Dear Friend,
How is your day going? What sorts of mischief greeted you this morning? Were there dirty socks in your cereal box? Cereal in your shoes? Was there a green tinge to your coffee creamer? Well, you aren’t alone. That sort of silliness happened to lots of people, all over the world, because this is St. Patrick’s Day, mischievous, pranking Leprechauns abound, and I guess that’s just the way it is. Or, have you ever heard of setting a Leprechaun trap?
Use something gold and shiny for bait, turn the setting of your imagination up to: “Wile E. Coyote,” and build a trap out of things that you have in your home. As part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) system, teachers (from pre-Kindergarten all the way to 12th grade) have added a Leprechaun Trap Building Exercise to their curriculum. I’d like to know how the teachers explain what to do with the little guy if and when you catch him. And I’d also like to know how Leprechauns feel about all of this.
Things are different throughout every school district or program. But, think back as far as you need to think back, did you ever build a trap for anything at school? It may be too late to build this year’s Leprechaun trap as Leprechauns are known to be most active the night before St. Patrick’s day. So maybe today, if you are feeling left out because you didn’t know to build a trap to capture a Leprechaun, you can practice for next year… maybe you could practice on an imaginary creature, maybe build a trap for that?
Apparently, if you wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, the green makes you invisible to Leprechauns who would otherwise pinch you. So, if you see someone that isn’t wearing green aren’t you somehow required by law to pinch that person? – Irish or not: Wear green or get pinched! Isn’t that what we were taught? But if you DO have green upon your person and someone pinches you… well, we were told that it would be appropriate to punch the pincher.
Yep. Green and pinching and punching … wow. Do you have a story about St. Patrick’s Day pinching? Maybe you pinched someone because you saw that they weren’t wearing green only to discover that they had green eyes. So maybe you got punched in the nose. Escalation is not a toy. That punch in the nose turned into a fist fight complete with hair pulling and shin kicking and you were both suspended from school for two days. You and the kid with green eyes now have a suspension in your Cumulative Records. What prompted the need for you to pinch her in the first place? That’s right, the STEM system.
Seriously, Frank and I think that it would have been neat to have this program when we were in school. Read more about the STEM system(s).
Why Green? Green is a color with a wide variety of shades and hues and symbolism. In traffic, it stands for GO! In electrical wiring, it indicates grounding. In chakra language, it’s your precious and compassionate heart. Green can be slang for lack of experience, it’s the color of nausea, envy, poison, and yet it also represents renewal, hope, sustainability, balance and Spring!
What do you think of when you think of the color green? For some unknown reason, Frank, the Nature Photographer, thinks of a pool table.
When I think of the color green, I think of ferns, lizards, lime jello and Kermit the Frog. Here he is singing “It’s not easy being green…”
By the way, if you are a long-time fan of Sesame Street, we should compare notes. Old school Sesame Street vs Elmo’s. Thoughts?
The color green also reminds me of snakes.
By the way, I purposefully colored this snake and his grass the specific pantone hex # for Dollar Bill Green. no.85BB65 (Not exactly the color I use when I’m counterfeiting…) (oh, you know I’m kidding).
I enjoy snakes, the reptiles, (not to be confused with the metaphorical pagan entities that St. Patrick was said to have removed from the island of Ireland in his quest to make room on the island for his beliefs).
How do you feel about snakes? Well, you might already know that Ireland has always been free of snakes (having very little to do with St. Patrick or anyone else for that matter). Other islands that are also without native snake populations are Iceland, Greenland and New Zealand. Though when swimming in the ocean near New Zealand, you might bump into a Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake or possibly a Krait. Read More about Sea Snakes and Kraits!
Have you been to Ireland? It looks like a beautiful place to visit. It’s such a lush green island! Ever thought of living there? It would take a bit of doing, but you could possibly move there… please let us know if you do! Just for fun, while looking for home, Frank and I often seek out alternative options – how would it be to spend a stretch of time in Ireland?
So, are you Irish? People might ask you that question today as they are prepping a head of cabbage. Though I love to eat cabbage year ‘round, I know nothing about preparing corned beef. You probably already know this but I just learned that the word ‘corned’ has nothing to do with what they fed the cow. It refers to the size of the salt pellets in which the meat was cured. There is so much I don’t know… sometimes I feel like I just arrived on this planet and haven’t yet unpacked.
Whether you are Irish or part Irish or you have contemplated Leprechauns at all today, we want to Thank You for taking this time to read Tracks by the Post.
Contact us if you have thoughts about Green or Leprechauns or Traps or Kermit the Frog… whatever you wish to share, we’d love to hear from you!
We Wish You a lovely end of winter and a happy first week of Spring!
Gently Be
Leslie and Frank
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