Wear something green....

... and bring something green. That's what I wrote on the invitations for our St. Patty's Day lunch. I think this is the third year that we've been celebrating St. Patty's Day with an all-green lunch. Not green food coloring-enhanced, but naturally green food. Makes for an interesting menu, and a healthy one.

I've decided to get out my recipe for Irish Soda Bread..... haven't made that in years, and of all times when I should make it, I'd say St. Patty's Day would be the time for it.

I spent a few hours today decorating the dining room with green glassware, shamrock-shaped candy dishes, and glass shamrocks are now dripping from the chandelier. (All the Valentine decorations came down a couple of days after our Valentine's party, so the dining room was ready for a new look.)

This isn't a big party with the Charades group.... there will be just 8 of us around the dining room table for this one. After doing those huge parties, a sit-down lunch seems like nothing at all to arrange. I've already made the place cards and the favors--- I had bought all the stuff after last year's St. Patty's Day, to take advantage of the sales.

Nice and sunny today, but not quite as warm as I'd like it to be. (I will stop complaining about the temperature when we get to 80 degrees and above--- without the thermostat dropping down past 70 when we aren't looking.)

I've started to read another book by Bill Bryson-- this one is about his travels through Europe-- "Neither Here Nor There." He also wrote "A Walk In The Woods," which was a wonderful laugh-out-loud story about his trek through the Appalachian Trail.

I've been going through so many books lately.... now that I've finished the Ken Follett books on the Middle Ages, it's been hard finding other volumes of fiction to measure up to those historical novels. I went to the local Half Price Bookstore the other day, and sold them two bags filled with books. They recently moved to a new and bigger location, and the new store is even better than their old one. The aisles are wider, the store is larger, the parking lot is bigger, and their clearance section is three times the size of the old one--- lots of books for one dollar and less.

Between the clearance section of Half Price Books, and the bookstore in our local library (hardcovers for just one dollar).... it's easy to buy great new-looking books for very little money. I still say that you can buy books faster than you can read them.... and you can't keep every book you buy unless you have unlimited shelf space in your house. The only books I keep are those of my favorite authors, novels that I know I will read again, the classics, and the reference books.

I recently spent hours on a rainy day rearranging all of my books...... fiction is on the shelves on one side of the fireplace, non-fiction is on the other. Everything is arranged according to author's name. All those years of working in a library..... it's all still with me.