Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

I almost blew a surprise for Kaitlyn for their last major stay in Ireland…a highlight at Ashford Castle. I didn’t realize that Tommy had signed Kaitlyn up (as well as himself) for the School of Falconry as a surprise for Kaitlyn…a chance to participate in this rare experience, as well as, finally meet Dingle, the Owl.

(I had made a picture of the owl for Tommy to take and told Kaitlyn, at a pre-wedding party, that I had left the picture in their car. Kaitlyn gave me a blank stare but thankfully (hopefully) it was lost in all the festivities.)

Ashford Castle is definitely a mind-blowing way to end the honeymoon.

Click on this link to see photos inside and out of this castle voted the best hotel in the world.

Ashford Castle in Ireland named best hotel in the world | Daily Mail …

Tommy did his “homework” while they were planning the itinerary and saw where this amazing hotel offered the opportunity to fly a Harris Hawk at the School of Falconry. (This school is the oldest of its kind in Ireland)

Then as he read on…he saw where they also had an Eurasian owl (one of the largest in the world) who was one of the oldest “chartered” members (a “founding father” one article quoted) named Dingle. So Tommy started emailing back and forth to see if he could fly Dingle.

meet Dingle the owl at Ashford Castle in Ireland – YouTube

The instructor, Tommy texted back and forth to…said that Dingle was getting kind of old and moody…some days he flew, others he didn’t…but they would definitely make sure Dingle got to meet the other Dingle. Yesterday Kaitlyn sent me this picture. It happened! In fact Dingle extended his hospitality to both Dingles!

*

* Dingle can be rented to be a “key” player in one’s wedding proposal…by delivering the key ring with the engagement ring attached.. (As much as I love Dingle the Owl…I am glad that little Rudy got that job for Tommy and Kaitlyn)

I think Tommy and Kaitlyn have felt like a king and queen for the past few days…exactly how everyone on a honeymoon should feel.

 

An adventure like this provides a lifetime of memories…their honeymoon to Ireland will always be a “Remember when” followed by a long sigh of contentment.

It makes mothers, like Susan and I, smile to know their “children” are having this opportunity of a lifetime. Life is good!

So until tomorrow….I read somewhere (once) that mothers’ prayers have a direct “hot-line” to God. I believe this to be so…because I have prayed (many years) for all my children to find the love of their life…and they did!

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

 *Our favorite, most talented artist-in-residence (meaning she lives in Summerville) Anne Peterson is putting on the annual Spring Art Show and Sale this Saturday May 27, 2017 in the form of a drop-in-reception from 4-8. Three other talented artist friends will have their artworks displayed also.

*The exhibit takes place in Anne’s home: Walnut Farms:  131 Scalybark Road, Summerville, SC

Let’s all come out and support Anne and other local artists in our area!

Dear Reader:

We were surrounded by flowers during our stay at ‘Rest in Peace’ this time. Brooke had gotten several flower bouquets for Mother’s Day and the one from Henry was filled with white lilies and ‘bells of Ireland.’

When I looked up the origin of the name…the connection is that these gorgeous green flowering stems share the same luscious green color of Ireland and they are supposed to bring Irish good luck to all who keep them inside their home. It must be true because we had a whole week of sunny skies, low humidity, and more beach time than we have enjoyed in years!!!

( Me standing-Brooke sitting)

We all also looked forward (each day)  for the next stop on Tommy and Kaitlyn’s itinerary so we could visit every town, city, castle, cathedral, and points of interest, vicariously, throughout their honeymoon of Ireland. Breathtaking pictures and scenery!

Right now they are at Ashford Castle…home of Rory Mcllroy’s  (pro golfer) marriage to Erica Stoll. It was a huge wedding with Stevie Wonder entertaining.

Here are a few photos since arriving at Ashford Castle from Tommy and Kaitlyn.

