JabberWocky!

Hi All!

I was speaking to a friend of mine last night, and was teasing him mercilessly as I like to do from time to time. I know that he is a little bit on the shy side, (hence the reason that I enjoy teasing him), and when asking him if he was shy his exact words were:

Somewhat shy. No problem intentionally acting stupid in public, embarrassed easily by accidentally doing it.

As always I try to go into the week-end with a bit of humor, so I thought I would bring you a few of the more embarrassing moments that I have had in my lifetime, (there are Many More, Too Many to mention), just so you know that I too can be embarrassed!

YOU know who you are and this post is dedicated to YOU!

I hope everyone in one way or another can relate to life’s most embarrassing moments!

One year I was invited to a Christmas party and this was a Very Important party, a few hundred people I would venture to guess! I was dressed in my Christmas finery, bright red mini dress, as I recall, with my red Santa hat and Extremely high heels! I had commented to the host what an absolutely beautiful Christmas tree he had as soon as I walked in. Knowing exactly where he had gotten it and the decorations I knew that he had paid an absolute fortune for everything, and it showed. As the evening wore on I had a few dances with a few gentlemen, the Tree, being the “center” of the party was the place that everyone was dancing around. At one point, one of my partners decided to “turn” me unexpectedly, well, my over 6 inch heels & I were not at all ready for the “turn”! I went “flying”, (I do that often), into the Christmas tree!!! The ENTIRE tree was totally destroyed!! I was laying in the middle of the tree, half on top of it and it half on top of me, mini skirt, what little there was of it, up around my waist, almost every ornament and light broken and I had to have help getting up on my feet again!! He was a Very Gracious Host I must say, he was not upset with me, in fact just the opposite, he was laughing harder than anyone I believe! When I offered to leave he said he would not have any part of it and even ask me to dance around the now, totally destroyed, Christmas tree! I did, by the way, get up extremely early the next morning, let myself quitely into his house and cleaned up the “mess” while he was sleeping! I also offered to pay for all of the damage but he would not hear of it!

Another time I was visiting a cousin and we decided to go horse back riding! He kept some absolutely beautiful horses on his farm, in fact he also boarded my couple of Shetlands that I had bought at an auction a couple of years before. I had gone horse back riding a few times in my life and must admit that I am not the greatest horse woman that has ever lived but I could usually manage to stay On Top of one!! When we got to the horses he said that he would pick one out for me as he knew the horses well and the one that I usually rode when I was there had died a couple of years before. Knowing I needed a Very Gentle horse he put the saddle on one and was sweet enough to help me up, being as short as I am I tend to have problems “mounting”?? a horse! Off we go riding, seeming not to have any problems. He was heading us towards the house, where there was a Very Loud Family Reunion with the Entire Family going on. As we got closer to the family and the party the horse begin acting up and I mean Really Acting Up, he started rearing up on his 2 hind legs and believe me when I tell you I was holding on for dear life!! I couldn’t get him to stop, I was terrified! My cousin, Mike, was laughing like a hyena right about now, the rest of the family seeing this “spectacle” was dying laughing also, me, I was just dying!! Mike did finally ride over and get the horse settled down and started leading us Away from the party, and the farther away we got the more calmed down the horse became, as it turned out the horse was terrified of loud noises. Mike of course knew this but said that he had done it only because of something that I had done to him the last time that I stayed at his house!! We will not go into that! But thinking back on it, I suppose it was poetic justice!

And last, but certainly not least:

When I was younger my friends and I played “Truth or Dare” a lot, doesn’t everyone? Anyway, when it was my turn, I choose “Dare”, my “friends” “Dared” me to run around the neighborhood naked! It was quite late at night and I saw no problem as most people were in bed at that time! So, I took off my clothes and ran around the block! On my way home I cut through a back yard as a shortcut and when I did, a very large and loud dog started barking and runing after me! This shocked me because the last time I remember they did not have a dog, (in fact they had just gotten the dog that day as it turned out)! I, being the clumsy person that I am fell down and spranged my ankle! Me screaming out of pain and the dog barking loudly, needless to say, woke the entire neighborhood! “Everyone” & I Do mean “Everyone” came running out of their houses to see what all of the fuss was about! So I suppose you could say I provided the neighborhood with a little “Midnight Showing”, “Free”, “Peep Show”, AND, I had to be carried home naked by the neighbor himself!!!

I hope that these stories have brought a little smile to your faces as I have now totally lived through these very embarrassing moments of my life yet again!

