Monthly Archives: March 2009

Mar26

Monarch Sightings-Spring is in the Air

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There are a couple of ways to tell spring is coming. The children start to forget what you tell them. Flowers start to appear in the garden. Trees burst into bloom, and the monarch butterflies start to appear. If you are lucky, hundreds to thousands might start showing up to make the announcement; spring is here.

So today at the day job during PE, my students and I are assaulted by bombarding butterflies. They dip and dart in all directions, taking my thoughts away from work, the economy, and normal adult worries. My students comment if the frisbees they are practicing with might collide with a monarch or two. I notice how the butterflies glide up over each child, flitting on an errand that only they can accomplish in their short 2 weeks of life.

Could they take me with them? Away from school? Away from work? When is Spring Break again anyway? “Back to practice kids.” The cold wind still blows around the field, carrying one butterfly into another. Just stopping to watch another glide by, I notice some are morning cloaks and others are cabbage butterfly white.

Spring is here. The green hills call. 2 1/2 weeks until Spring Break remain. Testing is in 3 weeks. Get the kids back in the classroom. Continue with the list of standards, homework everyday, and building the new workers of tomorrow. But I think of the butterflies of today. Just a moment that I stopped to watch them soaring on their way to welcome spring.

Mar17

St. Patty’s Day Magic-The Leprechaun

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St. Patty’s is a special day of Irish Heritage in the US and Ireland. Though it is most often associated with the famous St. Patrick that brought Christianity to Ireland, it is also famous for wearing green, leprechauns and four-leaf clovers. The pot of gold signs with rainbows may decorate the office, but where did all the leprechauns come from? Why are they connected to the Irish?

Leprechauns are one of the most famous fairies or fey in Irish myths. The legends tell of Leprechauns being solitary shoemakers. According to Sir Walter Scott’s book “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry”, they are also confused or combined with two other fairies, The Cluricaun and the Red Man. The Cluricaun tends to drink the ale away in the cellar while the Red Man enjoys doing practical jokes. Sometimes they are considered the happy brothers of the Leprechaun.

The Leprechaun legend continues with tales of becoming rich if one can find the Leprechauns gold from selling his shoe wares. Later in legends, the rainbow became a marker for the hiding spot of the Leprechauns acquired treasure.

Whether you find gold, Leprechauns, or at least a chance to spy a rainbow on St. Patty’s Day, wear green in the tradition of showing support for Irish Heritage. It’s a way to share your history or even join in the fun that the Irish Culture loves to do, sing, dance, and be merry. May there be luck for you this day!

Tiffany Turner is the author of a new fairy series called The Crystal Keeper Chronicles. Her first book entitled “The Lost Secret of Fairies” is available through Trafford Publishing and Amazon.com. The second book in the series “The Lost Secret of the Green Man” will be released this summer.

References:

  1. “Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry” by Walter Scott. Original published date 1888.
  2. “Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Creatures” by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda.

UPDATE: This original post is from 2009. I’m going to add a link to the book that was mentioned above. It came out in the summer of 2009.

grmancover2

All Crystal Keeper books at Amazon.com!

The Lost Secret of the Green Man is the second book in the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. Wanda is a Crystal Keeper, kid helper to the fey in her local area, and she needs the help of the Irish Leprechaun to solve the problem of why bees are dying. Can she find help in time? And what is it with her talking cat?

Join Wanda in her final adventure, The Lost Secret of Time, out in May 2018. This is the final book in the Crystal Keeper series and will answer all the final series of being a Crystal Keeper. Follow this blog to get all the updated info of it’s release!