Woo hoo! I’m so excited to publish my first WordPress blog post. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoy your visit.
This guy in the camouflage kilt showed me some funny poses for a couple random photos.
Our family celebrated St. Paddy’s Day a week early at the Los Angeles County Irish Fair and Music Festival at the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona, California. It was a blast, so I’m sharing some photos with you.
A family affair at the Irish Festival with my husband, three of our four kids,
their spouses, and our two grandchildren
My grand-leprechauns loved the Irish festival, too.
For your listening pleasure, here’s a YouTube video of Comedian Johnny Bagpipes Johnston. Amazing!
He plays the Star Wars Theme by John Williams
I Was Made For Loving You by Kiss
Do You Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart
Thunderstruck by ACDC
The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens
Entertainers and visitors alike wore kilts.
Color this day green!
In the fountains, in the beer,
on shirts, baby strollers, and people’s hair!
This was our first Irish festival and it had everything we hoped for (lively music, dancers, good food) and then some: Carnival rides, ponies, elephants, a petting zoo, sheep herding demonstrations, plus much more.
The Irish tunes worked their magic on some of us, so we danced a jig or two!
I added to my bucket list: Learn how to Riverdance.
Do you know the history of Saint Patrick? If not, watch this cute video.
I was going to save this Riverdance flashmob video for next year,
but for those who enjoy Irish dancing as much as I do,
I hope this will lift ye spirits and bestow the luck o’ the Irish upon ye, too!
You’re not buying that accent, are you?
I didn’t think so, but, hey, I tried.
Closing time drew near, and my husband mentioned there was a little Irish village we should check out before we left.
I love miniatures, so I definitely wanted to see it. He pointed the way so I headed for it with my daughter ‘Lily’ while the others straggled along here and there. I spotted vendors selling beautiful period clothing, jewelry, hair accessories, pirate booty, medallions, home decor, and other merchandise. So many things caught my eye, but I didn’t want to miss out on the little Irish village.
I told my daughter, “Dad said the little Irish village was somewhere over here, but I don’t see it. Where do you think it is?”
She gestured to the merchants wearing historical costumes and vendor booths with elaborate fabric walls. “I think this is it, Mom.”
“Oh.” Duh!
I was disappointed for a second, then busted up. Merchants in a nearby booth had overheard us and had a good laugh, too.
So we left without a pot of gold or a peek at a miniature village. I’ll get over it. Memories of the Irish Fair make me smile each time it comes to mind. We’re looking forward to going again next year. We’ll have two more grand-leprechauns in tow for the 2014 festival. As the old saying goes, the more, the merrier!
I bid you farewell with this Irish blessing:
May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks.
May your heart be as light as a song.
May each day bring you bright, happy hours
That stay with you all the year long.
Do you have any special plans for Saint Patrick’s Day?
Have you ever been to Ireland, or would you like to go there?
Would you kiss the Blarney stone?
Oh my gosh, Lynn, you always crack me up!! That “little Irish village” story has me in stitches! I love the photo of you dancing with your grand-daughter (and also their little green mustaches). 🙂
Also, you did a fabulous job with this new site! You are so talented!!
Teresa, I’m glad you got a kick out of my little village story. I had a picture in my head of what it might look like, but that’s where it will stay, in my head! We were all tired by that point, so I was more goofy than usual. Thanks so much for stopping by and helping me launch my new blog!
I get grumpy when I’m tired…your family is really lucky you get goofy only. 😉
What fun! And I love all the Irish blessings. And what a lovely website and blog! Congratulations.
Aw, thanks so much, Lynette. I’m so glad you stopped by.
Great & fun pics, Lynn! Fun post! 🙂
Oh, yay, Maria! Thanks for visiting my new site! I added the YouTube video you made for me on the My Books page and some of your BBH McChiller Monster Moon videos on the other pages! Pretty cool that you made those videos!
What a great festival! I really enjoyed your photos. It looks like an amazing cultural event.
Susie, you and your hubby would have loved that festival. And I know you would have danced a jig with me and the grand-leprechauns because the music sounded so good, we couldn’t just sit there! I know how you love to dance, too!
I sure do! Have a fabulous St. Patty’s Lynn!
