October's Bright Blue Weather

O suns and skies and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And goldenrod is dying fast,
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight
To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields still green and fair,
Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
By twos and twos together,
And count like misers, hour by hour,
October's bright blue weather.

O sun and skies and flowers of June,
Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
October's bright blue weather.

-- Helen Hunt Jackson

Early Irish Law

Early Irish Law" was often, although not universally, referred to within the law texts as "Fenechas", the law of the Feni, or the freemen of Ireland. They are also referred to as "Brehon Law". The word "Brehon" is a derivation of breitheamh the Irish word for a judge.

The laws were a civil rather than a criminal code. These laws are of great antiquity.

Under Brehon Law women were equal to men with regard to education and property. Woman stood emancipated from the remotest time. Women in ancient Ireland were often eligible for the professions, and for rank and fame. They were druidesses, poets, physicians, sages, and lawgivers.

Bridget was not only the name of the ancient Irish goddess who represented poetry and wisdom, and of the later saint who helped to spread Christianity throughout Ireland, but was also the name of an Irish lawgiver, Brigid Brethra, or Brigid of the Judgments, who lived about the time of Christ. It is this Brigid who is responsible for granting the right to women to inherit the land from their fathers in the absence of sons.


Comment; This Briget was probably responsible for the marriage law applied in Teltown, County Meath

Important Irish Fairies

The name Lepracaunis from the Irish leith brog. The Lepracaun makes shoes continually, and has grown very rich.

The Cluricaun, (Clobhair-ceann, makes himself drunk in gentlemen's cellars.

The Far Darrig (fear dearg], which means the Red Man, for he wears a red cap and coat, busies himself with practical joking.

The Fear-Gorta (Man of Hunger) is an emaciated phantom that goes through the land in famine time, begging an alms and bringing good luck to the giver.

The Dallahan, or headless phanto...seen in the street on dark nights.

a joke

Three missionaries are set to be cooked in a stew by Cannibals.
The chief cannibal asks the first missionary, “Where is your home?"
The first missionary answers, "England!"
The chief orders, "Into the stew!"

The chief cannibal asks the second missionary, “Where is your home?"
The second missionary answers, "Scotland!"
The chief orders, "Into the stew!"


The chief cannibal asks the third missionary, “Where is your home?"
The third missionary answers, "Ireland!"
The chief orders, "Get out of here!"

The English missionary asks, "Why did you let the Irishman go?"
The chief answers, "The last Irishman to go into the stew ate all the potatoes."

Facts about Ireland

Couples in Ireland could marry legally on St. Brigid's Day (February 1st) in Teltown, County Meath, as recently as the 1920’s by simply walking towards each other. If the marriage failed, they could "divorce'" by walking away from each other at the same spot, on St. Brigid’s day the following year. The custom was a holdover from old Irish Brehon laws, which allowed temporary marriage contracts.

Medieval laws in Ireland allowed a man to divorce his wife if she damaged his honor through infidelity, thieving or “making a mess of everything.”

The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on it's property, at a perpetual rate of 45 Irish pounds per year.

The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia, in County Galway.

Pogue Mahone translates into "kiss my a**" in Gaelic.

The Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath was constructed around 3200 BC, making it more than 600 years older than the Giza Pyramids in Egypt, and 1,000 years older than Stonehenge.

Saint Brendan is said to have discovered America 1,000 years before Columbus.

Irish Goblins

They are war-goddesses or battle-furies. All are malignant beings, delighting in battle and slaughter. They are a class of phantoms that sometimes appear before battles bent on mischief. At any battle the war-furies would shriek and howl with delight both in the midst of the carnage and far off in a lonely haunt.

Little Orphan Annie

Little Orphan Annie's come to my house to stay.
To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.
To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
and make the fire and bake the bread to earn her board and keep.
While all us other children, when the supper things is done,
we sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,
a listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!

Once there was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers,
and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
and when they turned the covers down,
he wasn't there at all!
They searched him in the attic room
and cubby hole and press
and even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,
but all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!


Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned
and made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,
and once when there was company and old folks was there,
she mocked them and she shocked them and said, she didn't care.
And just as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,
there was two great big black things a standing by her side.
They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what shes about,
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!!

-- James Whitcomb Riley


Comment: A bedtime poem for children?