A special St. Patrick's Day message from Rusty about our way of commemorating the affair...
To Catch a Leprechaun
March 17, 2006
By Rusty Goe
Everyone needs a little luck now and then; just ask the downtrodden University of Nevada, Reno’s mens basketball team. Curses, foiled in the first game (UNR lost to Montana 87-79) on their quest to qualify for another berth in the NCAA's Sweet 16 tournament. Plans for a citywide celebration of a hoop squad victory on the traditional party day of the Irish, crashed like a freight train rear-ending an SUV filled with grizzly bears.
Here at Southgate Coins, we finally snagged a wee bit of good fortune when two patience-testing projects got checked off our things-to-do-list. First, we sent the Spring issue of Curry’s Chronicle out a week ago to all C4OA members, after a six-week trial-by-fire that taught us a few lessons about working with printing companies. Second, the sign company finally rectified the damage on our outdoor signage, restoring the images of our giant-size Morgan silver dollar and $20 St. Gaudens gold piece to Mint State quality.
Now, it’s time for us to kick up our heels in a little Irish jig and treat ourselves to one our own traditional favorites, Free-Lunch-Friday. In the book Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt recounts how his father stumbled home time and again from a night out at a pub and in his drunken Irish brogue, asked his children if they were ready to die for Ireland. Around here, our girls sometimes have favorite cuisine they might consider dieing for – in a strictly figurative sense, of course. And today, it’s Tex-Mex fare from Chilis Restaurant. I don't think any of it would be popular on a dining table in Dublin but at least the lettuce and guacamole are green. Green beer and mountain oysters might be apropos up at the St. Paddy's Day festival in Virginia City, but our girls know what they like, and in times of celebration that's what counts.
We know that there are multitudes of Irish eyes smiling this weekend; and we're grateful that between getting a couple toilsome tasks completed and getting the opportunity to indulge in some tasty culinary delights, we can flash a few teeth, too. If we could catch one of our favorite leprechauns, we'd have him recite a few charming verses that express our sentiments at the moment:
Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter,
Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after.
Poems and songs with pipes and drums,
A thousand welcomes when anyone comes,
That's the Irish for YOU!