Environment, Society

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of the leprechauns of the blog from the Turley Clan. It is a beautiful St. Patty’s Day in McLean, Virginia and I went on a dawn hike on Billy Goat Trail (though the trail was closed due to flooding so I hiked to Olmstead overlook instead). The leprechauns came to bring treats and tricks to the Turley house this morning. Some of the hiking pictures from this morning are below.

The leprehauns left clues for our treasure hunt that led to a horn of plenty of Irish cookies and fresh green donuts. They also left our traditional dollar coins hanging from a tree in green felt pouches for each of the kids in the backyard.

Tonight we will be feasting on corned beef and cabbage and toasting my late Irish father, Jack Turley.

And to everyone . . . Erin go Bragh!!!

It was below freezing at the start at dawn, but the hike was crisp and clear. Here are some pictures from the trail this morning:

39 thoughts on “HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY”

      1. oky1………..The Chieftans! What a great group. Thanks.
        Hope you’re doing fine.

        1. Cindy,

          knock on wood we’re fine, hope things are going your way as well.

          That last storm took a hard right before it came this far & went on messing up Kansas/Nebraska, etc.

          Know it’s turning a nice spring here with the daffodils blooming & the grass turning green.

          I think I read you’re in Texas, so you know , it’s matter of time til the next storm comings roaring through.

          1. oky1 Springtime in Texas and Okla keeps you on your toes! Prof Turley said it was below freezing in Fairfax Co, where he is.
            Remember the earthquake in Okla City in about 1952? We were living on SW 19th.
            Scary!!! Okla weather is wild. Always has been.

    1. mespo…LOL There must be a lotta limpin’ going on over at the DNC. 🤣

  5. I am of Irish heritage

    Descended from Milesius, King of Spain, through the line of his eighth son Heremon. The O’Barrys belonged belonged to the Clanna Failge tribe, from its founder, Rossa Failge, son of Cathire Nore, King of Ireland, A.D. 144. The ancient name was Bearra, and signifies “The Short.” The chiefs of this sept held possessions in the present county counties of Mayo and Sligo. The O’Barrys were also located in the county of Cork. These O’Barrys were chiefs of Muintir Bari, a territory and foreland comprising part of ancient Carbery, in the county of Cork. They were of the Ithian or Lugadian race through the line of Ith, uncle King Milesius.

    In the reign of Elizabeth, the Barrys were the most powerful family outside the walls of Cork, and possessed Shandon Castle.

  6. There is all this news apCray about White Nationalism. I recall the film called Blazing Saddles. When the western town in the Old West was about to bet attacked by some tribe the Mayor let in a group of black folks to come live there and help defend. But the Mayor then said: But Not The Irish!
    It just shows how on and on these fights over citiczenship and neighborhoods goes.

    1. Liberty2nd…….an irony in the horrible tragedy in NZ is that if the Muslims who were brutally murdered in the mosque were Arab Middle Easterners, from Northern Africa, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, etc… and not Black Muslims, then they are/were Caucasian.
      So the “white supremacist” was killing his own Caucasian brothers and sisters.

  8. Hoorayfor the third or fourth national area to discover the new World Norway, Sweden, Faero Islands, Ireland Portugal came far and long ahead than the Giovanni Come Lately crowd

    What Cristoforo Colon had was a better advance man and publicity department

  11. Lovely pictures. A bit chilly but beautiful this holiday in the DC area.

    Isn’t it funny how cultural appropriation is ok on St. Patrick’s Day?

  12. Professor….Such nice morning photos from Va. Thank you.
    Legend says (and historians confirm) that the cowboy came from Ireland…They drove some of the first trail drives in Texas and SW, and gave us the word buckaroo. And of course wonderful cowboy songs sung around the campfires…..”The Streets of Laredo” for. example
    Thanks, Irish …….and Erin Go Bragh to all

    1. Hi Cindy:

      The word “buckaroo” comes from the Anglo pronunciation of “vaquero”, which is the Spanish name for a ranch hand. The “v” is Spanish is almost pronounced like a “b” in English. There were, however, lots of Irish trailing herds to feed the nation in the great cattle drives.

      1. Karen…Yes, I am with you on that definition….however, the Irish disagree! 🙂
        Our friend, an Irish playwright, poet and decorated war hero in Ireland (was in Irish Special Forces in Viet Nam) tells me emphatically the origin of buckaroo and cowboy is pure Irish.
        I am not going to disagree with him because he is 78 yrs old, has red hair and carries a gun….LOL!

      2. P.S. Karen…….I cannot find my notes from our Irish friend’s lecture last November on Ireland’s contributions to American culture. He gave an example of the origin of “buckaroo” in Ireland….maybe from an old Irish song? I can’t remember ….It predated, according to him, “vacquero” But like I said, he was emphatic that all roads of definitions and explanations, especially cultural, lead back to Ireland…LOL

          1. Karen…very interesting article…Thank you!..
            We have two dear friends who both are exactly half Irish–half Italian, but they seem to be psrtial to their Italian heritages more than Irish. Probably because the Italian is the paternal side for both?
            Here at Chez Bubba, we are Welsh, Scots Irish, Flemish, English, with about a half-cup or so of Choctaw…..and proud of it all.

  13. Great pics! Do you have a new lense? Your traditional celebration is interesting and fun!

  15. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! And by the way there is no such thing as St. Patty’s day. It is Paddy, short for Padraig, the Gaelic spelling of Patrick. Patty is a female name, a diminutive of Patricia; Paddy is the male name, a diminutive of Padraig/Patrick. ☘️

        1. St. Patrick wasn’t Italian. He was “Romano-British” in the sense that he was of British ethnicity, but since Britain at that time was a province of Rome, he was British-Romano, i.e., a Brit who had Roman citizenship.

          1. Kevin Finnery:

            “St. Patrick wasn’t Italian. He was “Romano-British” in the sense that he was of British ethnicity, but since Britain at that time was a province of Rome, he was British-Romano, i.e., a Brit who had Roman citizenship.”
            **************************
            Well you got some of it correct: His parents were Roman, Calpurnius and Conchessa, and, though born in Scotland, Patricus was a Roman by birth right. His father, Calpunius, was a Roman official (Decurio) whose family hailed from Rome’s patrician class. His mother, Calpurnius, was also Roman and related to another Roman, St. Martin of Tours who was a Roman calvary officer before his Bishop/Saint gig. Maewyn Succa, Patrick’s true name, was as Roman as they come. St. Patrick’s introduction to the jolly Irish was being kidnapped by some Irish pirates and taken back to the Emerald Isle where he was imprisoned for six years. Romans, as you know, were the precursors to the Italians, who by virtue of their proximity to the Roman empire, are of mixed ethniciy and who, btw, understand humor — in stark contrast to SOME hibernians.

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