We had our ‘half and half’ birthday party for Brooke and Libby…giving them new pocketbooks…a bee for Brooke since she is “Bee” to her little grandson Caleb (Boogie Boy) and a pineapple for Libby because she is the essence of hospitality and generosity to one and all!

Jackson and I also treated Brooke and Libby out to dinner (delicious) and we talked about how ‘lucky’ we all are to still be together after all these years.

Mev, we decided to adopt your’s and Jimmy’s lifetime mantra…“We’ve got this” as our new expression for 2017 because together we do. Bring on those old problems…you don’t stand a chance against four Erskine classmates who know each other better than anyone else and have unconditional love for each other…we can banish troubles with the power of unity.

• I have returned home rested, relaxed, and ready to take on life’s challenges. It was the best shot of medicine… It worked wonders and it didn’t cost Medicare or Blue Cross a penny!

So until tomorrow…we are all learning to “create ourselves (and re-create ourselves) as we go.” Life is constantly changing and so should we…God doesn’t want us to remain stagnant, instead God wants us to get out and enjoy His Beautiful World!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*You might remember earlier in the week I did a blog on the role of sharing globally and its important part in life. I used Honey Burrell as my example. She responded with this sincere story I must share with you.

Good morning! Your blog was very touching for me today. 

I did have two great teachers as a young child. Miss Pauline was my preschool teacher- one of the sweetest and most loving people I have ever known. 

Miss Marion was my kindergarten teacher. She was great too and made sure we learned to share if we didn’t learn anything else. 

But my greatest teachers, focusing on sharing, were my parents. Mom always included someone when cooking special meals. We always took the food and delivered it before we would have our meal. This was pretty much a week and sometimes daily event.

Then there was Daddy. I don’t know what the amount of his social security check was, but when it came in the mail it was cashed into small bills. 

We, then, all got in the car and drove to out of the way areas where he would get out of the car and thank former workers for a job well done. Then he would hand them cash.

So I witnessed first hand about giving from the heart. When I look back I am reminded of Alex Haley’s quote I so appreciate: ” Find the good and praise it.” That’s what Daddy did…

What an example Honey’s parents gave her on sharing growing up!  (How fortunate, Honey, you were to have such amazing parents as mentors!)

*I left Edisto and made it to Oscars at high noon on the dot yesterday. What fun to see Ed and Roz Van Alstyne again…it has become our annual gathering place to catch up on old times.

*Sadly Clyde Wilson, Alston’s guidance counselor for many years recently died…but it brought Alston teachers and personnel into Oscars following the funeral and Roz got to see a lot of former teaching comrades…it made the get-to-gather even more special!

Dear Reader:

Last week…I stopped by Hallmark to pick up a Mother’s Day card and happened to glance at the bag they put the card in…the more I read the message on the front the more I liked it.

“Keep your heart Brave and your Imagination WILD!” It is just my kind of quote…combining the best of two traits as we go through life.

It never ceases to amaze me, how in hindsight, conditions that were less than optimal in our childhoods, contribute to the very qualities in ourselves that come to define us. It was my imagination and ability to live in storybooks when life got “too real” that lead to my creativity, intuitive connections to all things in the universe, and love of story.

If my life had been different…so would I. And to tell you the truth ‘Becky and myself’ have become friends in our later years. I can finally accept and live with my weaknesses and recognize my strengths when needed because of the role model provided me by an extraordinary mother and family.

God never left me, even in my most unlovable, rebellious days…in fact He held on tighter during those days. What a friend I do have in Jesus, in God. An unwavering friend whose love and loyalty is beyond measurement or comprehension.

Leaving Edisto and the Ya’s today is always bittersweet…but this time the mood is lightened because I am meeting a wonderful friend, Roz, and her husband Ed (Van Alstyne) at Oscars for lunch. We taught together, beside each other, across the hall from each other, for many years in the social studies department at Alston.

Then Ed and Roz moved to Indiana which made me very sad…but I must admit they have faithfully returned annually to the South Carolina beaches which has given us an opportunity to catch up on each other’s lives. Thanks Roz and Ed! (Talk about unwavering friends…that they are!)