That’s it for me today, I’ll be back next week, and hopefully you will too! Have a Great Week-End everyone!

Hi Everyone!

Bullies are no longer content to taunt their victims in the playground but are turning to cyberspace, according to Canadian researchers.

They are using e-mail, text messaging and social networking sites in new forms of victimization.

Cyber bullies are even forcing their girlfriends to undress in front of webcams and then sharing the images with others online.

Bullied School Children

As the article goes on it states the a research team had been formed that held focus groups with 47 students in grades 5-12!!!!

It seems that the victims refuse to tell their parents or any adult for that matter for fear that THEY will be punished!

Ryan Patrick Halligan was bullied for months online. Classmates sent the 13-year-old Essex Junction, Vt., boy instant messages calling him gay. He was threatened, taunted and insulted incessantly by so-called Cyber Bullies.

In 2003, Ryan killed himself.

Bullied & Dead

To tell you the truth, for the first time in a long time I am almost at a total loss for words!!

I suppose the only couple of things that I can say after reading these articles is:

What in the hell are people teaching their children and if you say I did not teach my child to do this then my question to You is:

Then why didn’t you teach your child NOT TO DO THIS!!

Neglecting to do something is just as bad if not worse than actually doing it!

Making a statement like this may cost me readers I know, but if you parents out there are not doing anything to help curb this behavior then you do not need to be reading my posts anyway, in fact you do not need to be reading any posts, what you should be doing is getting back to the basic “Jack & Jill” parenting and getting off of the internet yourselves!

I told a friend of mine just a couple of days ago that I made a conscious choice not to have children because I did not want to be the one to “Mess Up” a child for the rest of their life, but now I see I might have made the wrong decision, because I do not think that I could have possibly “Messed Up” another human being as badly as the general population is doing right now!

On a completely different subject;

Congratulations to John Grisham, one of my favorite authors, you deserve it as far as I am concerned!

John Grisham Collects Lifetime Honor!

That’s all for me today, I guess maybe I will see you back tomorrow!

Hi all!

Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman’s chest. The dog’s owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.

Read More About Toby’s Heroics!

In 1999 a 5-year-old rottweiler police dog named Caesar leap into the path of a bullet, when he tried to disarm a man threatening a schoolyard full of children. Caesar later died of his wounds, but not before his partner and other officers captured the man. Caesar was awarded the Ralston Purina Service Dog of the Year award.

I also heard another story years ago about a woman that had epilepsy and lived alone, which, as you can imagine, can be VERY dangerous, one seizure, with no help around, there is a stronger possibility than not, that you will die from it. Anyway, her dog had this uncanny way of predicting, a few hours before, when there was an epileptic seizure coming on! She noticed it a couple of months after the dog had come to live with her, the dog would become frenzied and she noticed that within a couple of hours she had a seizure both times. Eventually she took the dog at his word and would seek medical attention before the seizures began, this happened numerous times and the dog was reportedly to be correct 100% of the time, without fail!

And on a little lighter side:

Harry Houdini had a very special parrot named Pat Houdini. Pat the parrot was an assistant to Houdini. Pat’s specialty was picking locks!

I know that I have mentioned it on more than one occasion, that I could not live on this earth without animals! They can be a much better “Friends” than the 2 legged kind you see walking around sometimes, and their loyalty and intelligence never fails to amaze me!

I have some really wonderful, extremely loyal and very KOOKY pets hanging around my house all the time! I can not begin to tell you the joy that they give me! As before, when I did a story about Pets & Other Animals!, if you have any stories of your own, let me know, I would love to hear them!

Sir Elton 60th Birthday Concert!

The Control Room

Elton John; Home Official Web Site

I call many men Sir but few do I have as much respect for as:

Sir Elton John!

I hope your birthday was a healthy and happy one and wishing you many more!

Hi Everyone!

I Hope everyone had a great week-end! Before I get started this week I would like to thank “Somtimers” & “Song Crossfire by Darryl & Jerry” for their excellent blogs/sites! I found them while I was out and about over the week-end and I can only tell you that they could not be more different, but they are both excellent in their own right. They are about…well, why don’t you check them out for yourselves, I have added them right over there to my Blogroll, I think you will really enjoy both of them! Thanks again guys!

I must admit that I was in a pretty bad place this past week-end, what with being much too over-extended, I guess it finally started catching up with me since Thursday and just seemed to get worse. I relied on 3 Very Special Friends Very Heavily since Friday, and they each, in their own way, pulled me through this past few days, though I can’t imagine how or why!

