SpicyPapa's paternal family left the Emerald Isle during the famine times, and somehow found their way to Wisconsin. In the summer, Wisconsin does have much in common with the greenness of Ireland, and the scene below from our own trip to Eire in 2001 shows what could easily pass for the shores of Lake Michigan. The winter months are quite dissimilar!
When the Spicy Sidekicks were young their SpicyPapa served up hot green cereal and milk for breakfast. Now days they can toast each other by phone as they down the real mother's milk of Ireland.
Why do Americans need to celebrate St. Paddy's Day? Well, its the middle of gray gloomy March here in the midwest, and usually there's nothing going on--this year excepted with an earlier Easter than usual. Its no wonder that the biggest St. Paddy's celebration belongs to Chicago. The last real national party was January 1st. They say in Ireland that St Patrick's Day tends to be a little more sedate and linked to the curious notion of Bank Holidays. We Americans do suffer when banks have off--case in point Bear Stearns, but we don't call them Bank Holidays.
In honor of the American trait for some kind of universal syncretism I dedicate this song to any St. Paddy's Day celebration....
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