So I am heading home and will be recollecting memories and photos to share tomorrow.

So until tomorrow….Imagine your life they way you want to live it…and then go live it!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

After several days at Edisto Beach with food, fun, and laughter with the Ya’s, I have slowly but surely come down from all the wedding excitement that kept me in a perpetual state of wonderful craziness.

It is hard to believe it has now been almost two weeks from the wedding…time is such an enigma. Some days it moves so slowly and every thing just pokes along and then bang…the race is on and we are jumping all over the place reacting to it.

So this beach retreat was perfect timing. I had a week between the wedding and the retreat to come down from the dizzying fast-pace of  prior wedding activities and getting packed for the beach. And in between all that was Mother’s Day with family squeezed in with children and grandchildren to remind us that all these events in life are connected…weddings, marriage, children, families, grandchildren….legacies. Such is life.

The retreat and walks on the beach gave me time to assimilate my feelings about all the recent happenings. The first thing that came to mind was simply the gratitude I feel for being here.

When I go back to 2008, there was wedding then too…little did I know it was the catalyst for so much to follow. Mandy and John got married, two weeks later I was diagnosed with an an “aggressive/invasive” breast cancer, immediately surgery followed with chemo treatments in the wake followed by more surgery, more radiation, and more chemo.

My breast cancer roller-coaster ride has definitely had its ups and downs these past several years…but I realize now that there is a reason why I am still here. Every time it appeared that “little c” was gaining momentum faster than the treatments to slow it down…something new hit the market and I was back in the game of life again.

God isn’t finished with me yet…and I am so happy for it! Originally I was just hoping to live long enough to see my first grandchild when she was born (Eva Cate in 2010) then Walsh and Mollie got married (2012) and then they had Rutledge (2013), my second grandchild, who was  followed by Jakie (2014) who arrived on my birthday…followed by Lachlan (2015)….then my last “baby’s”wedding (2017)….Tommy to Kaitlyn. (And who knows what event will follow suit with this… or elsewhere? 🙂 ?)

The same year Eva Cate was born (2010) I discovered St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope (Thanks Mike and Honey) in Trust, NC and this event turned my world upside down with the blog.

We just never know what is around the bend….good or not so good…but the one thing I have learned is that no matter what happens God is already around the bend waiting to help us through whatever appears on the horizon.

The blog has given me anchor, it has opened my eyes to God Winks and shown me a whole new world where there are no coincidences just everyday miracles. And I am still learning.

Thank goodness I am a slow learner because God isn’t finished with me yet…and I thank Him everyday for what He has given me.

So until tomorrow….when I return home bringing with me more tales and stories of the everyday miracles in my life I thank all of you readers for taking the journey of life with me…for holding my hand and pulling me along when I have needed it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I was shocked when I read the average person has anywhere from 50 to 70 thousand thoughts going through him or her on any given day!! What? How many? No wonder the biggest problem in modern-day relationships is lack of communication…we are too busy thinking to talk…at least coherently and sincerely.

If all our thinking was positive and good…that would be crowded enough but add in our negative thoughts and we are back in college trying to stuff one more person in the telephone booth. (Now that remark really aged me! :))

In a nutshell…we need to stop talking and try “being”; just simply “being.”

(Source: The Blog: “There are 50,000 Thoughts Standing Between You and Your Partner Every Day!” ( Bruce Davis, Ph.D.)

…“The answer is finding time for simply being, being in silence together. This can be an evening stroll, a visit to the ocean, making a retreat. Healing begins in any activity that is without the expectation of talking, with no demands to finish the unfinished conversation. When there are no expectations, we can enjoy the peace and quiet. The heart is free to soften and open. A quiet mind makes for an available heart. When one is not so overwhelmed with one’s self, there is room for some one else.”

Davis talks about the “joy of solitude.” Being silent isn’t just about not talking…it is revealing the true essence of who we are…the person we each fell in love with at some point.

