I wore an orange baseball hat today; Saint Patrick’s Day. You see a lot of those around here, even out of deer season. I don’t mean to piss off the Irish. I just needed to keep the sweat and sun out of my eyes and if anyone’s interested, there is some orange in the Republic of Ireland flag. We did meet a friendly mutt on the trail wearing a Kelly green bandana. I seldom wear green, at least not the green of the Emerald Isle, and never on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a hang-up of mine since losing my bid for a high school freshman class office to kid who came in from St. Patrick’s School across town. He got the Irish vote. To me, “wearing of the green” is still about politics.
People from Ireland love to ski, often in New England. Aer Lingus flies from Shannon to Boston in five hours, about the same time it takes to drive from Boston to Sugarloaf. Right now there are nine hundred Irish kids on a ski holiday in Maine at Sunday River Resort. Folks from Ireland are not outstanding skiers, but Paul Patrick Joyce, skiing for Ireland in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, deserves mention. Irish tough and always ready for a fight, he picked himself up after a fall midway along Snowbasin's Grizzly downhill course and “sped through the finish line to a hero’s welcome,” finishing last, 15 seconds behind the winner.
Lots of Irish-Americans ski very well. New Hampshire-born Hannah Kearney comes to mind. Hannah is an Olympic gold medalist and reigning FIS Freestyle World Cup overall champion.
chapter 6: The Fishing Place
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