Everyone is Irish Today!

March 17: Holidays and observances

Birthday of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Children's Day (Bangladesh)

Christian feast days:

Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)

Gertrude of Nivelles

John Sarkander

Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)

Patrick of Ireland

March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)

Saint Patrick's Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, widely celebrated in the English-speaking world and to a lesser degree in other parts of the world.

The above from Wikipedia.

 🍀 Enjoy the day! 🍀

P.S. March 17, 2020 was the date that we brought Celestial Sweetie inside.

She'd been an outside cat since we'd TNR'd her in 2009, and she really enjoyed her inside retirement with a heated bed, soft blankets, and no other cats to bother her in Sweetie's Apartment (now Henryville).

Miss you, Celestial Miss Growly-pants!

❤️

Let's Hop!

March 17, 2020: Sweetie Retired

 March 17, 2020, we trapped Sweetie and brought her inside.

Taken one year before her retirement, on March 17, 2019.

Just two days after coming inside, Sweetie seemed happy to play!

March 17 is Celestial Sweetie's Inside Gotchversary, or Retirement.

We miss her dearly.

Knowing that her last years were spent in warmth, comfort, and snuggles means the world to us, and we are offering the same to Henry, hoping that he follows in Sweetie's pawprints.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy St. Gertrude's Day!

☘️ ❤️ 🐈

❤️🍀☘️🍀❤️

17 March, 2024 is Queen Sweet's 4th Outside-to-Inside Gotchaversary!

We TNR'd her in 2009, brought her inside in 2020, and enjoy every single day we have with her.

❤️❤️❤️

17 March is St. Patrick's Day, Patron Saint of Ireland, and we have a few sillies to share:

They dye the river green on St. Patrick's Day.😹

😹😹😹
17 March is St. Gertrude of Nivelles Day, whose patronage was never made official by the Vatican, but her association with whisking away mice and rats made her, by default, the saint that all cat lovers venerate.