…”Each person in our life has a unique quality of stillness, a unique presence of love. This is the part of us that is more than our thoughts, more than our words. It is our essence, our being, the abundance of life that radiates from us. The silent presence in each person is totally unique.”

So until tomorrow…Our “pause moment” at this moment is discovering once again our joy of silently shared solitude.” 

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

So happy Tommy and Kaitlyn found Dingle as enchanting as Anne and I did! It is hard to describe its beauty.

Dear Reader:

In Robert Fulghum’s best-selling book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten he starts the list with the most important lesson:

SHARE EVERYTHING!!!!

If we had to choose just one word that sums up the cause behind the mess the world finds itself in today…economically, globally, militarily….it would be a simple 5 letter word!

G R E E D ! (Destroyed by Sharing!)

I don’t know who Honey Burrell’s kindergarten teacher was but she must have been an amazing teacher because there is no one else I know that shares like Honey. She will “literally” loan you the shirt off her back. There are no perimeters to her giving…it is endless and continuous!

And as much as the rest of us think we are pretty good at sharing…all it takes is having to make a tough choice between something we really want or spending the money on something or someone else to realize our deficiency in the category of sharing.

We grip about having to pay for broken appliances or other necessary but boring items but yet don’t skip a beat when it is something we want in a more fun category.

If we had all learned to share like Honey, putting everyone in front of our own needs…the world would be a different place. There would be no wars fighting over someone else’s land, country, product, or riches. Everyone in the world would have enough to eat…because everyone in the world shared.

I had forgotten about this little anecdote until I had almost finished reading it…and was so glad I re-read it again. The lesson in the anecdote is right on target… how we try to pretend to be good sharers until put to the true test.

A Bag of Cookies”

Dear Reader:

Before Tommy and Kaitlyn left Dublin, their first stop, you might remember they went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral where Tommy left a note for Uncle Ben…(loved ones affected by war.)

Before they entered the cathedral they looked up and it appeared that Someone had lit a huge candle over the cathedral  spilling glorious rays of light all over the building and entrance. A special sign, no doubt! Or as I would imply…a God Wink!

* This cathedral brought back some special memories for Honey! She said: “Good morning friend! …In your blog today I was touched by the picture of St. Patricks. I remember visiting the beautiful church in 1972 with Moma. You see my Grand Mom was christened in that church many many years ago. The picture brought back so many memories. Love to you.”

When Joanna King (our wedding flower decorator, friend,  elementary art teacher to Tommy) saw this picture of the cathedral on Kaitlyn’s FACEBOOK she made this comment that made me pause.

“It’s not very often you can see rays of sunlight…I wonder how children always include them on their drawings? ” 

What a profound and acute observation from a retired art teacher! I started thinking back on my own children’s drawings and now my grandchildren’s works and she is right…little children automatically add rays to life… to stick people, flowers…bright yellow sunny rays accompany their first attempts at drawing.

Eva Cate even adds rays around her own self-portraits or pictures sometimes of others. She adds the rays to indicate the happiness she senses from herself or others. Here’s two recent examples:

Very young children (up to 5-7 years of age) see auras naturally. Infants frequently look ABOVE a person in front of them. When they don’t like the color of the aura above the head, or if this color is much different from their parent’s aura, they cry, no matter how much smiling the person does.

Children have much cleaner and stronger auras than most of adults, who are usually completely enslaved by the materialistic world and suppress their Nature by following superficial examples. Older children, when questioned about auras, remember seeing them but since no one else seemed to notice or care…they soon stopped caring too.  (Imaginative Children)

Adults, who are open to wider interpretations of nature and not restricted by their own peers, often speak of remembering seeing auras above their children, especially when they were small.

So is it any wonder that little children want to put rays of light on the sun and then add them to pictures in random fashion…because to them they appear naturally while they are happily involved in different artistic forms of self-expression.

