Tom the Leprechaun lives it up

Happy St. Patrick's Day to every one tomorrow, on March 17.

My three daughters Mary, Bridget, Molly, along with their Roller Derby Garda Belt teammates will be skating in the St. Patrick's Day parade in St. Paul at 12:30 p.m. After an afternoon of revelry in St. Paul, they are heading over to Minneapolis to skate in the St. Patrick's Day parade there at 6:30 p.m. Their dad, who now has a green shirt emblazoned with Tom The Leprechaun, will be walking besides the girls in the parade. I will be staying closer to home as Timmy has school. Timmy and I will celebrate St. Patrick's Day with friends.

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, Tom spent all day in St. Paul. Our son, Danny and daughter, Mary met up with him for the day. Most of the people in the St. Paul parade were dressed in bright Kelly green wearing green hats, many pins announcing their Irish heritage and holding colorful banners with their clan name.

Tom, Danny and Mary were at one of the Irish bars when they saw a man who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, and he was wearing a fake red beard, short green pants, a green top coat, green socks and a high green top hat. The man was wearing a pin that had written on it 'The World's Biggest Leprechaun.'

Tom went up to the World's Largest Leprechaun and tapped him on his back. Tom said, "Nice costume." The large leprechaun appeared startled when he looked down at 5-foot, 90-pound Tom with his curly hair and real beard. The World's Largest Leprechaun said, "Whoa! you are the real thing."

Tom does look like the real thing even though he was dressed in his faded green hooded sweat shirt and olive green corduroy pants. He doesn't have to wear any cute leprechaun outfit to look like a leprechaun. Mary told me that the day was wild with all the attention the three of them received. People were buying them drink after drink. Their table at the bar was loaded with jars of Guiness that the revelers had bought for the leprechaun and his son and daughter. Mary said it was just too much and they couldn't even begin to think about drinking all those Guinesses.

Later that evening, Tom drove over to Minneapolis to Irish Pub, where he shook hands and had his picture taken with the Grand Marshall of the Minneapolis parade. He was stopped all day long by people to have his picture taken with one or two of them.

After his long day in the Twin Cities, Tom came home at 10:30 p.m. When he drove into the yard, I watched him walk up to the house. It was very dark outside, and with every step he took, a small light attached to his shoe lit up. I knew with these sparkly lights that he had a very good day. I am sure it will be equally as fun for him this year on St. Patrick's Day.

The girls have gotten so much press and attention from their roller derby, Tom will be the envy of many young men as he will be walking with pretty girls in one of the most popular groups in both parades.

Mary, Bridget and Molly also tried out for a Miss Blarney contest that was held two weeks ago in Minneapolis. They didn't have to do any talent, but were asked questions about why they wanted to be Miss Blarney. Molly won first runner up and Mary won second runner up in the contest. As first runner up, Molly gets to ride in a car in both parades with Miss Blarney. The girl who did win the Miss Blarney contest has a last name of Norwegian origin and is very Scandinavian looking with her pretty blond hair.

My daughters said that they didn't care they didn't win the title of Miss Blarney as they would rather put their energy into their roller derby. Their next roller derby bout is this Sunday in Coon Rapids.

Albuquerque's high-tech bathrooms

I am on vacation in New Mexico with my sisters, Joann, Kate and Mary.

Monday night we spent in Albuquerque at a bed and breakfast called Sarabande. It is named after a beautiful rose that grows here. The owners, Janie and Scott, have their kitchen filled with bundles of dried roses.

One of the first things I did after checking in to the B&B was take a bath in a huge whirlpool tub that was in our private apartment. My sister, Mary, took her whirlpool bath first and I got in after she was done. Kate took her bath next, and Joann, who is the oldest, took her bath last. The tub had a shower head that was attached to the bathtub faucet to fill the whirlpool.

When Joann turned the water on in the tub to fill it up, the shower head was loose, and water sprayed all over the bathroom. Joann was screaming to one of us to come and help her. Besides this, Joann didn't know which button to press on the tub to start the whirlpool, as there were three buttons on the tub, and you had to press the start button very lightly to get the jets on the whirlpool to start working.

I had the same problem when I took my bath, but after pressing just about every button in the entire bathroom, I did finally get the jets to turn on. I acted like I was an expert on whirlpools when Joann told me that she didn't know which button to press.

I had trouble with the shower head too, and couldn't figure out how to get the hot water turned on. Mary told me after my bath was over that the hot water was on the right side, not the left. When Kate heard that I had trouble turning the hot water on, she wondered if this place was like England where the hot water runs out in homes and B&B's all the time.

But no, we told her there was plenty of hot water here. Sarabande is a very nice bed and breakfast, but we are a bunch of hicks when it comes to using electronic gadgets like a whirlpool. Well, I am a hick, but Mary, who is the youngest, appears to be the most worldly when it comes to all the gadgets. Joann, who has a PhD is the one that has the hardest time figuring out how any machine works.

I stayed in the bed and breakfast only one night. Tuesday we are heading up to Santa Fe to go hiking on Tent Rocks and then are going to some hot springs. Wednesday we are going to Taos. It is very pretty here. I am only staying four days which is not long enough.

Kate and I didn't arrive in Albuquerque until late Monday afternoon. Mary and Joann had already spent a night together at Sarabande.

Before Kate and I arrived they drove to Acoma Pueblo. This is the oldest settlement in America that still has the same ancient tribe living on it. It was settled in 600 A.D.

The people settled here, one legend says, because the mesa that Acoma is on resembled a piece of corn. About 13 families still reside at Acoma. The only way to see this place is by a guided tour.

Mary and Joann were very impressed with Acoma. Mary, who is my youngest sister, liked the fact that the youngest girl in the Acoma tribe family gets the property and makes the decisions for the family, as she usually lives the longest. Being the youngest of us four sisters, Mary has made some good decisions, like helping Joann and me to understand how to use a whirlpool bathtub.

We are having a great time together. This is a rare treat getting together as Mary lives in Arcata, Calif. and Kate and Joann live in Minneapolis. Sisters are great to have.