DayStrider: Tales from a Time Traveler

Mar 17th: Paddy's Day Parables, Parades & Potions

• Truman Pastworthy • Episode 9

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  You got your green on, you are amped up to celebrate your "Inner Irish" - the only thing missing are some fun stories, right?  Look no further, because here you can learn these fun things about Paddy’s Day: 

  • The true meaning of the Shamrock
  • The best places to catch a Paddy’s Day parade
  • How to make and enjoy an Irish Coffee & its fun history   

If it's a special day for you or for someone you care about, why not learn a little more about today by listening to some fun, engaging stories.  If you need some great gift ideas, we have those too (along with links to where you can find them on Amazon).

To find the links to Uncle Brad, try these (these links worked in early 2024 - not sure how long the links will be available):

  • The Art of Drinking Podcast episode about the Irish Coffee link
  • The Art of Drinking Website link

Gift ideas for folks who celebrate March 17th for any reason:

Full disclosure:  If you use these gift idea links and make a purchase, I will make a small commission.  But I will reinvest that into making this

Text me your favorite time travel movie!!!


~~~ DayStrider Fun ~~~


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Do you have a story that you wish to share? Join me as a guest and let’s tell the world together! Once again, just send me an e-mail or find me here on Facebook: Truman Pastworthy


If you had as much fun listening as I did creating this episode, please click "follow" in your favorite podcast platform . . . oh . . . and even better - why not share it with a friend (or three)! I’m betting you know just the perfect person who would enjoy today’s stories!


If you feel adventurous, how 'bout writing a great review? :-)



SPEAKER_03:

Welcome Seekers, and happy St. Patrick's Day, when everyone gets to channel their inner Irish. If March 17th is your special day, or if it's special for someone you care about, then come stride through history with me. I've got some great stories to share with you about some things that are, well, Irish. Three of the many wonderful Irish delights we're celebrating today are the true meaning of the most popular Irish icon, the best places to catch a Paddy's Day parade, and the story of the very first Irish coffee. That's some great company to be in, my friend. So let's get to it. Welcome, seekers, to the enchanting world of Daystrider, the podcast where we embark on a daily journey through history. I'm your travel guide, Truman Pastworthy, and together we'll explore some fascinating stories that happened on this exact day, but from some time in the past. From groundbreaking inventions to remarkable birthdays and extraordinary events to quirky national holidays, we've got it all. So kick back, relax, and open your mind for some lighthearted stories that'll leave you saying, huh, I never knew that happened on this day. Alrighty then, let's get to it. As everyone knows, March 17th is St. Patrick's Day, and there are so many amazing things to learn about this special Irish holiday. And the stories, man, so many stories. For folks new to the podcast, normally we tell a fun story about interesting events that happened on this day in history. But I think we should change things up just a little. Are you ready to alter the time travel continuum with me? Come on, it'll be fun. Plus, I'm feeling a little lucky, thinking about four-leaf clovers and maybe catching a leprechaun later today. I'd like to talk to you about the shamrock. which has become an icon to symbolize both today's holiday and pretty much all things Irish. There are many legends surrounding the shamrock, and they are quite different from each other, that's for sure. For example, there are stories that the shamrock gained its rightful position as an icon on this day because St. Patrick himself used the leaves as part of his lesson to explain that each was one plant but with three leaves, representing the one true God, but in the form of three. the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are others that tell how the shamrock was around long before the birth of Christ and that the three leaves signify faith, hope, and love. Well, I'm here to tell you that these legends have been passed along by folks who don't believe the true story about the origins and mystique of the great and wonderful shamrock. As legend has it, One evening after dinner, Mom asked Siobhan to go collect water from the well. But young Siobhan wanted to skip her chores because Uncle Ocean was coming, and he was going to tell his story about the Children of Lear. Mom shoot her off, and she quickly ran down to the well with her bucket in hand. But in her haste, she slipped on some wet stone when she reached the well, fell down and hit her head, and everything went dark. When Siobhan awoke, blackness surrounded her, and her head was aching. and she looked around and couldn't see a thing, and a shiver ran through her body as she frantically patted the ground, trying to find her bucket, when she noticed a small, shimmering flame off in the woods. Home? She scrambled to her feet and started making her way through the woods as best she could towards the fire, only to realize that it wasn't what she thought. It was a campfire of sorts, and there were people milling around it, regular folk and some wee folk, She had never seen weefolk before. Another shiver ran through her body because Uncle Ocean's stories about weefolk, they always seemed to have bad things happened in them. But she was drawn closer anyway. She wanted to get a look at these weefolk, so strange but also so beautiful. Some had slender