So that is my “pause” for today. This is my first full day at Edisto and I decided before coming this time…that each of my days here would be open to the moment and not about deadlines…even with the blog post.

So I wrote down one “pause” moment for each day I am gone and that is all. When I return Saturday I will catch everyone up with memories of Edisto and Ireland! (I might be able to sneak in a few photos…if I can get a connection out.)

So until tomorrow…Enjoy this week! I plan to…!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Ard na Sidehe (Hill of Fairies) where Tommy and Kaitlyn have been located the last two days is going to be hard to beat for the magical quality of the place….but Dingle is calling…and I hope the sun too!

*I am excited that our new Dingle couple is heading to Dingle today…just an overnight stop but hope it will be memorable and fun…I loved it.

Hope you find a warm Irish pub with wonderful old Irish ballads and songs…it sure made Anne’s and my stay there memorable!

Dear Reader:

The Ya’s are off today for our annual summer retreat…this year celebrating Brooke’s and Libby’s birthdays…the “Half and Half” Celebration! (Brooke’s birthday was at the end of April and Libby’s at the beginning of June…so the middle of May works perfectly!)

These days every time we get back together we walk in sighing audibly… expressing the same sentiment in similar fashion…it goes something like this:  “I didn’t think this day would ever come…boy do I need this R&R badly…I need my Ya’s.”

And immediately a sense of peace settles in with us all…four old friends who finish each others’ sentences.

Part of the reason for my added busyness in trying to get away from the house and in the car heading to Edisto…is two-fold: Writing blogs for the days I am gone and leaving “babysitting” instructions for my garden so all will be healthy and happy upon my return.

Having a garden really is like having little children again…dependent on you for food, water, and loving nourishment. I have even gotten to the point of talking to my plants…yes I am slowly but surely evolving into that ‘crazy lady that talks to her flowers.’

I leave my neighbor Vickie instructions like “Talk softly to the flowers, let them know I won’t be gone long, give the Gerber daisies lots and lots of water…I have spoiled them in that way and now they pout and wilt quickly if I don’t “baby” them each day. Make sure you don’t see any bugs on the “babies” but if so…the spray is in the potting shed. Oh and don’t forget the fairies…they like playing in the water spray you use on the coleus…you might even hear them laugh.”

***(And speaking of fairies…Tommy and Kaitlyn arrived yesterday in Ard Na Sidhe (Hill of Fairies) and it looks beautiful enough to have fairies and everything else -delightfully magical in life- living there.)

…And “babies” in the garden back home.

P.S. “If something new blooms while I am away email me a photo and let them know how proud I am of them.” 

( My recently planted lantana along the fence started blooming before I left and the morning glories are climbing all over the fence! Just ready for them to bloom!)

I know…I know…I am losing it…but I figure if I have to lose something…there are worse things than falling head over heels in love with one’s garden.

And speaking of that expression…here is what I discovered about its origin….

‘Head over heels’ is a good example of how language can communicate meaning even when it makes no literal sense. After all, our head is normally over our heels. The phrase originated in the 14th century as ‘heels over head’, meaning doing a cartwheel or somersault. When we fall in love…our world turns upside down too.

Here are pictures of my “babies” I took before heading out today.

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”

Winnie the Pooh

*Welcome pink mandevilla to the garden…a mother’s day gift that will hopefully keep growing and growing and growing.

* Ben was in for a surprise yesterday when part of the Mother’s Day church service was about our mother, her story, heart, and courage. Ben and his pastor are close friends and over the years he has told Pastor Riddle and his wife about mother and her amazing accomplishments…so she was chosen to be the story example for Mother’s Day at their small church. I hope you enjoyed your tribute Mom! Ben sure was proud and I am too! Long overdue recognition! Thanks Randy!

Dear Reader:

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thursday night I was lucky enough to turn to PBS at eight o’clock…just in time to see a documentary by Stephen Edwards, famous composer and musician, who decided to undertake the daunting task of writing a requiem…called Requiem for My Mother.

