Holy Week, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, and 'friendly' older men

At A Hen's Pace: Holy Week, Easter and St. Paddy's Day says that St. Patrick's Day was officially March 15 (Saturday) this year, to move it out of Holy Week. Don't tell that to people who are happily wearing green or pretending to be at least part Irish today, OK? People are having too much fun.

And, no, I didn't know it wasn't "officially" St. Patrick's Day today, until I read that post. I almost wish I had known. I helped out at a senior center luncheon today, and some of the older ladies who'd forgotten to wear green needed all the help they could get, fending off pinches from older men happy for the excuse to chase ladies around or sneak up behind them and pinch.

(I was wearing green. I got a marriage proposal. Or a proposition. I'm not sure which. "I'm single, too!" was how the stranger enthusiastically opened the conversation. The gents were certainly feeling frisky.)

No, wait, I might be leaving you with the wrong impression. It wasn't entirely over the top at the luncheon, the chasing about was mostly all in fun, only a few of the men were participating in the hijinks, and my suitor cheerfully gave up the chase as soon as I told him I had a good husband. A few men were playing at being wicked, and showing off a bit to each other, but they were being careful to be considerate about it, is about what it amounted to. In fact, one of the gents, seeing that one of the volunteers was upset, dug a necklace of green beads out of his pocket, and gallantly bestowed it upon the lady, so she'd be properly off limits the rest of the day. Good on him, as some people might say.

And, by the way, the post at At A Hen's Pace explains that we don't have to worry about Easter (and therefore Holy Week) falling this early again in our lifetimes. I don't know about where you live, but we've had an exceptionally cool and snowy March, so it's not just that Holy Week is so early, it's that it's so early in a year in which spring is kind of late, so to speak. Brrr.

We had snow on the ground this weekend. It's melted, but we've got a fresh batch coming down as I type this.