forms that were cloaked in garments that looked to be leaves somehow sewn together with some sort of glowing thread. She noticed that some also had delicate-looking wings that shimmered as they turned about, and their laughter like twinkling chimes in the soft breeze. She kept inching closer, wanting to see more of these wee folk. It was then that a regular folk, a boy not quite a man, just a couple years older than her, appeared and startled her."'No need to be afraid, Colleen.' His voice was so smooth and soft in her ears. His skin seemed to glow like the stitching on those fairies' dresses.' And she was drawn in by his beautiful smile. Come join us, he almost sang. Dance with me, Ife, he cooed. Siobhan was enchanted as she entered the camp. But a couple steps in, her uncle's voice in her head warned her again about the Wee Folk. And she stopped cold and said, But there's no music. How could we dance without music? and as if by magic, the wee folk with the pointed ears produced instruments from underneath their shimmering cloaks, and with such ease and grace they began playing the most enchanting music Siobhan had ever heard. Her body reacted immediately as a tingling sensation ran over her skin. She began to sway with the music of the elves and gracefully glided into camp. She danced with the handsome boy, and eventually the mood swept her up and she danced with all the folks, and the wee folks, in the camp. Twisting and twirling in the glowing firelight as if in a trance by the shimmering wings of the fairies and the glimmering cloaks of the elves. Alas, they seemed to have danced the night away, and she was so thirsty and tired. The handsome boy found her again and said, Walk with me, Ife. It's not far, in his sing-songy voice. As she walked, she felt like she was gliding, as if the music was still tingling her ears and carrying her through the forest. And they came upon a tree with a massive trunk. And at the base of this tree was an opening. And it was glowing, this opening. As they approached the opening, it appeared to grow wider, as if the jaws of a big bear were opening wider and wider. And the glowing light from inside was hypnotic. It was pulling her in. There were steps leading down beneath the tree, and in the glimmering light down there, she could see more we-folk and other folk like her of all ages. She started to descend and then stopped cold. Her uncle's voice loud inside her head now, Shaban, the Wee Folk have cast a spell on you. But the handsome boy's hand was so soft and warm and his smile was so relaxing. He softly whispered, all will be well, Kaleen. As he did so, some very tiny Wee Folk with wings that sparkled like diamonds flittered past her and down into the opening, laughing and giggling. Their cute little voices seemed to tickle as they flitted past. And this helped her relax and take some more steps down into the amazing room. There she saw table after table adorned with shimmering cloth and plates heaped with more food than she had ever seen, and oh, it smelled so good it made her mouth water. And the goblets the folks were using seemed to glow in their hands. In fact, the whole place was glowing. It was so cozy and lovely down there. A tall, dark-haired man handed her one of the glowing goblets, and in a scratchy voice he said, And the sweet smell of tea made her mouth water even more. Oh, it smelled so good. And the moment her hand wrapped around the goblet, a bolt slammed through her entire body. Something was wrong. Uncle Ocean's voice, this time loud in her head, was telling her that if she drank from the goblet, she would be trapped forever with the wee folk. The tall man could see her hesitation, and he reached for her. She tried to turn and run, but suddenly, the soft, warm feel of her dancing partner was gone, replaced by a solid and stern hold on her. She couldn't turn. She couldn't run. The tall man's eyes went dark and he grabbed Siobhan's wrist. And when he touched her, his darkness seemed to flow into her. As he forced her hand with the goblet to her lips and began tipping it up to make her drink, fear was shuddering through her. The smell, it was awful. That sweet scent had fouled and it was rotten and made her want to gag. Just then, a red-haired man with a bright green sash jumped in as if from nowhere. and somehow pushed the mean dark man away and knocked the handsome boy down. And in a flash, he placed something in her hand. The moment it touched her palm, her entire body felt free, and a sense of awakening came over her."'Turn,' he said."'Run,' he urged."'But keep that with you as your guide.'" And then the three men began to tussle, and she wasn't about to stay and find out what would happen. She turned to run, and as she did so, the enchantment of the place started melting away. The wee folk that were closing around her seemed to have lost their glimmer and shine. The fairies and their sing-song whispers started to groak. The elves' music became wretched and harsh. The pixies nearby tried to flit straight at her eyes as if to keep her from seeing the path to freedom. But the thing in her hand, it seemed to protect her. It was like a calming guide, and she quickly climbed the stairs and ran. The curls of her hair fanned out behind her, and her dress seemed to flap as if a strong wind was blowing. She ran through the darkness with no hesitation. Her gift from the green sash man was guiding her. The chasing pixies couldn't keep up, the elven music seemed to fade, and finally, the fairies calling her back were silenced. Darkness. Complete darkness. And then when she awoke, it was a bright, crisp morning. She could smell sweetness in the air and a sense of joy overtook her. She was free from the wee folk. But as she picked through the