🐈🐈🐈

~~~

Angel Lucy unexpectedly earned her angel wings.

Click on Lucy's photo above to leave kind words at 15 And Meowing.

😿

Lucky March 17th

Today is a busy day at Eastside Cats!

First:

Sweetie's 3rd Inside-Forever Gotchaversary!

Living in the lap o'luxury!
We love you to pieces, Queen Sweet aka Shrimpie O'Hollaren

Second:

It's St. Patrick's Day!

Third:

It's St. Gertrude's Day!

However you spend your day today, enjoy the gifts that Mother Nature has given, and be careful on the roads, as there are many St. Patrick's Day partiers out there.

Disclaimer: Images used above were copied from social media and used solely for the entertainment of our readers.

What Holiday is on March 17?

It's Sweetie's 2nd Inside Gotchaversary!

Ellen from 15andMeowing decided that Sweetie needed a crown!

All Hail Queen Sweetie!

The first photo that I snapped of Sweetie on March 17, 2020.
💖We love you dearly, feisty Swee Wee!💖

Oh yeah, there are other minor holidays on March 17...St. Patrick's Day (you all know him!) and The Feast of Gertrude of Nivelles, the patron saint of cats.

My St. Patrick's Day Cat Socks.

I spent 33 days in Ireland years ago, and soft days were common.
Going back to Ireland is on my 'to do' list!

🍀😽🍀

Let's Hop!

Click on the badge above to visit Brian's Home Blog!

Sweetie's First Gotchaversary!

🍀

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Happy St. Gertrude's Day!

Happy Gotchaversary, Sweetie!

It was exactly a year ago, on 3/17/20, that I trapped Sweetie, and brought her inside the house.

She arrived in late 2008, and we TNR'd her in 2008.

For a decade, we fed her, housed her, and loved her, often from afar.

She took to being an inside cat with ease, surprising us all!

We adore her, and couldn't be happier to have her sleeping on us every night!

Enjoying her Sweetie Spa

She spends a lot of time there

"I'm ready for my close-up!"

Frost on clover, taken in March 2019.

The Feasts of St. Patrick and St. Gertrude

Gertrude

The patron saint of gardeners, travelers, widows, recently deceased people, the sick, the poor, the mentally ill, and travelers in search of lodging. 

People call upon Gertrude for protection from mice and rats, fever, insanity, and mental illness.

Cat lovers revere Gertrude of Nivelles most of all.

Patrick

The patron saint of Ireland.

He was a Christian missionary given credit with converting Ireland to Christianity in the AD 400s.

Irish legend says that Saint Patrick used the shamrock as an educational symbol to explain the Holy Trinity to non believers.

(Above information found on the interwebs)

A St. Patrick's Day gift!

Please take care my friends; some of what we must do is counterintuitive, yet cool heads must prevail for the maximum number of humans can escape unscathed.

***

Let's not forget, it's Two-zday!

Manny in the bed, Chili Bruce with his tailio over the side.

💞💞💞

Sending all of my love to Sparky and his mom;

May the powers of the universe converge to keep Sparky with us for awhile longer.

💓💓💓

Happy St. Patrick's Day Part 2

Happy St. Patrick's Day Part 1

In the summer of 1980, I traveled to Ireland for a 33-day excursion as credit-earning class, which helped earn my bachelor's degree.  If everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day...or St. Gertrude's Day, who is the Patron Saint of Cats...then anyone who has traveled to Ireland is an honorary Irishman or woman forever.  Having breathed the Irish air, put my toes into dark Irish rivers, eaten Irish-caught wild salmon and butter fresh from Irish cows, and tasted a few *wink* pints of cellar-temperature Guinness Stout while chatting with the locals at a pub...I figure I'm as Irish as anyone else!

Looking through crummy photos taken on that trip, I cannot remember a great chunk of what we did, other than: traveled for seven days by bus, sight-seeing monuments, natural and historic sites; spent two weeks at Trinity College, Dublin, attending classes on Irish history, arts, archaeology, literature, and current events; ten days of bike-riding and bed-and-breakfasts around The Dingle Peninsula (where they still spoke Gaelic); and learning to enjoy 'soft' days (misty rain), roads covered in cow pies, astronomical gasoline/petrol prices, and visiting abandoned monasteries, church yards, cemeteries, ancient Irish mounds, and 'leapin'-the-bogs' and sheep trails.

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, County Clare and
nearby rock formations

The Cliffs of Moher, in County Clare
and ancient fort

Castle and monastery ruins

And did I mention, that drinking Guinness was a fairly LARGE part of my travels in Ireland?  When it comes 'straight from the cow', Guinness is smooth, delicious, and quietly inebriating.  Best enjoyed when in the company of acquaintances, while you converse, tell jokes, and pass the time. 

 

So, I know of what I speak when I say that Patrick O'Malley's fur is the color of Guinness, and his eyes are Irish green!

Slainte'!

(Traditional Irish drinking toast, for 'health')

Happy St. Patrick's Day Part 1

On March 19, 2012, I caught the feral tabby boy who'd been hanging around the yard for months in my drop trap.  On March 20th, I transported him to All About Animals Rescue, for neutering and a rabies shot.  While in line with other TNR people,  I told them that I'd named him Patrick O'Malley, because of his green eyes, and fur colors that matched a freshly poured pint of Guinness Stout.  Everyone assumed it was also because St. Patrick's Day had just been celebrated, but we'd been called him Patty O' for a while by then.

One of my first photos of The PO'M, late 2011

Just after release from his neuter, 2012

The PO'M quickly became a HUGE part of our lives at Eastside Cats.  Our usual daily food bowl visitor, Hobo, had stopped appearing, and we feared the worse.  We didn't know that he'd simply found a new food source down the alley at a neighbor's house!  When I finally discovered Hobo living happily and healthily about a half a block over, that feeling that I'd allowed The PO'M to supplant him eased a little.

Hobo, who disappeared for good in 2016

Although not really a St. Patrick's Day kitty, The PO'M is close enough, and it's a day to celebrate Spring, and all that Mother Nature brings to us. 

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!

💚🍀🍻🐍🎶👒

Happy Almost Gotcha Day, Patty!

My Patty Oh, from this morning

Patty O'Malley appeared in our yard in the Winter of 2011-2012.  I trapped him on 3/19/12, and transported him to All About Animals on 3/20 for neuter and shots.  When I picked him up on 3/21 (it was 76 degrees F that day!) and released him, I was worried that he'd run away and not return.  But he was back again for dinner, and he has pretty much stuck around since then.

Now, you'd think that I named him Patrick O'Malley because of St. Patrick's Day, but you would be wrong.  With his green eyes, fur the multifaceted colors of a pint of Guinness Stout, and his charming, lovable ways as if he'd kissed The Blarney Stone...well, a fine Irish name seemed appropriate.  The Hubby was calling him 'Tiger', but there is no doubt that O'Mallus (a nickname) is perfectly named!

Now for some news: I'm going on vacation!  Well, some staycation, and then a visit with family.  Some of this is cat and wildlife related!

Bluebelles from our front garden, taken in 2016

Saturday: 
Chuck's follow-up veterinary visit in the morning, and then a drive to the Detroit Institute of Arts to see Kedi Film at the Detroit Film Theatre.  Here is a blurb about the movie:

"Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich. Claiming no owners, the cats of Istanbul live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame — and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could."

Sunday:
"Books and Cats and Other Stuff Too" at Catfe Lounge in Ferndale, Michigan.

Monday:
The First Day Of Spring!
And my birthday; gonna hang with The Hubby and let him spoil me...hehehe!  Which will include: thrift shopping, lunch at The Pita Cafe, and some quiet time with Angel and Chuck, and Patty and Sweetie.

Tuesday:
My friend BG and I are traveling to Kensington Metropark Nature Center and Howell Nature Center to commune with Mother Nature, and maybe take a few snaps of her bird, tree, and critter children.

Wednesday:
My first manicure & pedicure, plus an hour massage!  YUM!

Thursday:
A trip to John K. King Used and Rare Books in Detroit, and maybe to their Ferndale location, where they have an office cat, I've heard.

Friday through Sunday:
Fly to Georgia to rendezvous with family for a 50th wedding celebration.  I haven't seen many folks from my father's family since his passing in 2004, and am looking forward to connecting again with everyone!

Therefore, my blogging may be sparse next week.

Wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day, 

and Vernal Equinox 2017!

Patty O'Malley in 2014, before TNR

Patus O'Mallus

A handsome tabby appeared on our deck in the Winter of 2010-11.  He ran off when I appeared, but he was easily trapped March 20, 2011.  The hubby called him Tiger, but I knew this cat needed a name that suited his personality.  This cat, with his emerald green eyes, and his charming ways (he soon stopped avoiding me and began rubbing on my ankles), made me think he'd kissed the Blarney Stone*.  I thought up 'Patrick O'Malley', and shortened it to Patty.  The hubby and I often try to make it sound Latin with Patus O'Mallus, which is complete gibberish, but it suits him perfectly! 

So I wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day, as we all wait for a bit o' green to show up in our gardens and lawns. 

"May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be ever at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand."
-Irish Blessing

 

*If someone says you have kissed the Blarney Stone as a turn of phase, they are saying you have the "gift of gab" and/or the ability to flatter.