on December 7, 1973, Irish singer-songwriter and musician Damien Rice is adept at playing the instruments guitar, drum, and piano, as well as both the cello and violin.  In the 1990s, Rice was a member of the group Juniper, although after releasing two singles with them, he departed to pursue a solo career.  He busked his way around Europe before returning to Ireland, where he landed a contract.  Rice released his debut solo album in February 2002, which peaked at #8 on the UK chart and produced two Top 30 singles, "Cannonball" and "Volcano."  In April 2009, the Irish Times placed Rice at number 34 in a list of "The Best 50 Irish Acts Right Now."

Irish Thought for January 19...

Irish Proverbs

A heavy purse makes for a light heart.

Irish Thought for January 18...

Irish Toasts

For each petal on the shamrock,
this brings a wish your way-
good health, good luck, and happiness
for today and every day.

Irish Thought for January 17...

Irish Trivia

Saint Cannera, the patron saint of sailors, was said to hail from Scattery Island, so Irish sea captains would sometimes carry pebbles from that island in hopes of gaining the saint's protection.

Irish Thought for January 16...

Irish Blessing

May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go,
and guide you in whatever you do--
and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always.

Irish Thought for January 15...

Irish-American Celebrities

Jane Curtin

An American actress and comedienne, Jane Curtin first came to prominence as an original cast member on Saturday Night Live in 1975.  Curtin anchored SNL's "Weekend Update" segment in 1976-1977 and was paired with Dan Aykroyd in 1977-1978 and Bill Murray in 1978-1980.  She went to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie.  Curtin later starred in the hit series 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Irish Thought for January 14...

Irish-American Movies

Million Dollar Baby

Frankie, a former boxing manager who reads the great Irish writers and is learning Gaelic, initially refuses to train Maggie due to her gender and age.  But as the rises through the ranks of women's boxing, they form a touching bond.  Starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman.  Directed by Clint Eastwood.

Irish Thought for January 13...

Limericks!

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

Irish Thought for January 12...

Irish Blessings

Bless those minding cattle,
and those minding sheep,
and those fishing the sea
while the rest of us sleep.

Irish Thought for January 11...

Irish Trivia

Memorialized in the song "Take Me Up to the Monto," Montgomery Street in Dublin used to be considered the largest red-light district in Europe

Irish Thought for January 10...

Irish Writers

John Millington Synge

A co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, now also known as the National Theater of Ireland, playwright John Millington Synge is perhaps most famous for his play The Playboy of the Western World.  The first-run production instigated  rioting at the Abbey Theatre by attendees who thought the play slighted the virtue of Irish women.  Synge died at the age of 37 from Hodgkin's disease.

Irish Thought for January 9...

Celtic Blessings

The Gundestrup Cauldron
A Celtic artifact found in Denmark

The Cauldron

Seek the Cauldron in high places
and low, and in hidden places as
well.  Go forth as a hero, for only to
the hero is the Cauldron revealed.

Know that the Cauldron is not
remote.  It is found in this world and
in all other worlds, for this is the
Cauldron of the two Virtues.

The first Virtue of the Cauldron
is its open space, and the power of
open space is to receive.  And it is
this open space that receives the
Great Mystery.

The second Virtue of the Cauldron
is to give away whatever it receives,
and that is the giving of divine
inspiration so that none go
unsatisfied.

The Cauldron contains and endless
supply of sustenance and shall never
be emptied.  Come to embrace the
Cauldron, for, in truth, you are
the Cauldron.

Irish Thought for January 8...

Irish Drink

Irish Mist

First produced in Tullamore in 1947, Irish Mist is a complex, golden liquor made from aged Irish whiskey, heather, and clover honey, aromatic herbs and spices, and other spirits, supposedly derived from an ancient recipe for heather wine more than a thousand years old.  Since 1985, it has been manufactured in Dublin by the Cantrell & Cochrane Group.  Recently, the bottle shape was changed to a more modern silhouette, from an earlier decanter-style design.  Irish Mist is available in more than 40 countries, and is sometimes preferred mixed with colas.

Irish Thought for January 7..

Irish Blessings

May the dust of your carriage wheels blind the eye of your foes.

Irish Thought for January 6...

