Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Pat's

I'll be honest with you, since I stopped writing my weekly column for the Mapleton PRESS, I've posted a whole lot more material on my cartooning blog and on my faith blog. I'm still kind of trying to figure out how to treat this "flagship" blog. More personal, more political, more humor? I really haven't had the discipline to write every week now that there's not the structure of a print deadline.

But, if you miss the print column, there's always "re-runs." I told you to do this for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and even for Arizona Statehood Day- so now, why not take a trip in the way-back machine and read some humor and history about Saint Patrick's Day. I even included a few recipes!

But first, a wee bit about my Irish pedigree. My wife's Dad (my "farmer-in-law) is part McCutcheon. My Dad always figured that Mallory was Irish, but much to his chagrin he found out we were (of all things) mostly ENGlish! Ah, but then there's me sainted Irish mother. She's a Reilly. No really. A Reilly? Really? Really.


Think you're Irish? With St. Patty's coming up, I thought I might share the story of my mother's family coat of arms.

Legend goes that our clan was in a war with another family over an island off the coast of Ireland. To settle the matter, both sides chose one champion to race in boats out to the aforementioned island. Whichever Irishman first laid hand on the beach, their clan won. Well, row as hard as he might, Reilly saw that he might not quite make it in time- so he cut off his own hand and threw it with his one remaining good won onto the beach- this winning the war.

Erin go braugh! Livin the life of Reilly.

"And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell."
~Matthew 5:30

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