Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2, ESV)
St. Patrick’s Day in Michigan holds forth a pretty predictable dayplan for most natives. After a long, cold winter and four feet or so of snow, we wake to a grey morning and gaze out the frosted window panes across the colorless frozen landscape. Thus it has ever been and so we thank God for giving us March Madness and Guinness beer– a double blessing to keep our spirits up until winter breaks. This St. Patrick’s Day would be like the other 30 or so in my adult life but for a few minor deviations from the norm.
This St. Patrick’s Day I awoke to the sound of chattering birds which I heard clearly through the open windows and doorwalls which were undraped in the failed hope that a cool night air might enter the house and improve our sleeping conditions. Shielding my eyes from the sun, I looked across the back yard with its green grass, thousands of blooming flowers, and partially opened swimming pool certain that I could not excuse myself to sit on the couch all day with the six-pack of Guinness which I had laid in for the occasion. Instead I put away the snow thrower (almost completely unused this past winter), got out the spreader and fertilized the lawns. I followed up with cleaning out the shed and preparing the summer yard equipment. After a relaxing turn about the gardens, I cleaned out most of the gardens and planted some spring bulbs.
It was time for a break and a tournament game so I sat in front of the television for an hour and a half before returning to the yard to vacuum the pool, clean the pool cover, and repair some pool equipment. Time for the Ohio State Game and a swim with Patrick before grabbing my Guinness and heading to the neighbors in my shorts and short sleeve shirt for some euchre.
I really don’t know which to prefer- the incredibly warm weather and early spring or the typical cold which excuses me to sit on the couch all weekend watching basketball.
There were plenty of upsets in the first round of the NCAA tournament including two number 2 teams falling to #15 opponents. Nothing was more upsetting than Michigan’s poor performance and loss to lower ranked *!%& (it’s a profane word around here even without “State” attached to it). While I find myself at the top of our bracket contest, I have lost much of my zeal for the tournament. Maybe after a couple of games tonight, I will be pumped up again and enjoy watching the Michigan State game on Sunday. Here are our current Bracket Contest standings:
The “snow birds” didn’t avoid much snow this year by heading down to Florida this past winter. Now it appears that they won’t enjoy any more pleasant weather by staying south than we will be enjoying here in Michigan. With a ten day forecast which calls for highs into the 70′s for 5 of the next 10 days and never sees the nighttime temperature dropping below 40, I can’t imagine a more pleasant peninsula. Of course, Floridians have been enjoying green foliage for the past four months while we await spring — but our wait is over. Our crocuses have begun their annual show as harbingers of spring and the hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils are rallying right behind them. Oh how I love Michigan in the spring — even better when it comes on so unprecedentedly early and strong!
{Christine: just for the record – I did a turn about the gardens and counted 4,500 crocus blooms…so far}
Who doesn’t get caught up in March Madness?? And with as much fun as last year’s Convery Press Bracket Contest was, I thought it might be fun to repeat the friendly “Bracket Challenge” and see how well we can pick the winners against our family and friends. The Convery Press will even put up a couple of restaurant gift cards for the top finishers to make the competition more interesting. I know that many of you will feel confident (probably rightly so) that you can out-pick me. I have already posted one of my bracket entries for everyone to see and talk about. My picking Michigan to go all the way may not appear completely rational to many of you, but besides ‘wishing’ that it may be so, I think that they have proven that they can beat anyone if they play their A game. I am counting on the rather poor performances of the Big Ten tournament to serve as added inspiration for them in the NCAA Tournament.
This year’s rules are the same as last year’s. Each person may enter two brackets. Scoring is shown below.
Enter your brackets today!! You CANNOT Add or Edit brackets after 11 A.M. Thursday, March 15 !!
Maureen & Brian had the Spencers (Cliff, Linda, Kristine, & Rachel) and the Convery Clan (Tom, Peg, Christine, & Patrick) over to their home to celebrate Zachary & Elizabeth’s engagement (Elizabeth & Zachary were there as well). We enjoyed some beer & wine and a champagne toast before a delicious meal and retired to the basement afterward to play TabooR. As usual, I did poorly (Give me a good game of Risk!)
The first of our crocuses began to bloom today, March 5, 2012 — a full 12 days earlier than last year’s first bloom. With no snow on the ground and temperatures which are expected to climb into the 60′s next week and not drop below freezing for the forseeable future after this week, I am getting excited about spring. 6,000 crocuses are getting ready to show off in the coming week or two, and over 4,000 tulips are reaching out of the gardens,quickly returning color to the yard.
Since moving into St. William parish in 1989, I have attended 120 of the Lenten Friday Fish Frys. As a member of the Dads’ Club, I worked my 101st fish fry last year. We take a family trip to Florida the first week of lent and miss one fish fry and they shatter last year’s record with 1105 dinners sold and get a visit from a presidential candidate….
Peg, Patrick & I visited LegoLand today. It was nearly as surreal as Dali proved to be yesterday. All of the creations made from lego bricks were incredible. The animals on the safari ride (giraffes, hippos, elephants, lions, zebras, ostriches, meercats) were incredibly lifelike in their detail. I was most impressed with mini-land where 20 different cities were recreated on 1/4 inch scale. The cities featured inclded New York (Time Square), Las Vegas, Cape Kennedy, Washington DC, San Francisco, and a ficticious pirate cove. With half a dozen rollercoasters, many other rides, and millions of legos to enjoy, Patrick was in a state of perfect bliss.
I visited the Dali Museum in its new permanent building last winter when I was visiting my mother and couldn’t miss the opportunity to go back again today with my mom, Peg, & Patrick. The building which houses the great artist’s work is nearly as unconventional and surprising as the art of Dali itself. Patrick was surprisingly taken with Dali’s art and moved slowly through the collection studying the surreal masterpieces. After several hours, he insisted upon checking out the “Dali Gardens” outside the museum even though grandma had suggested Applebees for dinner.