I sat mesmerized for a solid hour as I watched this unbelievably talented composer write all the movements for a requiem (lyrics in Latin) out of his love for his mother Rosalie Edwards, a popular music teacher who inspired him to follow in her footsteps…making music his life.

After months of practices and initial performances using children and adults from all over the United States…the requiem was performed at the Vatican.

I found myself dabbing at my eyes all the way through that climatic performance. The movements in the requiem touched every part of one’s soul and then some.

The music told the story of his mother’s passing like no oral translation could attempt to do. Unbelievably beautiful and haunting at the same time.

Suddenly I thought of the one time I saw my mother really cry…like sob. She was such a strong woman that the tears she shed were invisible to others…but they were there. Even when my brother, David, died she was strong as a rock.

…But then one Christmas day I returned home to find her crying out loud.. I was in a panic…never having witnessed this before.

After mother came to live with us…we fell into a new Christmas tradition of taking the children over to have breakfast at the Dingles after opening Santa Claus. Then we would come home, let the children play and return for a big mixed family dinner….followed by our family’s gathering to open presents. It was a full day…but that is what Christmas should be.

Mother would stay home while we went to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas at Dee Dee’s and Poppy’s but then return with us for the annual Christmas dinner.

This particular Christmas was the same….we all came back from breakfast and I found mother with red eyes, looking somewhat embarrassed but still emotional. I thought she was sick or had heard some bad news about someone in the family.

Instead she pointed to the television and said she had watched a movie (based on Hans Christian Andersen’s book) The Little Match Girl. Somehow mother, as a child, had missed hearing that story (or forgotten it) and was overcome with emotion.

Christmas always made mother withdraw inwardly and she was relieved when it was over. When I asked her why one year…she said that she couldn’t be happy knowing so many people around the world weren’t having a Christmas. So I can only imagine how the movie of The Little Match Girl affected her.

It was several years later that I had the extraordinary opportunity to stay in Copenhagen with Benedikte Christensen for two weeks on a state/international teacher exchange program. She had come to Summerville first in October and then several of us were scheduled to visit different locations in Denmark in April…over our spring break.

While Benedikte was visiting she and mother became close…she would go visit her on the other side of the house…the duplex apartment she now called home. Mother had just started showing signs of dementia when Benedikte first visited and by the time I made the return trip to Copenhagen in April mother was already residing at Presbyterian Village.

Benedikte was so kind to mother and at some point mother made the connection between Denmark and the story of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Little Match Girl.” Benedikte promised mother that she would take me to Andersen’s statue and would send her home a copy of the story.

This she did…I brought a copy to her room (signed by Benedikte) along with all the pictures from the trip…but sadly in just such a short time…five months…mother had forgotten the story, Bendedikte and the promise.

But she loved it when I read the story with her again showing her all the beautiful illustrations in the book Benedikte had given her.

Both of our favorite drawing in the story was the scene of the spirit of grandmother returning to help her frozen granddaughter live with her where there would always be enough food, light, heat, and love for eternity.

She lifted the little girl up in her arms, and they soared in a halo of light and joy, far, far above the earth, where there was no more cold, no hunger, and no pain – for they were with God. 

When mother died in 2000 my wish for her was that she, too, like the “Little Match Girl” would finally be reunited with daddy and my younger brother David… and the rest of her family who had passed before…to live where there was no more pain…because she was with God.

So until tomorrow…

Mother…Everything I am today is because of your constant love.

I love you.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Poor Horation Nelson…as if literally ending up “in a perpetual pickle” wasn’t enough to remember him by…another popular expression derives directly from this gentleman, too, which might have later (indirectly) caused his death….another problem that lead to “ending up in a pickle.”  

The best-known example of Nelson’s apparently cavalier approach to orders is the Battle of Copenhagen, at which time Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and announced that he could not see the signal calling on him to end the action and retreat (Nelson had lost the sight of one eye during an shore attack on Cadiz, when a cannonball impact sprayed sand and pebbles into his face).

