Top of the Morning to You!

It's St. Patrick's Day! My grandmother was Alice Carson from County Down. She and her sister Charlotte emigrated to the US in the 19teens. They almost missed the boat because they were getting their hair done! They were orangemen, or Irish Protestants. Alice married my grandfather, Michael Joseph Oehrl, who had a German family history. Pop was a lapsed Catholic, and Alice hated Catholics to the point that she wouldn't call him Michael, which is a traditional Irish Catholic name. She always called him Joe. I grew up hearing terrible things about "them goddammed fish eating papists." 

Even as a kid, I knew they were a nuts on the subject of religion, and I think their constant ranting actually made me more tolerant of other religions. When I started going out with Ralph, they referred to him as 'that nice young man that Holly's seeing. He's Eye-talian, you know." 

My dad was named Joe, and I think being raised among all the religious rants made him turn against all religions. He joined the Navy as soon as he could, and got outta Dodge! 

Other than their religious fanaticism, my grandparents were good to us. They thought my brothers and I were perfect. Alice kept her Irish accent til the day she died, in 1988. 

Steph and Dan are in Florida, so the dogs are here. The first night they settled down fine, last night Whiskey was restless so I didn't sleep well either. 

Looks like we're getting a couple of cats! A friend of a friend of Ralph's on facebook is getting divorced and has to give up a ten year old brother and sister cat. Ralph is finally ready to have another cat in his life after Cliffie died in December, and after some conversation on facebook, we're taking the two cats after the dogs go back home. The owner describes them as goofy and sweet, and as ten year olds, they're probably mellow. I'm not up to a real young cat, but mellow is good. I've seen a pic, and they're both white and gray, which is different than our last couple of cats. 

I'm still churning out the ruffly scarves, and giving them away as fast as I make them. I sent three down to Morgan with Steph, and I have a pile to be mailed to Manda. 

And now back to the laundry!
Holly