What are the Irish good for
…? Politics, pubs and pints (and maybe a poet or two). Then
there’s the harp, yes, they invented the harp. The art in the Book
of Kells draws a few thousand visitors to Dublin every year.
What are the Irish good for…? Politics, pubs and pints (and maybe a poet or two). Then there’s the harp, yes, they invented the harp. The art in the Book of Kells draws a few thousand visitors to Dublin every year.
My Dad says there are two types of Irish, the “lace curtain” Irish and the “pig in the parlor” Irish.
He leans toward the latter when describing his in-laws, this of course from an American Heinz 57. In case you’re wondering, the McCarthy name comes from my mom’s side and is used as a pen name.
Last Thursday, the clans gathered at Bill Murphy’s work place (Clos LaChance) and toasted St. Paddy’s Day with green wine. The novelty wore off quickly, and most of us switched to Zinfandel.
Of course, with most Irish parties, the blarney ran thick and some politicians stopped by to keep in the loop. About as Irish as you can get, Kathleen Sullivan made the rounds with her even more Irish husband Ed. We let a few Scots in as they are Celtic brothers, but one Lithuanian wanted to be Irish for the evening and barely made the cut.
Holding up the bar was Jeff Dixon wearing a farcical, green top hat toasting his heritage with Karen and Forrest Garnett. Stepping out of the bar and into the misty, foggy, rainy weather made me miss the bogs (but not the potatoes).
An invitation from Jim O’Briant (detect an Irish them here? Don’t worry we’ll get to the Italians soon enough) came a wee bit too late on Friday night but the report from Happy Dog Pizza owner/general manager Steve Gearing was that the Dixieland sounds of the Brozene Band “turned the whole upstairs into a little New Orleans.”
Gearing continued: “People that came said they were so glad to have this in town. They don’t have to go to the city up north or to the coast.” Happy Dog will continue the Dixie land music on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month from 6pm to 8pm. Gearing also plugged open mike night on Thursdays, admitting to his own performance on guitar as the warm up act (“Eagles stuff”). The whole atmosphere is upbeat and fun.
As a wine club member at Guglielmo Winery, I am supposed to pick up my wine every other month. I stopped by the winery today and found I had not picked up my wine since last May!
As they were loading my wine into case boxes, I found out the Guglielmo Familia is expanding by the day. The patriarch of the family, George, is now a nonno (grandfather). Brother Gene proudly announced his baby brother Gary and his wife Ginger are expecting a future winemaker on June 10th.
Gene laughed and said he suggests putting a “made in Italy” stamp on the baby’s backside as nine months ago Gary and Ginger spent time in Napoli.
When asked if the first name will be Italian Gary exclaimed, “Yeah, of course!” I suggested “Luigi” but Gary said too old-fashioned. How about “Romeo” (roll the “r” it sounds more Italian)? And by the way, how Italian is the name Gary?
Ciao for now.
