A greener view of the world
March 17th, 2008
While volunteering in my son’s fifth-grade class last Friday, I overheard the teacher remind students to WEAR GREEN on Monday! “But what if we don’t have any green clothing?” worried one boy.
WHAT??! No green in his closet? Yikes. That is unthinkable.
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, since I am one-quarter Irish thanks to Daniel Joseph Ford, Jr., my maternal grandfather, I promise to wear green. Thought I’d share this photo of downtown Chicago where they dye the river green on St. Paddy’s day. I was there in 2005 to speak at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show and thought this was quite outrageous!
Gardeners celebrate March 17th in many ways. In Seattle, it is the day when we planted peas, the edible and ornamental varieties. My sweet peas are already blooming, so here in LA, I’ll sow more of the countless seeds amassed for the cut flower garden. I planted some a week ago and yesterday I discovered the first sunflower and amaranthus seed-leaves sprouting. Yeah!
March 17th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Good Grief! I forgot to wear green! I, too, am 1/4 Irish thanks to my maternal grandmother, Mary Theresa Catherine Fitzgerald O’Dwyer, aka Katie. I did manage to eat some colcannon and ‘mashed peas and soda bread. Does that count?
March 17th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
OMG- If a swimming pool in CA turned that color we would 911 the health department! LOL
My father’s side of the family was McKinney, McKenny, Mahoney and Lent. Saint Patrick’s Day was a big deal to my dad. He always dyed scrambled eggs green for breakfast. Looked disgusting: I switched to oatmeal. Which he then put drops of green coloring in to before the pot made it to the table.
The 3 of us girls had to always wear green or we would be bruised from the pinching before we got to school. There was never a choice of what would be for dinner. Boiled corned beef.
Some year not long after moving to Diamond Bar on Saint Patrick’s Day 1979, I learned to bake the dinner. The meat is glazed with equal parts mustard and apricot jam the last half hour. A little change in cooking method makes for a much tastier meal.
I introduced my son’s mother-in-law to Roger’s Gardens today. We dropped some greenbacks in exchange for a cartful of plants.
November 12th, 2009 at 11:40 am
This is the first time I have seen that river so green. At least I learned something new today. This really helped… thank you very much!