St Paddy's at Finley's Pub

The gals from the Kootenay Kilty band were amazing drummers!


I drink to your health when I'm with you,
I drink to your health when I'm alone,
I drink to your health so often,
I'm starting to worry about my own!


More Irish Toasts:

It is better to spend money like there's no tomorrow
than to spend tonight like there's no money!

That the tap may be open when it rusts!

My friends are the best friends
Loyal,willing and able.
Now let’s get to drinking!
All glasses off the table!

Here's to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold pint-- and another one!

Here's to a temperance supper,
With water in glasses tall,
And coffee and tea to end with
--And me not there at all!

When money's tight and hard to get,
and your horse is also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt
,a pint of plain is your only man.

Here's to being single...Drinking doubles...And seeing triple!

Here's to women's kisses,
and to whiskey,
amber clear;
Not as sweet as a woman's kiss,
but a darn sight more sincere!



Here is the Kootenay Kilty band as they were arriving

Gord in his special giant Leprachon bow tie!


A certain someone being silly!
All in all we had a fun time joining in the festivities of St. Patrick's day in Nelson... You should all come next year and then we can drink some green beer!

An Irish Pub Joke...

An Irishman, an Englishman and a Scotsman go into a pub. Each orders a pint of Guinness. Just as the bartender hands them over, three flies buzz down and land-- one, two, three-- in each of the pints.
The Englishman looks disgusted, pushes his pint away and demands another... the Scotsman picks out the fly, shrugs, and takes a long swallow.

The Irishman reaches in to the glass, grabs the fly between his fingers and shakes him as hard as he can, shouting 'Spit it out, ya bloody bastard! Spit it out!'



"The Creator"

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Begoshin' and begorrin', it is a St. Paddy's day I'll remember for a long time... First, the Kootenay Kilty Band strolling around town for nearly two hours with the bagpipes sounding and the drums thumping the background beat in familiar Irish tunes, up and down the streets of Nelson. They wound up at Jigsaws ,just standing on the corner and playing. What a lovely way to get into the Irish spirit! After work, I strolled over to Finley's, Nelson's only Irish pub. It was all decked out in Guiness flaggging and the bargirls were prettied up with green adornments in the way of beads or ribbons and one gal had a green wig! It was all very colourful and packed to the hilt. A young Irish band fiddled and sang Irish tunes, while the customers clapped and stomped their feet. I didn't know a soul sitting at any of the tables and every table was taken! Thank goodness that Gord came and in a few minutes, we were chatting it up with two fellows who had an entire table to themselves. The one fellow was from Banff and had a little Irish French, English background and was happy to be part of the festivities. Within minutes, Janice and Emil came in, after their ride from HArrop/Balfour on the bus! Yes, Emil took the bus into Nelson, and the two of them met us at Finleys, So now we had a table of six and the band was getting revved up with more Irish tunes. The Firefighters came with green t-shirts and took donations for Muscular Dystrophy... and here the first impression was that they were the SWAT team coming in to settle the Irish differences!
We ordered a Guiness and some dinner. Gord and Janice both had the Irish stew in a bread bowl... we went for the Natchos and the dry ribs...all very tasty indeed!
Half way through dinner and the first band packed it in and made way for the Kootenay Kilty Band. About 20 of the band members came marching into Finleys, playing the bagpipes and the drums... talk about LOUD! Whew! Janice brought earplugs, but us neophytes were blasted by the bagpipes and drums until we thought we were totally deafened.
Don't get me wrong,the music was great...just hard on the ears in a confined space. Emil and I left by 8:30 or so and called it a night.
Emil's back is still pretty sore from him pulling a muscle or twisting somethingand after sitting in a hard chair for several hours, he was ready for his beddy.
All in all it was a Great St. PAddies night and if I can ever get the pics off my phone, I'll be happy to post a few. We left just before the second band was about to begin... Heady Attire, I think they were called...
so now I am ready for my beddy. I hear Emil snoring already... good night all... I'll get back to the emails tomorrow...sorry bout that! Love all of you!
"The Creator"

Dinner at our house with Janice and Gord!

Janice and Gord came over for dinner last night.. Janice brought a bottle of Banrock bubbly... It was very tasty...not too sweet,not too dry and was a good start to the night!


Emil getting ready to carve the ham...unfortunately, the ham photo didn't turn out, but I decorated it with fresh pineapple and whole cloves that Deb brought me back from Grenada...Yum!...oh yes, I glazed it with a honey glaze...the honey that Sonia brought me back from St. Lucia!




Just before dinner...we had a group hug... Harrop Therapy! ...just joking!

Here is Janice and Gord. We played a mean card game of Golf... and Gord and I won...mainly because we started off with a pat hand. We advanced to Euchre once no-one could memorize their two face down cards! And Happy to say, Gord and I won again... I still have some learning to do in the Euchre department, but it is a heck of a good game to play!

Janice brought a wonderful organic Waldorf salad ...very fresh walnuts, celery, many varities of apple and currents and here is the best part...it had shaved ginger in it for a tangy flavour.

And here is a primer on doing a Pineapple tree... Note that some improvements can be made during the initial cutting of it, in order to even out the spaces.... I didn't want to use a felt pen marker, but in the end, although the cuts looked good from the bottom, I needed a few more "panels" once I got going on it. Oh well, it is a first for me. The one I saw was used to skewer in fresh prawns and a fresh chunk of pineapple on each skewer...to be served at a party. I think the prawns had been coated in Coconut and deep fried first... all very decadent. Here, I have used Strawberries and pineapple chunks on those coloured toothpicks.

Plenty of pineapple pieces. I had enough to do the top of the ham, then fill in the gaps on the pineapple.

I just started adding the skewers randomly and filled in the holes as best as I could,as the toothpicks were about a half inch short.

And here is my finished masterpiece centrepiece.

I served it surrounded by ham slices, scalloped potatoes and aspargus and baby snap peas, and squash which I seasoned with sauteed onion, garlic, and Pataks medium curry..with a dollop of sour cream to blend it all together. It was delicious. Janice brought the yummy Waldorf salad and topped the meal off with Pecan pie.

So all in all , it was a fun night.

Today we picked up Anne and Dick, who have returned from their big winter journey south to Santa Carlos in Mexico, and met with Gisele and Mike , our new neighbours in Lynn and Ricks former house. We had Sunday brunch/lunch at the Dock and Duck in their newly renovated restaurant at the ferry landing. It was good, but not impressive. We'll stick to the BBI in the future! In any case, we had a lot of laughs and that was the best part...just getting together with friends. Unfortunately, just as we are getting to know Gisele and Mike, we will have to say good bye, as they return to Lethbridge to get things in order so that they can move back out to BC permanently maybe next year. Apparently, the home is already rented for April 1st, so we'll now have to get to know the new neighbours all over again!
Our power went out, just when I deemed I was hungry. I ate cold ham on cold toast and now, I am thinking hot food...some of that left over squash! Then I am thinking about making muffins. Chris and Carolyne should be back from their trip when I go to work tomorrow, so Chris will be looking for some baking I am thinking!

"The Creator"