Go n-eírí an bóthar leat. May the road rise with you.

I'm a day late but I want to pay respect to my Irish roots. I am not religious but I do have a tremendous amount of respect for where I came from, and my heart feels truly at home when I am in Ireland. It is an exceedingly gorgeous country with the most warm and generous people. Cead Mile Failte: A Hundred Thousand Welcomes.

All four of my grandparents came over from Ireland in the 1930s to New York. Sadly, they had all passed on by the time I was born. I am the last grandchild born to the youngest (mom) and only (dad) child so I came along a little later than the rest. My mother's father was one of six and had flaming red hair in his younger years. Two of his brothers did too. When the grandchildren were born 1-2-3-4-5, he peeked into each bassinet looking for a redhead. Not one did he find. Very sadly, my grandfather passed away nine months before I was born. He did sprinkle a bit of pixie dust on my mom because I was born the one redhead of the bunch. Thank you grandpa. I wear it proudly, like my heritage. It is a part of my heart and soul and I carry you and all my ancestors with me everywhere I go.



May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Ranunculas

I love so many kinds of flowers but ranunculas really make me happy. I think I love them because they look so old-fashioned. They have the most beautiful bunchy petals and if you're lucky enough to see one open up, they reveal a large, what a think would be called, stigma inside. You don't see them too often but since we are in very early spring here in the NE, I've seen them at a few of the stands. My husband brought me a bunch the other night. Pink, of course. They have very bendy hollow stems so unless you are putting them in an arrangement with other flowers to hold them up, I find that cutting them down and placing them in tiny vases is a good way to preserve and display them.

So naturally, when I was getting married I wanted my bouquet to be made of ranunculas. Pink ranunculas. There were very few demands I had for my wedding: I wanted to be married outdoors in a garden, my dress was going to be lovingly handmade by my aunt, we needed an excellent photographer to document the day and my bouquet was to be made of pink ranunculas. After that, I was flexible and happy with the minimum. After all, it's about the marriage, not the flowers! But I'm getting off topic. So the florist assured me that ranunculas would be mine and they would be gorgeous. Cut to day before the wedding when she calls to say, no ranunculas. Okay. Trying to maintain the serenity one would prefer to have at this time, I said fine, roses will be fine. Being such a tiny thing in the grand scheme of life, the roses really were beautiful. However, I still pause when I see ranunculas and wonder what could have been..

Hello. *cough, cough* HELLO! I am officially here.

I am hoping to find an outlet for my creative side, and learn to communicate and write better. More wit, more fun, more pulling from the recesses! I have been a lurker for some time now so I should give credit to the first blog that really got me hooked. I am not a sewer or stitcher but this lovely creature really drew me into her world. And without getting maudlin, it really helped me at a difficult time in my tiny world. I was able to escape into her garden and kitchen and visit with her sweet pets. And I knew that I wanted to create something that might bring a little bit of joy to someone else.

So please, pop in, take a peek, enjoy!