Plant the green on St. Paddy's Day
Kerri Thoreson
Back in the day, my late mother, Alice Rankin, was a master gardener, teaching classes through the county extension office. Brad and Mary Corkill said several years ago that my mother advised them to always plant peas on St. Patrick’s Day, even if they had to break through ice to do it. They’ve done that every year since and the proof is in the beautiful 8-foot-tall plants that result. Brad reports they have the planting bed ready for their 2025 crop of beans.
Mom would be so pleased.
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Several years ago, my sister, Janna, and I joined my mother as members of the Lt. George Farragut Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Membership requires proving a lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence via the Revolutionary War.
That’s when I realized that our fifth great-grandfather, John Milligan, was an immigrant from County Down, Ireland. He landed at New Castle, Pa., in 1771 at age 20. Pvt. Milligan enlisted in the Continental Army a few years later. He fought in the Battle of Trenton and crossed the Delaware with General Washington’s army.
The knowledge of that ancestry also brought the realization that I’d been under-celebrating St. Patrick’s Day for most of my life.
This coming Saturday, the St. Patrick’s Day parade will start at 3 p.m. at Sherman Avenue and Eighth Street in Coeur d’Alene.
Don your green and come downtown to celebrate. Everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day!
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Reminder that the shortening of St. Patrick’s Day is St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s Day. Patty is short for Patricia, Paddy is short for Padraig, the Irish spelling of Patrick. Slainte!
Another note: Shamrocks, the symbol of Ireland, have three leaves. Four-leaf clovers are just a rare variation of a clover and are believed to bring good luck.
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It was 39 years ago, March 15, that my boyfriend, Bert, and I said “I do!” and we have. He officially became an Idahoan and I became Norwegian by marriage and inherited his large and lovely North Dakota family. We’ve been blessed.
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Happy birthday today to DeAnn Johnson, Will Henderson, Sylvia McCormick, Josh Vesser, Faith Hazard Wiley, Ali Hanson, Kim Maksen, Jan Daugharty, John Neirinckx, Christel Fredericks and David Wegner. Tomorrow, Kim Maksen, Paula Sharp, Robin Karrick, Laurie Boeckel and Erich Eickmeyer will celebrate. On March 14, Tom Capone, Wayne Cofield, Bud Evans, David Cehr, Candace McEnespy, Teri Rouse, Fabian Medina, Ina Bressler and Sheila Kemmis will eat pi instead of cake. Len Crosby, Bill Haughton, Terie Huston, Barry Rubin, Zack Yost, Pam Humphrey and Penny Brownell blow out their candles Saturday. Daniel Schelske, Colleen English, Cindy Marcella, Cathy Riorden, Kelly Moore, Ken Kress, LauraLee Johnson, Laurel Rollins and Dottie Pichard welcome another year Sunday. William Shannon Reynolds, Pat Castelian, Cody Peugh (30!), Keith Hutcheson, Patty Conkle, Trish Ortega, Carrie Nicholson, Mike Gump and Nichelle Price are combining a little luck o’the Irish with their St. Patrick’s Day birthday celebrations. On Tuesday, Jack Pierce (18!), along with Chris Englebrecht, Dawn Johnston, Lisa Jirkins, Julie Bjornson and Chance Huffman (21!) put on their party hats.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email thoreson.kerri@gmail.com.