So, I began yesterday thinking what I should write about today and the only thing that came to mind was “Friendship” and what true friendship means…to me at least!

To H. S. & I. you know who you are…and thank you!

True friends help you to “keep it real”, when you around them. It’s easier to get an honest opinion and much easier to “run” your ideas past them, you never have to worry about being embarrassed about how totally ridiculous you or your ideas may sound. A friend will encourage you when they think your idea has merit and have the good sense to tell you just how wrong you are when it doesn’t.

A true friend will instinctively know when it is time to take charge. They know when to step up and take control of a situation even if you haven’t ask them to, and a true friend is not afraid of doing so or hurting your feelings because a true friend knows & cares what is in your best interest at the time even if you don’t. A true friend knows you well enough to know that you will see the light when the darkness and blurriness clears.

A true friend “completes” you. Yes, I know that the word “completes” you is much to over used these days, but it is true in this instance. A true friend “understands” you, that is not to say that they know what you are feeling and what is going on in your mind, because that would be impossible in most situations, but they “understand” that there is something wrong and they are there to do whatever they can to alleviate any extra burdens that may cross your path while you are on your road to healing and coming out at the other end.

A true friend is someone that you can Work Hard with and Play even Harder with! I especially relate to this. I personally work to the extremes, and I have been told many times before, that I Play Harder, and trust me, play for keeps, more than most people have ever seen! I am relentless in work and play and while my true friends all know just how hard it can get with me, they always understand. And when it comes to me, trust me, I am not easy at the best of times! But true friends realize this about us and take it in stride!

A true friend accepts you the way that you are and Never tries to change you because they have the good sense that God gave them to know that if they changed you, then you would not be the same person that they were attracted to in the first place!

True friends give and give when need be and never really expecting anything in return, although, if you are a true friend, then you know very well that the same is true for you and your convictions to the other person.

I could go on and on with this list but personally I think I have hit on the most important points, I am sure all of you have your own ideas as to what true friendship means and I truly hope that you are as blessed as I am!

H. Thank you for the incredible gift that you gave to me Friday, I have never had such a thoughtful and lovely gift, I shall never forget you for thinking of Me and Only Me!

I. Thank you for all of your delightful correspondences all through the week-end!

S. Thank you for your incredible perception and seeming to know just what I needed and when I needed it!

Until tomorrow then!

HI ALL!

Since it’s Friday I thought I would keep it light today and present you with some mostly fun “Spring” facts today!

Armadillos breed in July, but get pregnant in November after delaying implantation. This allows the young to be born during the spring when there is an abundance of food.

Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year.

In the spring of 1975, a baby in Detroit fell 14 stories and landed on Joseph Figlock, who was walking below. A few years later it happened again. Figlock and both babies survived.

The most frequent season for most suicides to occur is in the spring. The winter months have the lowest number of suicides.

SPRING TRADITIONS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE

BASANTH; In Pakistan, boys celebrate the first day of spring in the Muslim calendar with exciting kite-fighting contests. After putting powdered glass on their strings, they use the strings to try to cut off each other’s kites. Whoever keeps his kite in the air the longest wins.

HOLI; This Hindu spring festival, people dress in green. Children then squirt each other with water pistols filled with yellow- or red-colored liquid. They also blow colored powder on each other through bamboo pipes. Everyone gets soaked — and colorful — to celebrate spring.

SONGKRAN; In Thailand, a special three–day water festival on April 13–15 marks Songkran, the Buddhists’ celebration of the new year. Parades feature huge statues of Buddha that spray water on passersby. In small villages, young people throw water at each other for fun. People also release fish into rivers as an act of kindness.

ABOAKYERE; The Effutu people of Ghana make a special offer to the god Panche Otu each spring with this deer–hunting festival. Two teams of men and boys, dressed in bright costumes, compete to be the first to bring back a live deer to present to the chief. Then everyone dances together.

EASTER; On Easter, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. People attend church and also enjoy different Easter customs. In Germany, people make “egg trees” that are decorated like Christmas trees. In Hungary, boys sprinkle girls with perfumed water — and in return, girls prepare a holiday dinner for them.

PASSOVER; The highlight of this major Jewish holiday is the Passover seder. During these two special dinners, families read from a book called the Haggadah about the ancient Israelites’ exodus — or flight — from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. While they honor their ancestors, Jews reaffirm the importance of freedom.

MAY DAY; To celebrate the return of spring, children in England dance around tall poles, called maypoles, decorated with ribbons. Their dancing wraps the ribbons tightly around the pole.

