March 2009
by Mary Gersema
Aye, so ye heard it’s St. Patty’s Day a comin’ and yer extectin’ a wee bit of the blarney, are ye? I reckon I can spare ye a little if ye promise to wear a bit o’ the green on the 17th.
A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink.
“Why of course,” comes the reply.
The first man then asks: “Where are you from?”
“I’m from Ireland,” replies the second man.
The first man responds: “You don’t say, I’m from Ireland too! Let’s have another round to Ireland.”
“Of course,” replies the second man.
Curious, the first man then asks: “Where in Ireland are you from?”
“Dublin,” comes the reply.
“I can’t believe it,” says the first man.
“I’m from Dublin too! Let’s have another drink to Dublin.”
“Of course,” replies the second man.
Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks:
“What school did you go to?”
“Saint Mary’s,” replies the second man.
“I graduated in ’62.”
“This is unbelievable!” the first man says.
“I went to Saint Mary’s and I graduated in ’62, too!”
About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar.
“What’s been going on?” he asks the bartender.
“Nothing much,” replies the bartender. “The O’Malley twins are drunk again.”
I love March! I’m Irish and this is my month. Today is March 2nd and I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it has come in like a lion here in Boise. The wind has been blowing and it is that kind of cold that makes you pray even harder for spring. The good news is I saw my first Red Winged Blackbird this morning, which means spring really is almost here. And you all know by now that the first day of Daylight Savings Time is my favorite day of the year, so in just 5 days… I’ll be dancing in the backyard and you may even be able to hear me shout for joy clear in Atlanta.
I have been busy in the benefits department for the last several weeks. I have to tell you those folks know how to dance! We have done the Macarena, twist, some others I can’t remember and Patrick taped me dancing to post on YouTube. We have made lots of progress and are getting a pretty tight ship. Our goal is to have all processes reviewed/improved (if necessary) and documented in case someone is hit by the lottery we will have a good basis for training new employees.
George and I get to travel to Savannah in April to go to a PACE conference and I am so excited to get to go to Paula Deen’s restaurant. My kids and I play cooking show in the kitchen so I do a pretty good imitation of Paula and plan to entertain the guests at her restaurant with my version of “Not Yo’ Mama’s Banana Puddin'” And if you haven’t tried it, that means you are not on the “recipes” group. If you like to cook and want to get lots of tasty recipes e-mail Tony in IT and ask to have your name added and when people try a great recipe they post it for our enjoyment. The catch is… you have to share your recipes!
Til next month when we’ll be celebrating Easter, work hard, give thanks, make some relationships stronger and by all means, have fun.