In fact, a retreat would not only have wasted the initiative, but Nelson’s ships would have been forced to retreat across the line of fire from a still-active section of the Danish defenses.

So Nelson turned to his flag-captain and said, ‘Foley, you know that I have lost an eye, and have a right to be blind sometimes.‘  Then he raised his telescope to his blind eye and said, “I can honestly say that I really do not see the signal.” Fight on!”

Nelson went on to win the battle and to negotiate an armistice, followed by a peace agreement. And the phrase that we use today?…

” To Turn a Blind Eye”

Meaning: To ignore situations, facts, or reality

Origin: The British Naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, had one blind eye (his right eye). Once when the British forces signaled for him to stop attacking a fleet of Danish ships, he held up a telescope to his blind eye and said, “I do not see the signal.” He attacked, nevertheless, and was victorious.

………………

Many historians believe, however, that it was this physical impairment that cost him his life at the famous naval ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ when he was shot by one of the enemy sneaking up on him from his right side. He didn’t see the enemy until the “killer musket shot” had been fired.

Jumping from Admiral Nelson to George Washington…I remember an interesting tidbit told on the Mount Vernon tour. When Washington was retired and living there after the Presidency he still entertained guests about 65% of the year. Some people he knew and some he didn’t…they just stayed on and on.

He even wrote the name of one such guest in his journal and said that the strange man finally left after months of an ‘over-extended’ visitation. Washington didn’t even know who he was. So he decided  to use the English custom/ tactic of “giving him the cold shoulder.”

Give a cold shoulder

Meaning: Being unwelcoming or antisocial toward someone

Origin: In medieval England, it was customary to give a guest a cold piece of meat from the shoulder of mutton, pork, or beef chop when the host felt it was time for the guest to leave. This was a polite way to communicate, “You may leave, now!”

I think it is time for me to leave now too….So until tomorrow: If you want to “butter someone up” why not amuse them with today’s word origins… concluding with this expression.

Butter someone up

Meaning: To impress someone with flattery

Origin: This was a customary religious act in ancient India. The devout would throw butter balls at the statues of their gods to seek favor and forgiveness.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh (Except it has been “Hotter than blue blazes” these past few days…loving the cooler break today and the garden is loving the rain!)

Kaitlyn and Tommy made it to West Cork, Ireland from Dublin (driving on the left side of the road) without getting mowed down…so they were happy as well as all their family back home! They are staying right on the ocean at Incheydoney Island Lodge…beautiful views!

After getting settled into their new “digs” they went to see one of Ireland’s most popular attractions…The Rock of Cashel…or the Rock of St. Patrick. Cashel literally mean a circular stone fort in Gaelic.

*This is a picture of the Rock of Cashel on a sunnier day with the sun going down…spectacular in beauty! (below)

*Kaitlyn…don’t let the one-eyed raven, the snarly snakes, or the devil get you….hang on!!!!

According to an old Irish legend, the Rock of Cashel appeared as a result of the devil taking a bite from a tall mountain called the Devil’s Bit located 20 miles north of Cashel. A piece of rock fell from the devil’s mouth and gave start to what we now know as a Rock of Cashel.

St. Patrick enters the story as the hero beating out the devil and his two snarly snakes (one of the reasons why there are no snakes in Ireland today) by banishing him from the sacred ground.

The ” Shamrock”( the symbol of Ireland) is also believed to have a connection with the famous Rock of Cashel.. According to another legend, St Patrick later plucked a tree-leaf clover in the attempt to show the significance of the Holy Trinity during the conversion of the King of Munster into Christianity, thus making the shamrock clover Ireland’s main symbol.

These stories are “manna from heaven” for a retired history teacher! Keep having fun Tommy and Kaitlyn while Boo ‘eats up all the history!’

Pictures of moms and children are always a delight on Mother’s Day!

  Back from Disney!