Monday, March 18, 2024

From Craic to Madness

 





Bill and I thoroughly enjoyed St. Patrick's celebration overload this weekend. 

Two parties on two nights and extra helpings of Irish tradition at each. 

Last night's version involved some family "outlaws," all of whom have visited Ireland. 

We both appreciated our first visit to Tom and Kirsten's beautiful new home. 

The menu included corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and delicious desserts. 

It was great fun sitting around the dining room table sharing stories with Bob, Sig, Tom and Kirsten while enjoying dinner. 

Plus, we also shared with each other our own samples of meaningful and poignant poetry.  

It was a lovely evening and a perfect way to celebrate the last hours of St. Patrick's Day.

Thanks so much, Tom and Kirsten. 

Today we move on from the upbeat craic of Irish celebrating to the near insanity of the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments aka March Madness. 

I told Bill yesterday that, with the men's division this season, it's been like all the teams were thrown into a container, shaken up and then left to fall wherever. 

Rhyme and reason with the 2023-24 teams has hardly existed with so many upsets all along the road. 

That said, it seems like an even playing field for anyone who wants to try their luck at bracketology in this year's March Madness.

  Even the pros who determined the brackets said it was one of the most difficult challenges ever to try to get it right. 

Before the pairings were announced yesterday afternoon, Bill had two scenarios on his mind.  

1. That the Gonzaga women's team would get to host the first two games in Spokane. 

2. After learning that his alma mater team, the McNeese Cowboys from Lake Charles, Louisiana, had made it to the tournament, he wished that they would play in one of the Spokane men's games.  

He would then contact McNeese, as an alum, and see about getting tickets to their games. 

Well, Bill's wishes definitely ended up with a totally unpredicted twist. 

Who does McNeese play in the opening round in Salt Lake City on Friday?  

Gonzaga!

Bill's definitely got a problem with that situation.

I reminded him that he's been cheering for Gonzaga a lot longer than he's even paid attention to how McNeese is doing in basketball. 

That problem aside, he's thrilled that the Gonzaga women fulfilled the wish.  They will be playing in Spokane, and, as a season ticket holder, he'll be on the phone at 10 a.m. this morning to purchase some tournament tickets. 

We have also enjoyed the stories of the Gonzaga-related coaching brotherhood:  Mark Few, Tommy Lloyd (Arizona), Billy Grier (Colorado), Leon Rice (Boise State and Mark Few's Gonzaga predecessor Dan Monson (Long Beach State). 

All have teams competing in the tournament. Kinda says a LOT about the ZAGS program. 

Lots of fun for all of us fans, and we are, indeed, looking forward to the craziness, which will include filling out some brackets. 

I do the high school pool and our Friday Night dinner group, which my sister administrates. 

Lots of work to do to figure out match-ups that make sense and then match-ups with the right result.

I've included the brackets this morning as well as the TV times for the men's games. 

Gonzaga women play the Anteaters from UC Irvine Saturday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. 

A fun week lies ahead for basketball junkies. 

Happy Monday to all.  








Note:  click on the brackets to enlarge. 



Men's TV Schedule through Friday night

























Sunday, March 17, 2024

Celebrating a Beloved Heritage

 




Thank you, Marcia Pilgeram, for inviting us to your annual St. Patrick's Day party. 

Great fun, great food, great entertainment and great peeps, as always. 

These annual reminders of the heritage that many of us share bring both understanding of who we are and joy to our hearts that we can celebrate with great big Irish smiles on our faces.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to our Irish relatives and friends, to anyone else who wants to be Irish--even if just for a day--and special wishes to those in Ireland whose friendship we cherish. 

Enjoy the celebrations. 

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚





























Saturday, March 16, 2024

Saturday Slight



 


If you are reading today and you live in my neighborhood, do you own this cat?

It's a total mystery to us about how this frequent feline visitor could hang out like a stray but look like someone's well-cared for house cat. 

It has been sighted out in our barn off and on for the last year or so; it's also been seen occasionally around the peripheral of our yard and most recently, it loves to stay under the front deck. 

We don't worry about feeding the cat because it's well fed somewhere. 

We also know it's domesticated because on a couple of occasions rather that running away at the sight of humans, it embraces the opportunity very aggressively, dancing around one's legs and rubbing with a feverish obsession. 

We are concerned about the cat's presence around our house because of our little Foster and his blindness. 

When his nose alerts him that the cat is around, Foster takes on an obsession of his own to sniff down that cat. 

Yesterday I watched him sniff all around the south end of the deck where there are openings (which we have mostly blocked).

Then, he moved to an area near the steps in front of the deck. The next thing I observed was a hissing from under the deck and an apparent quick strike with a paw and claws from the cat. 

Foster moved away momentarily, but quickly resumed his nasal pursuit of the cat. 

I walked over to the area, and when the cat started coming out from underneath the deck and Foster would not give up, I had to pick him up and carry him away to the house. 

It's obvious with spring and the lack of snow cover that these interactions could turn into a daily obsession, and I worry that the cat's claws could inflict a serious injury to Foster's face. 

So, once again, if you're a neighbor who owns this cat, it would be nice for it to stay home. 

Thanks.   




Yesterday, I visited Homewood Farm Stand over on the connector road between East Shingle Mill and West Shingle Mill Roads.

It was 10 a.m. and only one brownie with Irish whiskey-infused frosting remained from the morning's shopping spree. 

A nice assortment of Irish soda bread with raisins and Irish soda bread without prompted me to buy two loaves. 

Jennifer assured me that today there would be an ample supply of brownies. 

I took the goodies home, and right after I left my car to go to the house, I saw Dr. Jenni Grimmett's veterinary truck cruise by the driveway, come to a halt, back up and then turn in. 

Jenni, her vet tech Lisa and Jenni's beautiful Irish Setter Tormund had come to extend St. Patrick's Day greetings.  Never mind two days early, but who doesn't want to extend St. Patrick's Day the year around!

Their appearance and their Irish attire definitely begged a photo or two. 

As we took the photos (Jenni was the selfie expert), I informed them that I had a treat for them. 

I'd already cut off a strip of the Irish whiskey brownie and had sampled it.  Tasty as ever!

With just one brownie and one bite already taken and plans for Bill to have a sample, I told Jenni and Lisa this handout would be a definite sacrifice.  

As they took their first bite, it was obvious that their tastebuds had come alive. Those brownies are that good. 

Anywho, their brief visit was loads of fun, and I later learned that the well is not empty for the Irish whiskey brownie lovers.

Homewood Farm Stand will be open today with more Irish treats, et. al., beginning at 9 a.m.  If you beat me there, please leave a couple of brownies.

 


Later, I saw another welcome vehicle passing by:  a road grader.  Our road is far from perfect, but its surface improved significantly with the day of drying out and the grading. 

Speeds will probably start increasing from 5 mph to who knows what!

Thanks, as always to the county workers for doing your best.  

All in all, it's fantastic weather and St. Patrick's Day joy is definitely in the air. 

Happy Saturday.