IN HOLLAND, WE TOO CELEBRATE AS THEY DO IN GERMANY, (as they are one of our neighbors!), WE MAKE “EGG TREES” THAT ARE DECORATED LIKE CHRISTMAS TREES ALSO!

FOR THOSE FARMER JOHN GARDENERS OUT THERE:

Homemade Fertilizer

Ingredients:

Directions: Mix all four ingredients and put in your lawn sprayer/applicator (the type you attach to your hose.) Spray your lawn. Works great!

Homeowners can reduce mosquito breeding areas (especially as Spring approaches) by checking their property and eliminating areas which could lead to standing water or places where small puddles or pools of water tend to collect and make perfect mosquito breeding areas.

A Little Bit of Garden Humor..

The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig.

Zone Hardiness — The part of the country a plant is most likely to die in.

The way to a green thumb is through dirty fingernails.

Q: What are strawberries when they are sad?
A: Blueberries.

Q: What tree is always unhappy?
A: The blue spruce.

It truly looks like “Spring has Sprung”! So…Bring on the Fun!

That’s all for me this week! I hope you all have a Wonderful Spring Week-End and as I mentioned on Your Health this week, make sure if you are going to be spending your week-end outside keep covered up, wear sun screen and hats and keep in the shade whenever possible! I don’t want any of you to be one of the 1,000,000 new skin cancer victims that will “Spring” up this year! Hope to see you next week!

Hi again!

First of all, I need to apologize to Izzy today! You see he is a very good friend of mine and a loyal reader, he complained that yesterdays post gave him a headache! So, I am very sorry Izzy! I hope that your headache is gone and that we don’t have the same problem today…but I can’t promise!

I was somewhere a couple of days ago and a perfect stranger tried to “chat me up”! For those of you that don’t know, that is a term often used in the United Kingdom for starting a conversation, and I tend to think of it as meaning a little more than starting a conversation, more like trying to “pick up someone”. If I am wrong and there are any people from the United Kingdom reading this, please comment and correct me!

But this “gentleman” did not try to “chat me up” on the street, no, he tried to do it in my own home, in my living room! Maybe this will make it a little clearer!

Web chat sites are websites that allow users to communicate in real time using easily accessible web interfaces.
Wikipedia

And as it turns out, there is no shortage of “Chat Sites” out there and it is a Very competitive business. It is a very trendy business so they rise and fall in popularity quickly.

There are many different types of “Chat Sites” with many different options. Free and paid, public or private rooms, html, no html, music, no music, images allowed, no images allowed, webcams allowed, no webcams allowed and the list goes on.

Shopping for a “Chat Site” today, I have recently found out, is like shopping for a new pair of shoes, which do you choose, the one that looks pretty or the one that is functional?

That said, it leads one to wonder, just how safe and secure these “Chat Rooms” are?

I participated in a “Chat” a couple of days ago for the first time, and after trying to figure out how the thing worked, the “Chatting” experience that I had was a positive, enjoyable one I must say. The person I was “chatting” to, I can not speak for, but I hope it was enjoyable for them as well!

But…I was in a “Private” “Chat Room” where I was “Chatting” to someone that I have known for a long time. This was not our first time of meeting each other by any stretch of the imagination. We were the only 2 present, so no stranger was “looking” in on our conversation and we did not have to worry about someone butting into our conversation, making crude remarks or anything else that might make for an un-enjoyable experience.

This “Chat Service” that I was at though had both Private and Public Rooms. And I must admit, I was tempted to go into the Public Room and have a look see, but I did not! Curiosity did not get the better of me, especially since I was approached by some “gentleman” while I was “hanging around” outside the Room! I do not have any idea how these things work, trust me, and I do not know how I was “approached” I just know that I got a notice on my screen saying that someone, a man’s name, was inviting me for a chat!!!! I, of course turned him down, I have enough trouble in my life, thank you! Another new friend is something I do not need at the moment, especially one that I can not see!

But that brings me to the safety of these “Chats” and “Chat Rooms”. This “gentleman” that invited me for a “chat” might have been not so much of a “gentleman” after all. Face it, I did not know him, he could have been some type of Predator, how would I know? And from what I understand, “Chat Rooms” are notorious for Predators!

Many people that participate in these “Chats” are there for only one reason, and that is not to “Chat”. A weaker person than myself, a child especially, would be such easy prey for one of these people.

