St. Patrick’s Day, celebration of the patron Saint and the wonderful island of Ireland.  First thing I remember about St. Patrick’s day is literally ‘the wearing of the green.’  If you didn’t wear green on St. Patrick’s day, you got pinched.  Ouch!  And some folks really do enjoy pinching you.  Ha.  Anyway, I have been trying to gather my 'blog' thoughts and it’s been a while coming.

So today I took a drive up to Carmi to attend a meeting at the Baptist Children’s Home.  I took 57 North, then Rt 14 over to McCleansboro, going through western Franklin County and all the way across Hamilton County, into White County.  This is very beautiful country, typical rural Southern Illinois.  Miles and miles of pretty straight two-lane hard road.  Miles of beautiful farmland and beautiful dark green fields already bursting with promise of plentiful harvest.  You know you’re in the country when eight out of every ten vehicles (if you even see ten in a twenty mile stretch) are big working pick-up trucks.  Oh, and the other two are giant SUV’s.  You’re more likely to see a huge tractor or a corn planter or a fertilizer tanker.  Another way you know you’re in the country is there are practically no sign boards.  For about ten miles I saw one small sign.  It was for deer processing, not surprising at all.

Not far over the Hamiliton/White County Line, I noticed a sign for a church.  I made a mental note to stop by on the way back from Carmi and check it out.

Funny, I should find a St. Patrick’s church, on March 16, no less, and yearning for something special for my blog, I could not resist the camera bug.  So on the way back I got the sign in sight and made the turn.

Interesting sign. 

It’s a beautiful old building, 1839.  Of course, there’s a cemetery in front.  I was intrigued with the color of the front doors.  Green.  

So there you go, Green and St. Patrick.  Wow, what a great find for St. Patrick's Day, 2012!  Wasn’t even hoping for a green iris for St. Patricks  Day addition to the Iris Garden, but guess what ?

Bearded Iris 'Kiwi Slices'

So, “May the road rise to meet you.  May the wind be always at your back.   May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again . . . May God hold you in the palm of His Hand.”  An old Irish Blessing.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY  to all my Irish family and friends and the rest of you, too!