Kiss me, I'm Irish

Seriously, I really am. There were McGiverns and McIntoshes and who knows who all mixed in with folks of other nationalities that made up our family clan. Of course with the plague in force, kissing is probably off the menu, but as I am far from the touchy-feely sort, that is fine with me.

Meanwhile, I saluted the fine folks who grace the kitchen wall with a mug of warm, pale coffee this morning in honor of the day. The folks have joined the grandfolks there and their faces, Mom smiling for all she was worth, and Dad looking serious but intensely engaged with the fun going on in their dining room whenever we visited, help me through my lonely days.

Owing to the plague, we will be experiencing our annual Irish music concert in the living room this evening rather than at the Egg in Albany, where we normally thrill to a High Kings concert each year. 

Becky bought us virtual tickets to the virtual event, and we are hoping to have time to get take-out from our favorite restaurant to top off the experience. (Not a scalper in sight btw.) 

On one hand the boys are the best live performers I have ever heard, in a lifetime of great music and many concerts. On the other hand driving in the dark in Albany is not fun for folks of our vintage and I won't miss that part of it. We can NEVER actually get to Route 7 or any of the other ways out of the city even if we can see them from where we are. Last year it was raining.....

It will be a nice break from dealing with estate matters. Many hours have been spent on the phone, talking to many people not particularly conversant in English, and many more hours going through the 5000 emails in my mom's inbox looking for bills and important stuff. 

I do a few hundred a day now. I think when I get back to the beginning of the year I will quit and get the service shut down....once I get all those bills and things forwarded to me that is....

The question for today is, do we go north and east to deal with estate stuff that has to be done in person or west to get the trash to the doggy-wog amusement park* and buy cow feed?

I'll let you know later...

But for right now, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

*BITD we used to take the Cracker Dogs to the dump when we went. Of course they stayed in the cab of the truck, but they loved the incredible...to a dog...smells and the seething gulls and beeping machinery....

**And, oh, how I wish I could have called Mom last night and told her how Becky and I took turns reading Peg excerpts from Things that Go Bump in the Night. She loved that book. We first became aware of the author, Louis C, Jones, when I was a little kid. I used to beat the doorstep off the Frothingham Library in the summer when we spent our days at the antique shop in Fonda. One day I stumbled on Jones' really scary kid's book, Spooks of the Valley. Mom loved it too, found his other book, mentioned above, and it became kind of a thing to offer it to folks who came into the bookstore looking for folklore.

One day Mom was engaged in a bit of such salesmanship with a nice young woman who came into the store. The lady laughed and said, "Mr. Jones is my father. He is out in the car."

I told Peggy that story too and she was just delighted. She is taking to reading these days.....Liz just said to her, "You have to stop reading and get ready for school." Then she said, "I can't believe I just said that...I sound like my mother!" 

I wanted Mom to know.