How many times have I read about these “Chat Rooms” and how something bad has happened to someone that has participated in a “Chat”? Especially a child! Some “Worldly Older Man” pays attention to a young girl or boy and before you know it, he has their email address, home address, school information and everything else. And why? “Because he loves me”!

So parents, I urge you to be especially vigilant when it comes to your children and their comings and goings on the computer. I know that it is a “no no” to check up on them and check into their “personal” business. I was a young girl also a long time ago and I would not have appreciated my parents checking up on me either, but your children are your most treasured “possession”, (Yes, I know that it is not proper terminology to refer to your children as a “possession” but I mean this not in the literal sense)! And it is truly better to be safe than sorry. They will forgive you and they may even say “Thank You” one day farther down the road!

I found out that it can happen to me, just “hanging out” for a couple of minutes, how long would it take for someone more vulnerable, like a child?

I know that all of us have heard so much on this subject, but I thought it important to voice my story today!

That’s all for me today, I hope to see you back tomorrow, and for goodness sake, be careful, all of you!

Hi again!

Well, I don’t mind telling you how much happier I am having my Friendly Unicorn back today! I missed him watching over the proceedings yesterday! First of all let me say, Happy First day of Spring! Mine was a bit unusual, hail the size of golf balls here this morning!

That said and done, I guess I am in a mood today! My day started out…different would be a good word! Good…but different just the same! I’m going to have to get on my soap box today and say I am REALLY TIRED of people not taking responsibility for themselves and the things that they do!

People are always making excuses for what they do and blaming someone or something for their bad behavior! Today I heard that playing race car video games are now blamed for bad driving! Not only bad driving but road rage as well!

That is just like certain music MAKES people take drugs, certain movies Make people become serial killers, rapist, robbers etc., certain foods, like “Twinkies”, MAKE people become assassins, certain herbs MAKE people have unusual sexual orientations and do strange things in the bedroom department, need I go on?

Always some excuse for bad behavior! And the bad part about it is, that in today’s world, half of the time, people get away with their wrongdoings!

Music for instance, I’ve listened to a lot of music in my time. I enjoy all types of music, but I must admit that some of my stronger musical tastes lean toward the “naughty”, down and dirty type, where when you dance you are suggestive to put it mildly, but I in no way blame those people and their songs for the “naughty” things that I do. The songs that I enjoy the most do not Make me go out and do drugs, kill or maim people, have unusual sexual habits, drive bad, have road rage or anything else! No! If and when I do something that I shouldn’t do I don’t say, “well so and so song made me do it”! I did it, plain and simple!

Goodness knows I am No Saint! I do plenty wrong and I do not enjoy being in trouble any more than anyone else! I’m not that crazy! But I know that it is not logical to say that someone or something else made me do something wrong!

And as much as I hate to admit it, I do not blame the wrongdoers for blaming their bad behavior on something else! I probably would to if I thought there was a snowballs chance of getting away with blaming something else!

The ones that really get on my last nerve is the do gooders that are out there saying how bad music, movies, video games or anything else they can come up with is the cause of all of our problems in the world!

What about them? I am sure that they were young once, and upon being young they watched the same movies that everyone else did, listened to the same music and played the same games. I am sure that those people have “experimented” with different behaviors.

I think that it is high time that we put the blame where it lays, with the individual! We have all seen the same movies, heard to the same music, seen the same advertisements on television and played the same games. Yet not all of us are serial killers, sexual deviants, drug addicts or road ragers!

This world is filled with many good people that enjoy the same things that bad people do, they just do not choose to act in the same way!

So I say, why don’t we start putting the blame where it belongs, with the individual, not society! When we do something wrong…Shouldn’t We Blame Ourselves?

Well, that’s all for me today, I’m sure you are all glad to hear that! I’ll be back tomorrow with some better idea’s, I hope!

Hi All!

There has been talk since before the 1st New Eisenhower Dollar was produced in 1971 about getting rid of the American $1.00 bill and recently a fourth attempt has been made. It has also been argued that if the United States simply stops making the dollar bill, then the most recent attempt at getting consumers to use the new, “shiny” Presidential $1.00 coin would succeed!

The three past attempts in 1971, 1979 & 2000 have been complete fiasco’s! There are many reasons for this, size, people confusing them with other coins or weight, too weighty for pockets tend to be the most widely used reason.

Another reason is that people are all waiting for each other to start using the new money. Banks are waiting for consumers and stores, consumers are waiting for stores and banks, and stores are waiting for consumers and banks to start using the not so “Greenback”, “Greenback”! Obviously it is a never ending circle, like the wedding ring is suppose to be. The only difference is with the $1.00 coin the problem is not solved by divorce!