An Irish Story

The Leprehaun
 by Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde


THE Leprehauns are merry, industrious, tricksy little sprites, who do all the shoemaker's work and the tailor's and the cobbler's for the fairy gentry, and are often seen at sunset under the hedge singing and stitching. They know all the secrets of hidden treasure, and if they take a fancy to a person will guide him to the spot in the fairy rath where the pot of gold lies buried. It is believed that a family now living near Castlerea came by their riches in a strange way, all through the good offices of a friendly Leprehaun. And the legend has been handed down through many generations as an established fact.
There was a poor boy once, one of their forefathers, who used to drive his cart of turf daily back and forward, and make what money be could by the sale; but he was a strange boy, very silent and moody, and the people said he was a fairy changeling, for he joined in no sports and scarcely ever spoke to any one, but spent the nights reading all the old bits of books he picked up in his rambles. The one thing he longed for above all others was to get rich, and to be able to give up the old weary turf cart, and live in peace and quietness all alone, with nothing but books round him, in a beautiful house and garden all by himself.
Now he had read in the old books how the Leprehauns knew all the secret places where gold lay hid, and day by day he watched for a sight of the little cobbler, and listened for the click, click of his hammer as he sat under the hedge mending the shoes.
At last, one evening just as the sun set, he saw a little fellow under a dock leaf, working away, dressed all in green, with a cocked hat on his head. So the boy jumped down from the cart and seized him by the neck.
"Now, you don't stir from this," he cried, "till you tell me where to find the hidden gold."
"Easy now," said the Leprehaun, "don't hurt me, and I will tell you all about it. But mind you, I could hurt you if I chose, for I have the power; but I won't do it, for we are cousins once removed. So as we are near relations I'll just be good, and show you the place of the secret gold that none can have or keep except those of fairy blood and race. Come along with me, then, to the old fort of Lipenshaw, for there it lies. But make haste, for when the last red glow of the sun vanishes the gold will disappear also, and you will never find it again."
"Come off, then," said the boy, and he carried the Leprehaun into the turf cart, and drove off. And in a second they were at the old fort, and went in through a door made in the stone wall.
"Now, look around," said the Leprehaun; and the boy saw the whole ground covered with gold pieces, and there were vessels of silver lying about in such plenty that all the riches of all the world seemed gathered there.
"Now take what you want," said the Leprehaun, "but hasten, for if that door shuts you will never leave this place as long as you live."
So the boy gathered up his arms full of gold and silver, and flung them into the cart; and was on his way back for more when the door shut with a clap like thunder, and all the place became dark as night. And he saw no more of the Leprehaun, and had not time even to thank him.
So he thought it best to drive home at once with his treasure, and when he arrived and was all alone by himself he counted his riches, and all the bright yellow gold pieces, enough for a king's ransom.
And he was very wise and told no one; but went off next day to Dublin and put all his treasures into the bank, and found that he was now indeed as rich as a lord.
So he ordered a fine house to be built with spacious gardens, and he had servants and carriages and books to his heart's content. And he gathered all the wise men round him to give him the learning of a gentleman; and he became a great and powerful man in the country, where his memory is still held in high honour, and his descendants are living to this day rich and prosperous; for their wealth has never decreased though they have ever given largely to the poor, and are noted above all things for the friendly heart and the liberal hand.
*
But the Leprehauns can be bitterly malicious if they are offended, and one should he very cautious in dealing with them, and always treat them with great civility, or they will take revenge and never reveal the secret of the hidden gold.
One day a young lad was out in the fields at work when he saw a little fellow, not the height of his hand, mending shoes under a dock leaf. And he went over, never taking his eyes off him for fear he would vanish away; and when he got quite close he made a grab at the creature, and lifted him up and put him in his pocket.
Then he ran away home as fast as he could, and when he had the Leprehaun safe in the house, he tied him by an iron chain to the hob.
"Now, tell me," he said, "where am I to find a pot of gold? Let me know the place or I'll punish you."
"I know of no pot of gold," said the Leprehaun; "but let me go that I may finish mending the shoes."
"Then I'll make you tell me," said the lad.
And with that he made down a great fire, and put the little fellow on it and scorched him.
"Oh, take me off, take me off!" cried the Leprehaun, "and I'll tell you. Just there, under the dock leaf, where you found me, there is a pot of gold. Go; dig and find."
So the lad was delighted, and ran to the door; but it so happened that his mother was just then coming in with the pail of fresh milk, and in his haste he knocked the pail out of her hand, and all the milk was spilled on the floor.
Then, when the mother saw the Leprehaun, she grew very angry and beat him. "Go away, you little wretch!" she cried. "You have overlooked the milk and brought ill-luck." And she kicked him out of the house.
But the lad ran off to find the dock leaf, though he came back very sorrowful in the evening, for he had dug and dug nearly down to the middle of the earth; but no pot of gold was to be seen.
That same night the husband was coming home from his work, and as he passed the old fort he heard voices and laughter, and one said--
"They are looking for a pot of gold; but they little know that a crock of gold is lying down in the bottom of the old quarry, hid under the stones close by the garden wall. But whoever gets it must go of a dark night at twelve o'clock, and beware of bringing his wife with him."
So the man hurried home and told his wife he would go that very night, for it was black dark, and she must stay at home and watch for him, and not stir from the house till he came back. Then he went out into the dark night alone.
Now," thought the wife, when he was gone, "if I could only get to the quarry before him I would have the pot of gold all to myself; while if he gets it I shall have nothing."
And with that. she went out and ran like the wind until she reached the quarry, and than she began to creep down very quietly in the black dark. But a great stone was in her path, and she stumbled over it, and fell down and down till she reached the bottom, and there she lay groaning, for her leg was broken by the fall.
Just then her husband came to the edge of the quarry and, began to descend. But when he heard the groans he was frightened.
"Cross of Christ about us!" he exclaimed; "what is that down below? Is it evil, or is it good?"
"Oh, comedown, come down and help me!" cried the woman. It's your wife is here, and my leg is broken, and I'll die if you don t help me."
"And is this my pot of gold?" exclaimed the poor man. "Only my wife with a broken leg lying at the bottom of the quarry."
And he was at his wits' end to know what to do, for the night was so dark he could not see a hand before him. So he roused up a neighbour, and between them they dragged up the poor woman and carried her home, and laid her on the bed half dead from fright, and it was many a day before she was able to get about as usual; indeed she limped all her life long, so that the people said the curse of the Leprehaun was on her.
But as to the pot of gold, from that day to this not one of the family, father or son, or any belonging to them, ever set eyes on it. however, the little Leprehaun still sits under the dock leaf of the hedge and laughs at them as he mends the shoes with his little hammer--tick tack, tick tack--but they are afraid to touch him, for now they know he can take his revenge.

