I'm not quite sure how it's come about that our family, who has barely a drop of Irish blood, ends up celebrating St. Patrick's Day every year . . .
Our celebration this year began in downtown Chicago, early last Saturday morning, where we went to see the annual dying green of the Chicago River . . .
A boat, manned by a small crew dumps about 40 pounds of a harmless vegetable dye into the river, turning its waters a bright green for a few hours . . . Do you notice the brave little ducks trying to stay out of the path of the boat?
This article explains how Chicago's quirky tradition came about . . .
My husband is the guest photographer for all of the pictures taken downtown, since he has a shiny new smart phone with a cool new camera that he wanted to try out . . .
Me, I usually get so caught up in whatever is happening that I forget to take pictures . . .
We found a nice spot to watch on the Riverwalk, right across from Trump Tower, the skyscraper that has given so many Chicagoans heartburn because of its 20-foot-high Trump sign, which is seen as brash and tasteless . . .
Mr. Trump does seem to have a way of antagonizing folks . . .
The people watching was . . . marvelous . . .
The dyeing of the river was followed by the St. Patrick's Day parade . . .
But it was crowded, with so many young people walking in packs, and drinking, I felt like I was at Daytona Beach during Spring break . . .
Even though we only stayed for a few minutes of the parade, by the time we got home our day was pretty much gone. Chicago is always fun, but with a crowd like this, everything moves slowly. We got home and collapsed on the couch and you wouldn't have been able to budge us if you tried . . . And I had to conserve my energy for our St. Pat's dinner party the following night . . .
Now
THIS way of celebrating is more my style! I really, really love my florist, Robert . . . He's made so many beautiful arrangements for me over the years, that I've lost count . . .
With minimal instructions from me via e-mail, this is what he managed to put together: Three baskets that held white daisies, lime green button pom poms, white limonium, white wax berries, minty green carnations . . .
And, Bells of Ireland spikes gave the arrangements some height . . .
Robert placed the arrangements in brown rattan baskets, and that became the inspiration for the rest of the table . . .
I used my Spode Delamere Brown . . . Somehow, this pattern feels right at home whether I dress it up or down, and seemed to get along very nicely with the rustic rattan baskets . . .
The napkins were an Etsy find. I alternated the two designs throughout the table . . .
Each place setting included an individual butter dish that held delicious Kerrygold Irish butter to spread on Irish Soda bread . . . St. Patrick's Day is the best excuse ever for eating Irish Soda Bread . . .
And a great opportunity to bring out my Laguiole spreaders with the cute little bee on the handles . . .
The hurricane lantern votive holders added a touch more green . . .
Then I scattered some lucky charms on the table . . .
To hopefully lead us to the end of a rainbow, so we could find a pot o' gold!
These brownies with mocha cream frosting and chocolate chips would do very nicely for those who preferred chocolate to a pot o' gold . . . Especially when served with mint chocolate chip ice cream on the side . . . After they finished their corned beef and cabbage, of course . . .
It was all so much fun, we were all happy to pretend being Irish for a little while!
Éire go Brách!
Joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday. Please stop by!
