Beannachta� na F�ile P�draig!

Ha ha - I know so little Gaelic - and most of that I learned during my whirlwind stay in Dublin. Cheers to Colm who taught me the most important word I could know in Gaelic - Mna. It saved me a world of embarrassment! Everything else I learned from the Teletubbies...

Some folks wonder why Americans pay so much attention to the Irish and Scottish things. It is always funny to hear a southern drawl proclaiming itself to be Irish, or whatever. But I guess it's that we're still a young country in the great scheme of things and that we're searching for our roots I suppose. While there are some fine "American" traditions by now - we still feel the pull to the old country - maybe in the same way that African-Americans celebrate their Africanness - though they have slightly different reasons.

We're all mutts, I guess - and every mutt wants a story they can call their own.