Irish Thought for January 5...

Irish Trivia

Perhaps the longest name of a place in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia, a 470-acre town in the civil parish of Kilcummin in County Galway.  The name can be translated to mean "piggery between two briny places."

Irish Thought for January 4...

Irish-American Movies

The Town

In the heavily Irish-American Boston, MA, neighborhood of Charleston, a longtime bank robber reluctantly plans his next heist, while falling for a female bank manager connected to one of his previous jobs, and attempting to avoid the FBI.  Directed by Ben Affleck.

Irish Thought for January 3...

Irish-American Writers

Eugene O'Neill

An Irish-American playwright, Eugene O'Neill was also a Nobel laureate in literature.  O'Neill's first published play, Beyond the Horizon, opened on Broadway in 1920 to great acclaim, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama.  His best-known plays include Anna Christie, Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, and his only well-known comedy, Ah, Wilderness!, a wistful re-imagining of his youth as he wished it had been.  In 1936 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.  After a ten-year pause, O'Neill's now-renowned play The Iceman Cometh was produced in 1946, and a Long Day's Journey Into Night, written in 1941, was first performed in 1956 (and a Pulitzer Prize in 1957).

Irish Thought for January 2...

Irish-Americans By the Numbers

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2009, 36.9 million residents of the United States claimed full or partial Irish ancestry, a number more than eight times greater than the population of Ireland itself.  The only ancestry of United States citizens more frequently reported than Irish was German.

Irish Thought for January 1...

Quotations

The immigrant's heart marches to beat of two quite different drums, one from the old homeland and the other from the new.  The immigrant has to bridge these two worlds, living comfortably in the new and bringing the best of his or her ancient identity and heritage to bear on life in an adopted homeland.
  -Mary McAleese

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!