I don’t have great memories of St Patrick’s Day as a child, my parents played a badminton tournament every St Patrick’s Day so I never got to see a parade as a child, spending the day in a draughty building watching adults play badminton, trying to play with other unfortunate children that I didn’t know and reading my Enid Blytons!  In fact, I think my best St Patrick’s Days were as an adult when living abroad, when the whole world wants to celebrate being Irish!

Through blogging, I’ve got to know so many people with different Irish connections, many having travelled and now settled back in Ireland, others married Irish and have come to live here, others Irish and now living abroad and I was curious to know what some of them thought of St Patrick’s Day, what does it mean to them? To me, I bring the kids to the parade and enjoy the day with them but I think it is wonderful that for such a small nation, there are so many people worldwide who celebrate their little bit of Irishness, plus our beleagured leaders get to meet some of the most important world leaders (at our expense of course but hey, it is a great opportunity for us to be noticed for the right reasons for a change).

Richy McCusker of Custard by Design (Irish, now living in America)

St Patricks Day ………..is a former life of queing up outside bars at 9:30am and telling my daddy that I did indeed go to mass…now i’m in Americaland and it’s more about sharing a bit of culture with some friends…irish music, proper irish dishes and of course the synonomous green t-shirt…Happy St Ptrick’s Day from custardbydesign…

Lisa McGee, American now living in Tipperary, Nenaghgal

Sylvia Shirley, from Germany and now living in Carlow. Her wellness Sylvia Shirley website is soooo relaxing.

St. Patrick’s Day is a day to remember what spirituality is all about.

 St. Patrick’s Day unites the world in Irish celebrations far beyond our wonderful Isle.

 St. Patrick’s Day makes us feel so close to home no matter where we are.

 Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day are like bread and butter, one without the other is not the same.

 St. Patrick’s Day makes us happy and proud to be Irish.

Sasha Sykes of Farm 21

St Patrick’s Day is…. reminiscing of the 5th Avenue Parade whilst sowing spuds with all the family.

Angela Carr of Where There’s a Wool

‘St. Patrick’s Day is… the one day you’re allowed to eat chocolate during Lent.’

Joanne from Eboutique

I love St Patrick’s Day because its an opportunity to take to the streets for an Irish celebration for local communities and its an excuse to have a few drinks in the middle of the day (not that I need much of an excuse but..)

Do you have any to add? What does St. Patrick’s Day mean to you? I’d love to know how more people view St Patrick’s Day.

Working out how to position pictures is easier said than done.  If you wish to hang a number of pictures together, it is suggested that you lay them on the floor and move them around until you are happy with the layout and then transfer them to the wall – I think that depends on the logical nature of your brain, if you can move them from the floor to the wall in the same plan (maybe I’m too accustomed to having 2 little helpers, who I just know would be lifting them off the floor to hand to us!). I prefer to visualise them on the wall and then go for it but I think it all depends on whether you are left or right brained!!

Image from Four Homes

I like the image above, pictures should be positiioned at eye level and there’s a nice mixture of sizes, styles and different framing.  I like the way there is plain wall around the lamp – giving it its own impact and individuality and creating an asymmetrical balance. 

I haven’t created a group of pictures within this house as yet although I am planning it for the kitchen, once I sand and paint an old dresser and position it in the kitchen, I’ll be working on the placement of pictures.  In one past terraced house which had extremely steep stairs and high walls. we placed a variety of pictures on each side of the stairs, the whole way up along the wall and it worked very well to break up the large expanse of wall as well as creating interest.