If today is a day for parades, and pubs with green beer (dumb as no such thing exists in Ireland), then let it also be a day to toast a country of my ancestors. What I took away from a 2011 family holiday to Ireland was a great affinity with mist and magic.

Another visit is indeed ahead for us. Until then, I snuggle down into my Irish woollies (purchased on the Aran Islands, easily a favourite spot on that incredible trip) and let my mind drift into fairy realms. That’s my St. Patrick’s Day: convening with dead writers.*

Lovers on Aran

The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas

To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush
to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?
Each drew new meaning from the waves’ collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity.

–Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

 For more on our trip, check out our goofy side here.

* Irish fiction is flourishing. Read more on the writers of the new wave.

More fun for your weekend:

• So you think an English literature degree leads nowhere? Meet this Canadian CEO who might change your mind.
• Hanging with a girlfriend posse from a more innocent time is therapy for me (see you tonight, ladies!**), and I suspect many others. Faithful friends are among the best things in life, along with dark chocolate, spring mornings, and this song. That’s why I cried when I read this story of a friendship gone wrong.
• New York City women have a new hangout. The Wing is “your throne away from home; a sacred space where you can work, get to inbox zero, shower, get a blow-out, store your stuff, take a conference call, make new friends, or even stage a small coup. All in one place”. Here’s how it started.
• Emma Watson, star of the new film Beauty and the Beast on whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship
• Elsewhere in the landscape of age-old folk tales: I’m going to see this ballet on Sunday, and I can’t wait. Pinocchio is on through March 24th in Toronto.

**Bringing treats. Duh