Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone!
Well, as some of you know I am a Brit. and proud of it. I was born in England into an Irish Catholic family and have fond childhood memories of large family gatherings, trips to Ireland and many visitors from Eire to visit us. My life now, living in the PNW of America, is in sharp contrast to my earlier years. So, every year I take out my little brooch I bought in Dublin, Ireland when I was 11. I saved my pocket money for nearly a year as spending money for our trip to visit relatives. As soon as I saw this brooch I was smitten. How could I go wrong with 2 lucky Horseshoes and 2 lucky Shamrocks glistening away.
Every year our relatives in Ireland used to send us a box of fresh Shamrock to wear on St. Patrick's Day with our harp pin and ribbon with the Irish colours. As a child It felt like a very special day, going to Catholic schools, everyone was wearing something in the colours of Ireland. Of course, Mass was a prerequisite but the fun started in the evenings when there would be lots of Shindigs to go to.
Fond memories all brought back to life by a tiny little brooch bought by a little 11 year old Girl, way back when!
Today as we celebrate one Country's heritage we also keep in our Hearts another Country's suffering, it is hard to fathom and harder still to shake the sense of helplessness in this overwhelming crisis. But I believe we can all help in so many ways. Here are a few things I found this week where I have been able to do my small part.
There is a new shop on Etsy Love for Japan where you can buy and donate items to raise funds for Japan. This was set up by Christen Strang at Letter Happy Thank you so much for doing this.
Yesterday, I received an email account statement from United Airlines, I usually delete these straight away but a little caption caught my eye and so I clicked on it and a few seconds later I had donated some of my frequent flyer miles to the Red Cross. I LOVE this programme and other Airlines do it too. You can donate so charitable organizations can fly their personal where they are needed. Here is a link to United (charities page)
One more thing. Ever - Ours and Utterly Engaged have set up fund raising for Japan and asked all Bloggers to have a blogging day of silence tomorrow Friday March 18th as a sign of respect for the suffering in Japan.
As we watch in numbed sadness at the images coming out of Japan I still hope everyone can
Have a Wonderful Weekend!
Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.
10 comments:
T - very lovely blog thoughts and most helpful links. I think the world is still stunned by the chain of cataclysmic events that rocked Japan...it all seems like some horrible bad dream and I keep hoping that we'll soon awaken from it.
Your memories of childhood and Catholic parochial school brought back sweet memories of my own days taking Catholic Catechism classes. BTW, the brooch is lovely, even as a child you had a keen eye for nice jewelry.
May the luck of the Irish be with you. :)
This is the second time I'm trying to post this...my computer wigged out, so hopefully it doesn't double post.
Lovely post! I really enjoyed reading your memories. I hope you enjoy a very special St. Patty's Day, with your memories and hopefully a lovely feast to go along with it.
Thank you too for posting all the places where we can help out Japan. My heart goes out to their whole country and all the people around the world that it has affected.
Have a lovely weekend!
What wonderful memories you have! And your beautiful brooch is such a sweet reminder. The most we ever did for St. Patrick's Day was wear green so we wouldn't get pinched!
The events in Japan are so sad and heartbreaking. Their lives have been changed forever...so hard to imagine.
Oh, I love that little pin and its history.
These are very special memories and I love the way you wrote about them. I also share your caring thoughts for Japan.
Hey T ~ our family has been studiously watching the news every night and it's been hard to explain the magnitude of the event to our children. Our hearts are with Japan. Thank you for featuring some of the shops on Etsy that are fund raising!
To my knowledge, I haven't a drop of Irish, but I do love St. Patty's day and deck myself out in green to celebrate. I enjoyed the story of your brooch, that was darling! Best, Jenni
Love the writing in this blog post and how you connect the wonderful memories of St. Patties Day with the hardship happening in Japan. It really is so upsetting but great to know there are so many ways to help. I love the donation of airlines miles.
Lovely brooch and memories! How fun that your relatives would send shamrock to celebrate the holiday.
Great ways to help Japan, too. The country is in my heart and healing wishes.
what a very nice thing to do, giving away the miles. I am like you, just stunned and saddened from the suffering in Japan.
Love your brooch and the story behind it. Donating frequent flyer miles is fabulous. I also got something similar from Capital One to donate my rewards, which is also great. I am back after a long hiatus:)
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