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Grave heartbreak
A DISTRAUGHT widow is devastated that tributes to a 'lovely family man' have been snatched from her husband's grave. Sheila Joules, of Tamar Road, Worle, says keepsakes including flowers, a card and a balloon have all disappeared from the crematorium site in Ebdon Road, which she and her family have decorated in tribute to Albert, who died last September after suffering from heart problems.The 73-year-old great grandmother was left in tears again when she turned up to the grave with her daughter Jane and found a giant bouquet of flowers spelling out the word 'dad' missing.Sheila said: "My daughter Marlene put a balloon on the grave at Christmas and four days later we noticed it was missing. We thought perhaps the people working at the crematorium had cleared it away."This Valentine's Day we went and put a card on his bench for him and my daughter bought him some red roses saying 'dad' - they were beautiful."When I went up with Jane the roses had gone.
Wit and wisdom of the earth
It's fairly common knowledge that a rose is a rose is a rose, that daffodils show up in golden clouds and tulips are for tiptoes, that lilacs grow in doorways and April showers bring May flowers. But you may not know that according to a Chinese proverb, "losing face is as important to people as losing bark is to a tree," or - and you'll have to take this from an anonymous source - "weeds are people's idea, not nature's."
Poets and presidents and the people down the block who grow dahlias you could die for have filled the ages with observations about gardening - touching on everything from lust amid the asparagus to Martha Stewart in the Eugenia myrtifolia. I've been gathering a bouquet of bons mots and thought I'd share a few with you.
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No Pat Answer
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and that can only mean one thing: green everything. Green clothes, green food, and worst of all, green beer. Surprisingly, while we're all embracing the same hue on March 17, we're not all drinking the same stuff around the country. An informal poll of U.S. bars and restaurants with the word "Irish" in them revealed that the beverage of choice differs from region to region.
At the Liffey Irish Pub in St. Paul, MN, Guinness stout is the bestseller by a mile, followed by other Irish beers such as Harp and Smithwick's. (175 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN; 651-556-1420; www.theliffey.com)
In Rockaway Beach, Queens, New Irish Circle maitre d' Karen Slattery says many folks order Black and Tans, an equal mix of stout and ale (Guinness and Bass, to be specific).
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