Dear ,

I knew February was a short month, of course, but none-the-less March snuck up on me. March has always been a busy month since two of my three sons were born this month, but this year we will also have Jeff’s graduation from Airborne School at Fort Benning and the memorial service for my father-in-law who passed away on Ash Wednesday.

(If you'd like to read Dave Thomson's obituary, go here.)

While I haven’t gotten a whole lot of writing done, I expect to be back in the swing by the middle of the month.

So, Happy St. Patty’s Day—the biggest Irish celebration in the United States! What do you have planned? I think I’ll head to an Irish pub/restaurant for live Irish music. Have you ever been to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade? They have a big one here in Columbus, but I’ve never been. St. Patrick’s Day is on Tuesday this year, a tough time to take off to see a parade in the morning. But Dublin, Ohio, has one on the Saturday before. What about your town?

Want to read about St. Patrick and the shamrock and learn about triads? Visit my blog. (And also visit the post right below it and give me your thoughts on Celtic Christianity by leaving a comment on the blog.) The link is below.

Celtic Voices

Coming Up:


I will be writing a short historical story for Clubhouse Magazine on the Circuit Rider preachers of the early 19th century. This will be scheduled for the October issue.

On May 16 I will be speaking and autographing books at the Lancaster (Ohio) Celtic Gathering.

I have a proposal for a contemporary novel being considered at a publisher. (No guarantees, of course.)

I will be finishing two Celtic-theme non fiction proposals and sending them off to my agent.

For those of you who might have been wondering, the publication of my young adult biography seems to have been pushed back until late this month or early April. I don’t know for sure, but it might have been because they want to release the series all at once and they are probably reprinting one of them—the one written by another author that mistakenly had my name on the cover!

www.cindyswriting.com

Contest

Last month I had quite a few entries. Dianne of Illinois was first in with the answers to:
* Candlemas falls on the church's recognition of what? (Hint 40 days after something...)
Jesus’ dedication in the temple.
    * What country besides the US celebrates Groundhog day on Feb. 2?
Got lots of answers to this one, but the one I was looking for was Canada.
    * What is St. Brigid the patron saint of (besides Ireland)?
There were tons of correct answers to this one, including some countries and weavers, milkmaids, and various other occupations.
    *What are the other seasons of the Celtic year?
Samhain, Beltain, and Lughnasadh

This month I'll be giving away another Brigid of Ireland T-shirt (size XL). Be the first to respond with the correct answers to:

• • What two writings are the only ones that can be attributed to Saint Patrick with certainity?
  • Where is Saint Patrick buried? (At least the traditionally assumed place.)
  • What do the Irish traditionally wear on Saint Patrick's Day?
  • What did Saint Patrick do hundreds of times day and night when he was a slave?
  I think these are pretty easy, so get your answers in quick!

Baseball!

I can't let the March newsletter go by without commenting about the pending of the start of the baseball season. It's too bad that Major League Baseball has been soiled with the steroid scandal. I think Alex Rodriguez did the right thing by confessing, but how disappointing. He's a super talented player, but now we'll never know what his true performance records should be. What is it about baseball and cheaters, anyway? In the days when Three Finger Brown played, there was often only one umpire on the field. The players took advantage of that and did things like hold on to runners so they couldn't advance when an umpire was engaged in calling a play on another runner.

There is no such thing as the "good old days" of baseball or a time when it was a "pure" sport. Only romantic revisionists embrace such ideas. When you do the research you no longer have such delusions.

But one I do have, and share with the Cubs fans, is that this a new year, another chance, a fresh beginning for "my" team. If you don't know what team I root for, you can look here.

A blog I've been following is Gabriel Schechter's "Never Too Much Baseball." Gabriel is a friend, an employee of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, and an author. He was also on Jepardy last year. He has a great sense of humor. If you love baseball, you might want to check out his blog and his books.

That's it for this month. When you hear from me again I'll be gearing up for the opening of the baseball season, and hopefully I'll have those proposals done.

Have a wonderful March, and don't forget to wear green! 

 I'll leave you with this:

As he brought new faith to Ireland

So may he bring to you,

A touch of Irish happiness

In everything you do.

And like the good Saint Patrick

May your home and life be blessed

With all God's special favors

That make you happiest. 

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