El Dia de San Patricio

Good morning!

Today is El Dia de San Patricio, St Patrick's Day.  Mexicans feel close to Ireland for some reason.  During the Mexican -American War, there was a brigade called the San Patricios, young men mostly of Irish background who deserted the US side and went over to Mexico.  These men eventually were mostly captured and suffered horrendous fates of imprisonment and trial.  There is a great CD of music from The Chieftains plus Mexican artists which celebrates this brief but unforgettable union of races.

Then, on the lighter side, there's Panchita Lolita Rosita Paquita Anita Lindita O'Toole, a young lady celebrated in popular (commercial) music when my sisters and I were young. (The elders of us)....

Then, on the side of history,  I always heard from a geneologist relation that, long ago, the Longorias were Irish and the name was spelled back in those mists of time Longoreaux.  They took a hop, skip and a jump down to the Basque Country at some point, I guess, or rather, a sail....Why not? It explains a lot of the gifts in my family like second sight, mysticism, storytelling, visionary thinking, green eyes..why not? 

Here in San Diego, I see from morning TV that there are many Irish celebrations to be held today.  Mostly at pubs.  The Field, a wonderful pub in The Gaslamp Quarter downtown , had a lovely presentation on the news today with dancers and a spread of food on the hood of a green truck.  Good food.  Shepherd's Pie (made with ground beef, though; not right, it's supposed to be lamb)...Boxty, which looks like a burrito and is a kind of vegetable/meat pie...and other things which the MC had no time to explain.  We have eaten at The Field and it is good.

The best breakfast I ever had was in Ireland, just for pure deliciousness.  And the best red ale, though I am not a big beer drinker.  Makes you feel for the circumstances which must have been bad enough for our ancestors to have left. But, they did leave...on that side, Ireland to Northern Spain, Northern Spain to the New World, ending up in that amorphous misty place of souls  called the U.S-Mexico border.  Ah--borders!  How and where were those lines ever drawn? YAZZYBEL