Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung - it officially sprung last Saturday [March 20th], but I'm just now getting around to mentioning it on my blog. Mother Nature has been blessing southeastern Michigan with glorious weather - 68 degrees and sunny today.  Yesterday was so beautiful my hubby and I resumed our old half-mile walk routine and did the same today.  Time to think about getting back in shape again.

I discarded my Oxalis [shamrock] plant and wilted daffodils and made a trip to Lowe's garden center today to look for something to replace them.  It's still a bit early for an Easter Lily, but the Hydrangea plants were perfect, and one came home with me.

It definitely says Spring!

Yesterday was National Rosie the Riveter Day.  I'm grateful for all the WWII Rosies who paved the way for women in the work force today.

I mentioned in my previous post that I got my second COVID-19 shot last Thursday morning. All went well until about 6:30 that evening, then the shot knocked my socks off me with flu-like symptoms of chills, hot flashes, headache and nausea.  It was a l-o-n-g sleepless night. When morning finally arrived my hubby went to the pharmacy to get some Tylenol because instructions were not to take Motrin.  I slept all day and night on Friday, and by Saturday I was improved enough to go to work.  Fortunately I never ran a fever.  I had no adverse reaction to my first shot, so I wasn't anticipating any reaction to the second one.

I'm feeling great now but there's a large, red welt-like circle at the site of the injection that has increased in size each day.  It's sore, itchy, and feverish.  If there's no improvement by morning my Dr. will take a look at it.  An allergic reaction to latex could be the culprit.  

On another subject, I discovered the Irishmen that I purchased at the estate sale last Thursday are called figurines after all, and they're Celtic Santas even though they don't look Christmassy.  A large variety of them exist and I found an image for the cutest tea-themed one that I'm diligently searching for.  I'll let you know if I find one.

 

For the record, St. Patty's or St. Paddy's Day?

As the saying goes, "You're never too old to learn," and this year I discovered I've been using the wrong abbreviation for St. Patrick's Day for a very long time.  I've always said St. Patty's Day, while others said St. Paddy's Day.  Erroneously I thought it was a personal preference. Shame on me for not doing my homework, or clarifying it with my Irish mom or aunt while they were still alive.  

One of my blog readers noticed my error and e-mailed me with an explanation. Paddy is the shortened form of Patrick, which is the Anglicized version of the Gaelic name Pádraig. Because St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday, and Gaelic is the traditional Irish language, the right nickname is Paddy, not Patty.  [My questioning mind wonders why the nickname for guys named Patrick is Pat and not Pad.  Just sayin'! ;-)]

Even though saying [or writing] St. Patty's Day is a common error, I read it's a major pet peeve for many Irish people.  A website was even founded called PaddyNotPatty.com but I never knew about it until today. Patty is a shortened form of the female name Patricia, so saying St. Patty's Day is offensive to the male gender.  Yikes!  I'll never say or write it wrong again!

And to muddy the waters... the word Paddy has a contentious history and is sometimes used as a derogatory term for an Irish person.  Maybe it's safer to just avoid any short cuts altogether and stick with St. Patrick's Day!

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