Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

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food, postaday, Saint Ptrick's Day

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day and my hubby and I are in Boston, he has a million meetings and I’m sitting near North Station reading about what is going on in the world. Boston is a city that has always celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day with great enthusiasm, to say the least. It is known for its Saint Patty’s Day parade and its infamous pub crawl. I am not sure if Boston subconsciously competes with New York City, but it definitely gives New York a run for its money. Boston has always had a very large Irish population and they are fiercely proud of their Irish heritage, who can blame them, each heritage is to be proud of and cherished.

Over the days, way back when, when my hubby and I lived in New York City, we participated in the Irish pub crawl, but those days feel like they were a million years ago. Personally I prefer honoring Saint Patrick’s Day through an homage to some the food of Ireland; cabbage, corned beef and potatoes in the form of a nice Reuben sandwich, a twist I know, but it tasty one.

Who is your favorite parent?

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parent, postaday

Who is my favorite parent? That is almost like asking who is your favorite child, you don’t want to say because one gets hurt even though you assure them that you love both of them the same. The parent with whom I got along with the best, was my father, he isn’t alive now. We lost him in 2003. I miss him very, very much.

My mother was the disciplinarian and very strict. She was home after work and every night. She believed in the strict European way of rearing young ladies. Those days had me chafing against the strict rules. I wanted freedom and I believed that with all my hard work at school and being responsible with chores that I deserved more freedom, I was the only one who had that opinion. My father was smart, he stayed out of the battle between my mother and myself, coward.

My father was a lot of fun to hang out with when I worked with him at his restaurant after school. He didn’t care if I smoked cigarettes and he didn’t care if I had a glass of champagne every now and then. He would take me along to the next door restaurant to unwind after a long night of working with his friends. We would laugh and talk about restaurant business and the customers. It is a grand tradition of what restaurant owners do after work, they meet, eat, drink, talk and laugh and I got to be part of the gang, it was so much fun.

My father was fun, funny, smart, loving and not your typical father. I have to say that my sister and I were lucky to have my mother who did all of the parenting, she did the hard work of disciplining us and keeping us on the tight and narrow road.

I was very lucky to have someone who was a constant and who kept a constant vigilance on my education and formed my work ethic in everything that I did and tried to do, my mother had a challenge in me because I was very rebellious, I definitely gave her a run for her money, poor thing. As a mother now, I can appreciate my kids all the more for not being the rebellious smart mouth that I was.

Who deserves more credit?

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postaday, postaday2011

I believe that soon to be former Speaker of the House Madame Nancy Pelosi deserves more credit than has been handed to her.In my opinion, Madame Speaker has shown extraordinary leadership, stewardship, diplomacy and grace under pressure. There apparently was not an issue that Madame Speaker could not handle. My fellow democrats do not fall in line quite as easily as the their republican colleagues across the aisle yet Madame Speaker was able to negotiate, cajole or I am sure strong arm her fellow congressmen into voting in favor of the legislation she felt was required to pass to promote our President’s agenda. So many important pieces of legislation passed beneath her gavel it was awe striking. I believe that President Obama must have breathed a bit easier every day knowing that he had a colleague as capable, determined, a real team player and powerhouse supporting his plans for the United States in another branch of government complementing his own work. I hope that when Mrs Pelosi is relieved of her duties as Madame Speaker and begins her new duties as Minority leader that she realizes that she has fans who have the up most faith in her abilities and that she will bring as much relevance and wisdom to this new session of Congress. I don’t think anything can lessen her voice or influence. I truly admire her as a public servant, a leader and as a woman.