One Saint Patrick's Day

Last year for St. Patrick’s, my wife, my son, my youngest daughter and I went to a place in Shawnee Kansas called Waxy O’Shea’s, for lunch and to listen to some great Irish music. Our son is home from Missouri State, so we decided since we each enjoyed the outing so much last year, we’d do that again. My wife couldn’t find a calendar on their website, so we weren’t sure what music, if any, would be there. We decided we’d drive over and check it out anyway. If there wasn’t live music, or if the lines were too long, we’d make the decision – stay and wait our turn for supper, or go elsewhere. At the last minute before we left home, my wife found an Applebee’s gift card and put it in her purse, just in case.

That turned out to be a good idea.

We drove into the parking lot and immediately saw the sign on the building:

SPACE AVAILABLE.

Now if I understand those letters right, in that order, it means, “Nobody Home, We’re Closed Now”. Our other clue was all the plywood on the windows…The Shawnee location of Waxy O’Shea’s was no more.

My wife had noticed an Applebee’s when we passed it earlier, so we went there and were well treated. No Irish music, though.

On our way back to Missouri, I’d listen from time to time to the conversation between my wife and daughter in the back seat. I don’t always quite hear what’s being said and I’m not sure what it was about, but one thing I heard sounded like “butterbean”.

Hmmm…that could be a fun name for a story character.

“Dear, you had a call while you were out, a Mister Butterbean.”

“Was it Charles Butterbean?”

“No…that doesn’t sound right.”

“Was it George, then?”

“Yes, that’s it, George Butterbean. He said you’d know what it was about.”

“Okay, I’ll call him back.”

George Butterbean is the founder of Butterbean and Associates, importers of all kinds of hard to find items of value. I could say many of the items were impossible to find, but I’d have to leave it at that. It would be wise if I said no more.

George had recently turned over the daily operation of the business to his son Charles. One thing I learned early was to never, and I mean never, call him Charlie. He really hates that, so it’s Charles or C. W.

I had a pretty good idea of what the call was about, and I had been expecting and dreading it. I couldn’t ignore the call (business is business, after all), and while I was glad it was George rather than Charles who called, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to become involved.

Call it a premonition, if you must. I’ve really got to start paying attention to those…

A day to recognize Irish heritage...and just have fun

A few posts back, cousin Mike remarked:

"Bob and I share some ancestry. I have it on good authority that it comes with the cousin gig. He is much more informed on it than I am, so I'm taking a bit of a risk here. I believe we have some Irish ancestors which makes the following story of interest."

Mike's been reading a book on the Brooklyn Bridge, and he went on to post about an Irish protest during the time approaching the Bridge's dedication (sounds like an interesting book, by the way).

I've been remiss in taking so long to respond. Then again, what better day to speak of one's Irish ancestry than St. Patrick's Day?

So Mike, that wasn't a risky statement at all. Our grandfather, Ira ("Poppy") Moore was Irish. Oh, you want details? That's where it starts getting tricky. My mom told me once that her dad was "half Scotts-Irish and half black-Irish". I didn't know what to make of that at first, until she explained that Scotts-Irish people were part Scottish and had red hair, and that "black-Irish" referred to a person who was Irish mixed with some ancestry other than Scottish. So instead of red hair, they were brunette - hence the "black" referring to hair color.

How much of each kind of Irish, and what were the other nationalities? Ask a genealogist and he or she will tell you that's not always easy to determine. Which is to say, I'm still working on it. In addition to the Irish and Scottish in Popppy's ancestry, it looks like he had some ancestors from England, and at least one who lived in Wales. I have to give credit to cousin Trish (Mike's sister) for that information, as she found it and passed it along to me.

And I doubt that Poppy knew any of that, except for the Scotts-Irish part. Our grandma had interest in family history, but not Poppy so much. Mom told me once that he said he wasn't interested in looking into that "because he might find a horse thief".

While that's interesting to me, a list of nationalities alone can be just names and labels. It doesn't shed light on the goodness of these people, their caring hearts and their sense of humor. But if I started on all that, where in the world would I quit? Another time perhaps, for the family stories.

Anyway, I'm wearing green today, not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. It's just fun. Whether you're Irish or not, here's my wish for a happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!