In 2002 it was said that by using only $1.00 coins the United States could save $500 million a year in production cost. This does not sound like a lot of money to me for a country as big as America. Presumably, this savings could be used in more productive ways, like starting another war! Even though the $1.00 coin costs much more to produce than the “Greenback”, the coin has an estimated life of 30 years whereas the “Greenback” has only a 22 month estimated life span.

But lets look at the “other side of the coin”! Isn’t the “Greenback” a part of National History? Isn’t even the name so well known around the world that even a poor, uneducated child in a 3rd World Country knows what a “Greenback” is?

Isn’t there a Special Society that works to protect the “National History” of America? Where would Americans be without their beloved “Greenback”.

I myself do not get to see “Greenback” in “real life” except once every couple of years, when my daddy visits and we get on the subject of “currencies”. But I tell you, when he comes over here in July, if he is not carrying a nice “Greenback” for me to see, but instead, carrying a “new, shiny coin”, I shall be very sad indeed!

And as far as inconvenience goes, let me tell you from experience, having all of these coins in your pocket or wallet is certainly No Fun At All! When I first moved over here we used the Dutch Guilder and have since changed over to the Euro. Both currencies have no “paper” 1 bill, only coin. By the time you are done shopping you are so weighted down by coins that your walking is often lopsided and your pockets stick out like you have something obnoxious in them!

They are very weighty, bulky and clumsy. Many people have had to even go to the extreme of buying new wallets to accommodate the changes! Every time you come home from shopping you have to unpack your shopping packages AND your wallet!

We have had other of our currencies changed from paper to coin, which only exasperates the problem. But there is no going back, at least not immediately, because all of the “bill” form of these changed currencies have been made into confetti, so you are “throwing money away” and no new bills for these currencies are produced.

So, say what you may, but Sage’s Unicorn would rather have the “Greenback” than bury it, money saving as it may be, and who needs another war financed by the death of the beautiful “Greenback” anyway?

LONG LIVE THE “GREENBACK”!

Well! That’s all for me today, I hope to see you tomorrow, same time, same place!

Welcome back!

First let me start off by saying thank you to the 2 new blogs that have been added. If anyone is interested in Photoshop then these are the places for you! I hope you enjoy Photoshop Insider and Photoshop Support as much as I do!

Now! I hope you all had a great week-end and most especially a Great St. Patrick’s Day. Did you wear your green, raise a glass to old St. Pat, dance a little “Jig”, (get a little “Jiggy”!), and find one of those pesky Leprechauns I was telling you about? Well, I’m going to give you just a “Wee Bit” more of St. Patrick today, I know you all probably already know these facts, because my readers are the smartest on the Internet, but maybe you just want to refresh your knowledge a “Wee Bit”! For those of you that notice we are sporting green today, it’s still a throwback from the Special St. Patrick’s Day post and since I will be talking about him again today, I thought it was only fitting!! Now, on to our facts!

The person who was to become St. Patrick, was probably born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. His given name was Maewyn. Far from being a saint, until he was 16 Patrick considered himself a pagan.

Patrick was about sixteen years old when he was abducted and enslaved by Irish marauders who forced him into sheep herding. During his captivity, he became closer to God.

According to his writing, a voice – which he believed to be God’s – spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland. After traveling for more than 200 miles by foot, he was eventually given passage on a boat traveling across the Irish Sea to Britain. Patrick also reported that he experienced a second revelation – an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary.

He eventually settled in France and studied in a monastery. Patrick spent twenty years of his life as a monk in Marmoutier Abbey. There he again received a celestial visitation, this time calling him to return to the land where he had been enslaved.

Patrick was called to Rome in 432 where he was given the honor of Bishop before he left on his holy mission.

Patrick and his followers were invited to Tara by the King of Laoghaire. While he was there he plucked a shamrock from the ground and tried to explain the to the druids and the King that the shamrock had three leaves just like God had three personas – The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. The King, being very impressed, gave Patrick the freedom to spread Christianity throughout Ireland.

He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches. His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. Patrick is thought to have died sometime between 463AD and 493AD, on March 17th.

St. Patrick’s Day custom came to America in 1737.

Fables about Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes still endure as part of modern St Patrick’s Day folklore and custom.

An Irish toast:

“May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.”

An Irish blessing:

“May you always have…
Walls for the winds, A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire, Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.”

That’s all for me today! Hope you enjoyed these last remnants of St. Patrick and hope to see you back again tomorrow!