Brilliant, Lynn! Very inspiring to a scaredy-blogger like me. March 17 is my husband’s and my anniversary of falling in love, so we plan to celebrate with our traditional Reuben sandwiches. (our lunch that day, back in 1979)
Gretchen, thank you! Happy falling-in-love anniversary to you and your hubby. I love Reuben sandwiches, and how cool that you have a tradition for your special day! Thank you for stopping in to visit.
Congrats on your new site, Lynn!
Thank you, Lindsey! I hope you have a great St. Patrick’s Day!
I loved watching you turn a jig. Man, you always amaze me, bestie! You look BEAUTIFUL! Wish I could be there. I’m Irish. And we were going to Ireland until we had to spend the saved money while Gene was recovering from the fall. 🙁 Maybe someday. I hope.
I’m working on my WP blog too. You done amazingly well with yours. I love it. Now I’m going to look around here.
Slainte
Love you!
Robyn, you always have the most uplifting words. I thought of you and the family as I worked on this post and when we were at the festival. You would have had a blast there. I felt bad that your Ireland trip was cancelled. Hope you get to reschedule that vacation soon. Can’t wait to see your WP blog. Cool!
Love your photos, Lynn! I’ve been lucky to go to Ireland twice. We did stop in Blarney for a bit, but the line was too long for the stone, so we walked around the gardens–so, so pretty. Happy St. Patrick’s day!
Thanks, Coleen! That’s awesome that you’ve visited Ireland twice. I hear it’s gorgeous. Bummer that the line was too long to see the Blarney stone, but it seems to be quite a popular place! Have a wonderful St. Paddy’s Day!
Ireland has always been on the top of my to do list. Great blog!
Jolene – I, too, would love to visit Ireland. Someday!
You go, grandma! Look at you dance! Love your new site. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by today, Kassandra. It’s always a kick to dance with the grand kids!
And now I’m following your new site!!
Yay, Alex! Thanks sooooooo much for switching to my new site!
Awesome post, Lynn! Welcome to WordPress, you’ll love it. I am really wondering why there are kilts on an Irish day lol. It looked like you had a fab time and your grandchildren are so cute!
Thank you, Catherine. I was surprised to see all those kilts, too, but apparently they wore them in Ireland, too, but I should check online and read about the history of kilts. Thanks for stopping in. Have a great St. Paddy’s Day!
The history of kilts would make a very fun blog post Lynn! 😉
I loved the family photos. The green moustaches were genius, girlfriend were you a comic in a past-life? The flash mob of Irish dancers gave me goosebumps. Thanks for sharing that too! In my former life when I was a bartender, we used to put drops of green food colouring in the beer on St. Paddy’s day. Can’t imagine drinking green beer but it certainly put smiles on patrons’ faces 🙂
Thanks, Yvette. Glad you got a kick out of the green mustaches! Just fun little touchups to make the photo more interesting! You were a bartender in your former life? Isn’t that something? I drank a green beer and it tasted great! And it did make us smile!
Wow! Lynn, you are hilarious! 🙂 Loved this post and I really like what you’ve done with your new place. 🙂
Thanks, Diana! I’m so glad you enjoyed my goofy post. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Lynn. Wow, lots of fun stuff. Especially enjoyed the dancing mob. If the fair was celebrating the Irish, why so many kilts? Or is that a crossover fashion statement?
DeeAnna, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post and especially the flashmob video. I need to check into the kilts thing. I heard they were Irish, too, but it would be fun to read up on the history of them! I think the guy with the camouflage kilt was a crossover fashion statement! I thought that was a pretty cool kilt!
You are an overachiever, Lynn! This is a great first post! Lots of fun. 🙂 And I LOVE the green mustaches.
Here is one of my favorite Irish sayings: “May those who love us, love us; and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.”
Happy St. Patty’s Day, Lynn!
Hi Joni!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I’m glad you enjoyed it. And thank you for leaving that Irish blessing in your comment. I’ve never heard that one and it’s GREAT!
Take care,
Lynn http://www.lynnkelleyauthor.com http://lynnkelleyauthor.wordpress.com
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Lynn, so great to see you on WordPress! Great job with the new blog – does this mean you won’t be on Blogger anymore?
Love the pics of you and your granddaughter dancing – looks like loads of fun. xx
Welcome, Alarna! Thanks so much for stopping in. I’m going to stop blogging on my Blogger site. I thought about doing duplicate posts on both sites, but it’s way too much work! I still need to tag or categorize all the imported Blogger posts and photos. That’s going to take some time. Hope to get blogging regularly soon!