An' What Ye Be Doin' This St. Patty's Day?

Ah, faith and begorrah, but it's a fine, balmy St. Patty's day in central Massachusetts, it is. And what would ye be doing to celebrate the feast day of the yobbo who chased the snakes out of the Emerald Isle?

Well, considerin', now, that ye wouldn't be the type to drink to excess until you've deposited green vomit into our city's sewers and plan on celebrating today with a wee bit more dignity, here are a few suggestions.

Considerin' you're the literary sort, ye could do a lot worse than read Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization, which is but the first part of his Hinges of History, it is. A goodly tome, it is one of my favorite books of all time.

Another favored book of mine is Michael Collins: A Biography by James McKay. The price o' the book goes back and forth and up and down like two hyperactive fat kids on a seesaw but you can get the hardcover for just 12 coppers, you can, so I'd recommend not getting the $181+ paperback. It's a good, comprehensive summary of the life of the proto Irish terrorist who freed Southern Ireland but sold up the Liffyside by Eamon DeValera, that fookin' political prick.

If you're the more lyrical sort with a weakness for a good jig and a reel, you might want to try The Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society, a rollicking Irish band who've been around for 40 years. They not only do Irish reels but also the occasional Scott Joplin and Colonial American song. I met them in 1995, I did, and they be all fine lads and lasses, they are.

All in all, it's a fine day to be alive, it is, and, who knows, I might hoist a pint of Guinness in ole St. Patty's memory, yet. May the wind always be at your back and may you get to heaven a second before the Devil knows you're dead.