"May your life in this world be a happy one.
May the sun be warm and may the skies be blue.
May each storm that comes your way,
Clear the air for a brighter day.
May the Saints and Savior watch over you."

- Sammy Horner of The Electrics

When I think of all things Irish, there is a picture of serenity that enters my mind. It is of a little stone cottage in Ireland on rolling green hills overlooking the sea. It has a stone fence surrounding it, and there are sheep grazing on the hills above the home. There is smoke lazily rising from the chimney and the light in the windows is warm and inviting. And when you approach this little cottage by the sea, you hear the sounds of a sweet Irish ballad drifting on the air.

And when I think of Ireland, I also think of all the beautiful songs and poetry that can only come from the hearts of such a passionate people. The sound of a bagpipe pulls on my heart strings, the heartfelt Irish ballads have been known to bring a tear to my eye. And when I think of these things, I can truly say I am proud to have Irish blood flowing through my veins.

Maybe it is because I am part Irish that I feel the call of Ireland so often. It is a place I truly wish to visit before God calls me home. And maybe this is why St. Patrick's Day has always been such a special holiday to me. So know that it really comes from my heart when I say, Happy St. Patricks Day!

So who was St. Patrick? And where did St. Patrick's Day begin? If you are like me, you find this kind of information fascinating! I truly enjoy opening a window into the lives of historical figures like St. Patrick who made such a positive impact in his day that he not only has a holiday named after him, but he changed the course of history. I find that looking at holidays with this perspective is inspirational.

So, if you are interested in learning more about the person of St. Patrick, along with a historical perspective on St. Patrick's Day, I invite you to visit the History of St Patrick's Day page, which is my attempt at putting together something that does justice to both the holiday and the man it was named after.

The Irish really have a way of putting together songs and ballads and such that truly touch my heart. When I started putting these pages together, the first thing I wanted to do was to capture some of the heartfelt emotion shared in the Irish blessings and toasts.

So it was, with a song in my heart, a blessing on my soul, and sometimes a tear in my eye, that I looked at so many wonderful St. Patricks Day web pages. And from these pages I managed to put together a page of Irish Blessings. I hope they touch your heart as much as they do mine.

And as I was browsing through all the fun Irish and St. Patrick's Day pages, I continually uncovered links to pages of Irish cuisine. Some of the recipes I found looked so wonderful that it was all I could do at times to keep myself from running off to try some of them. If you would like to see what I have found, please visit my Irish Recipes page. It contains a few recipes and any number of links to some very fine pages relating to Irish cuisine. Enjoy! (But not too much...)

Holiday Webrings

The St. Patrick's Day Webrings page contains all the webrings that I belong to that are specific to St. Patrick's Day. (Go figure!) So this is where you should go if you wish to continue your tour of a webring that brought you here, or if you would like to check out other web pages with the St. Patrick's Day holiday theme! Happy St. Patrick's Day!