events of last night, she could only remember a red-haired man wearing a dark green outfit accented by an emerald green sash. She didn't know his name and the sound of his voice was already fading. And suddenly she looked down at her hand. Slowly. Her fingers uncurled to reveal a shamrock. With its long stem and its three green leaves, they were glimmering in the morning sun. This magical shamrock that protected her and preserved her freedom from the wee folk. It provided her with a sense of peace and calming that was surreal. And at the same time filled her with joy to be alive and back with her family. That very day, she planted the shamrock and nurtured it to help it grow and multiply. After many days, once the clump was large enough to split, Siobhan took some shamrocks into the woods and planted some around the base of the largest tree in the forest to ensure that this tree would be free from the Wee Folk and could grow in peace. She made it her life's work to plant shamrocks throughout the forest to bring peace and joy to all the trees and protect them from having to harbor those Wee Folk. She thought if they have no caves to hide in her forest, they would go elsewhere. The shamrocks would allow her and her family to be free to live in peace and joy. And this, my friends, is how the shamrock came to be the symbol of Ireland. And those three leaves stand for freedom, peace, and joy. All words that the Irish hold dear. Alrighty, green up and let's go. It's time to beat feet to catch a Paddy's Day parade. You can find them all over America and all around the world. Everyone wants to channel their inner Irish, right? They say that there are 31 million Americans who claim to have some percent of Irish in them. That's a lot of folks. Do you have any idea what the population of Ireland is? About 5 million souls. That's right. So there are six times more folks in the U.S. claiming to have Irish descent than back in the home country itself. That's crazy, isn't it? Well, another crazy tidbit is the Paddy's Day parades, they got their start in America, not in Ireland. Yes, it's true. And these parades went on for over 100 years before Ireland joined in on the fun. Really. New York City's parade, it's been running since 1762. The oldest parade in Ireland in Waterford, 1903, which happens to be the year that St. Patrick's Day actually became an official holiday in Ireland. How about that? All right, so why do you suppose that is? Well, let me explain. Back in the 1760s, before New York was even a state, it was a colony, The British soldiers were patrolling around, and in the troops of British soldiers, there were some Irish laddies. And they were homesick, and they decided to display their Irish pride. They got dressed up in green, they sang Irish songs, they played the pipes and flutes to Irish tunes, all with much vigor and pride. And so, once they started parading, you can imagine the excitement of the onlookers as the parades marched right past the St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. So, Truman, what were the OG Irish folks doing in the 1760s if they weren't marching about in green and singing and dancing? Well, believe it or not, the British were busy suppressing the use of Irish Gaelic language from being spoken, and they were doing other unpleasant discrimination tactics against the Irish. They were trying to assimilate the Irish into the United Kingdom, and so they wanted them to be more... English, I guess. So there was no opportunity for parades and marching and wearing green because all those things were done in secret. So there's that, plus the observation of St. Patrick in Ireland was more of a religious event. It was an observation and not a celebration. And in fact, the pubs were closed on March 17th all the way up until the 1970s. So that helps give you some perspective. So I said parades are all around the world. Let's talk about some of those. In Arkansas, Hot Springs National Park, they boast to have the shortest St. Patrick's Day parade in the world. So in that town, there's a street that's 98 feet long. It's called Bridge Street. And that's where they host their parade. So let me help you picture 98 feet. So if you think of a major league ballpark where home plate is, and then your eyes move out to first base, that is 90 feet. So their parade is eight feet longer than that distance from home plate to first base. Yes, I'm serious. That's their parade distance. And they do a parade there every year. And they attract many famous people to be the grand marshal of their parade. It's impressive. You should go check it out on the website or even go watch it live. In Chicago, they also have a parade. It's not quite as long running as some of the others, but they have a neat feature that you've likely seen on the news. They dye the Chicago River green each year on St. Patrick's Day. And of course, there's a quick story behind that one. So if you want to get a good view, you'd have to line up along the Chicago Riverbanks around 7 a.m. in the morning to get a good spot. And then about two hours later at 9 a.m., which is a whole hour before the parade starts, the sons and grandsons of Tom Rowan and Michael Butler head out onto two boats loaded with 40 pounds of leprechaun dust. and they spread it all about the river. Yep, the first boat shoots the dust into the water, and then the second boat that they call the mix master does the spreading of the dye and gets the full coverage all the way across the river. And once complete, you get to see an emerald green river that'll last all throughout the day and even several days later, depending on the weather. It is quite the sight to see. Now, the Rowan and Butler families have had this honor and privilege for over 60 years, with the first dumping happening in 1962. That was the year they convinced the mayor to allow them to green the river up with this dye that plumbers used to find leaks in pipes. Yep. So Tom and Michael were plumbers, and they used this dye to check sewage lines, drainage lines, and other plumbing lines for leaks. And whenever you saw the green water, they knew, all right, there's where the leak is, and then they were able to go figure it out and fix it. Well, they put two and two together, and bam, we now have a green river. So these days, the family use a more environmentally friendly dye. It's a vegetable-based powder instead of what they were using before. And what's funny is the powder is actually orange, which is quite serendipitous with the fact that the Irish flag has orange and green in it.

