Last night I cooked a big mess 'o Irish delight: cabbage, tatties, corned beef, and sauerkraut. We drank beer and ate bowls of boiled food and toasted the Saint. At one point, my niece looked up from her boiled potatoes with disappointment in her eyes. "Why didn't you put noodles in this?" she asked.
"Because it's St. Patty's Day, dear!" I said in my best Thistle & Shamrock voice.
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent my mother last night:
Beatrix spent much of the afternoon hunting for a leprechaun. After quite a bit of research on leprechauns, what they eat, and where they hide, she built a trap (with a rainbow inside and shiny things)
and put it in the back yard as well as beating the bushes for one.
She found a tiny piece of shiny copper on the way to school and seemed satisfied that this was a tiny sliver of gold. She listened for the tiny "tap,tap" of his hammer--all leprechauns, of course, are shoemakers. By the time we walked back from school with Elspeth she was beginning to be discouraged that one had not shown up yet. She was showing a remarkable tenacity and a focused, serious mind.
What was she
after? GOLD. A whole potful.
Then Elspeth built a leprechaun trap--quite ingenious.
That night, Martin brought home gold money with him and Merry sneaked it into both traps. The girls were so excited. Everything went along swimmingly until Elspeth ran upstairs and began ransacking things, telling the other kids (her cousins were over, too) that the mischievous leprechaun had done it all.
We thought all the kids were complicit so they spent the night under duress to clean up--and did a lousy job. Then at the end of the night I realized that the only one who had messed anything up was Elspeth. Bea was in tears--every time I'd asked her to clean up, she'd protested, "The leprechaun did it!" It took me until the end of the night to realize that she was in earnest.
Tonight when I put her to bed, she was so disappointed that she had not caught a leprechaun.
"It's okay," I said. "They're fast little fellows. And besides, he brought you gold chocolate."
"I don't want gold chocolate," she cried. "I want real GOLD!"
"You know what?" I said. "I've got my own sweet family, and that's enough. I don't need gold, too."
"I want GOLD!" she wailed.
Money grubber. Though she did say that if she found some, she'd share it with her sisters.
In other news, Elspeth went off to school this morning with her hair braided around chopsticks. Guess which character she is. . .and keep in mind, my camera battery died right before I was going to take a photo of her bright, striped stockings.
"Because it's St. Patty's Day, dear!" I said in my best Thistle & Shamrock voice.
Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent my mother last night:
Beatrix spent much of the afternoon hunting for a leprechaun. After quite a bit of research on leprechauns, what they eat, and where they hide, she built a trap (with a rainbow inside and shiny things)
and put it in the back yard as well as beating the bushes for one.
She found a tiny piece of shiny copper on the way to school and seemed satisfied that this was a tiny sliver of gold. She listened for the tiny "tap,tap" of his hammer--all leprechauns, of course, are shoemakers. By the time we walked back from school with Elspeth she was beginning to be discouraged that one had not shown up yet. She was showing a remarkable tenacity and a focused, serious mind.
What was she
after? GOLD. A whole potful.Then Elspeth built a leprechaun trap--quite ingenious.
That night, Martin brought home gold money with him and Merry sneaked it into both traps. The girls were so excited. Everything went along swimmingly until Elspeth ran upstairs and began ransacking things, telling the other kids (her cousins were over, too) that the mischievous leprechaun had done it all.
We thought all the kids were complicit so they spent the night under duress to clean up--and did a lousy job. Then at the end of the night I realized that the only one who had messed anything up was Elspeth. Bea was in tears--every time I'd asked her to clean up, she'd protested, "The leprechaun did it!" It took me until the end of the night to realize that she was in earnest.
Tonight when I put her to bed, she was so disappointed that she had not caught a leprechaun.
"It's okay," I said. "They're fast little fellows. And besides, he brought you gold chocolate."
"I don't want gold chocolate," she cried. "I want real GOLD!"
"You know what?" I said. "I've got my own sweet family, and that's enough. I don't need gold, too."
"I want GOLD!" she wailed.
Money grubber. Though she did say that if she found some, she'd share it with her sisters.
In other news, Elspeth went off to school this morning with her hair braided around chopsticks. Guess which character she is. . .and keep in mind, my camera battery died right before I was going to take a photo of her bright, striped stockings.
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-kara