SPEAKER_02:

Anyway,

SPEAKER_03:

these two families actually keep the mixture a closely guarded secret. Apparently, other places have asked for, hey, what's your recipe? What's your leprechaun dust? And they won't give it away. Only the Chicago River gets this special vegetable dye. All right, one last story about Patty's Day parades. But before that, have you noticed me using the phrasing Patty with a D sound instead of Patty with a T sound? Well, when I was researching this episode, I learned from several folks from Ireland that the word Patty with a T sound is short for Patricia and should never be used to refer to the patron St. Patrick. Okay, got it. Patty with a D. I like that. All right, last story about the parades. I'm going to take you to Japan. Yeah, because why wouldn't a country halfway around the world from Ireland celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Naturally, they'll be full of Irish spirit, right? Well, since the 1990s, the Irish government started promoting itself all around the world. And in 1992, the Irish embassy that was located in Tokyo, Japan, was able to get a Paddy's Day parade tradition started there. And it was a huge hit. Since then, the parade has grown, and now it's the largest of its kind in all of Asia and one of 15 Paddy's Day parades in Japan. So picture this. Tokyo has about 14 million people living there, but only 2,000 of them are Irish or affiliated as Irish. But yet, they have a parade there, and over 100,000 folks come out and watch the full-on experience with green everywhere, and they have troops of all Japanese step dancers and all Japanese kei-li bands and harp players. It's pretty neat. Plus, there's an infusion of Japanese flair to make it quite an event. It's a spectacle from what I can tell. And what's really neat about it, there's no negative stereotypes of or about the Irish in Japan, and so it was easy for the people there to embrace another reason to have a party. So there you have it, folks. Time to get out there and watch or join in a St. Paddy's Day parade. Have fun. A time traveler's delight lets go for a ride to moments in history both far and wide. If these tales have left you feeling quite bright, please share with your friends and spread the delight. You can't celebrate Paddy's Day without a drink in your hand, can you? No. Your mind probably heard drink and flashed images of pubs and pints of beer. Well, when I heard the story about the invention of the Irish coffee, I just had to feature that here on March 17th. Not only that, but I heard the story told so well on another podcast called The Art of Drinking, which, by the way, is a really fun and interesting show if you like mixed drinks or like the idea of learning to make your own cocktails in a no-pressure, easy-going way. You gotta check it out. Anyway, the Art of Drinking podcast has two co-hosts, Juliana McIntosh and Brad Sutton, and the pair blend together perfectly to form, well, a wonderful audio cocktail treat. They feature a new drink every week or so, and you can learn all about how to make it, a twist on it, and much more. Of course, my favorite part of their show is the segment about the history behind each drink. And so, we're fortunate enough to have Uncle Brad himself join us right here on this show and tell you all about the Irish coffee, both how to make it and the history of when and where it originated. Brad, it's great to have you. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, hey, yeah, happy to do that. So, Brad Sutton, otherwise known as Uncle Brad. Uncle Brad. Uncle Brad, yeah. I live in Minneapolis, you know, wife, couple of kids, a dog. You know, I just have this natural affinity for the spirits industry and cocktails. And, you know, I don't know. It kind of seems to be all that I talk about. And here I am doing podcasts and now guests, being a guest on a podcast to talk more about that. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah. Very nice. And we are thrilled to have you as a guest today. So for the folks listening, we are capturing just a few highlights of Brad's visit with us. But you can listen to a number of fun stories about Brad as well as some really insightful and interesting things about cocktails in the bonus episode. Oh, and we get to hear a little bit about his awesome co-host Jules. But for now, let's get back to the Irish coffee. We'll learn how to make it and where it came from. Brad, you featured this drink on your show way back in episode 26. Yeah. And you had some strong words of advice about how to make So I was wondering if you wouldn't mind just spending a few moments walking through the recipe. Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_01:

Happy to do that. And I do have strong feelings about making it the right way. I have strong feelings about making every drink the right way. I feel that glassware, I think, matters in this case because the Irish coffee is something that's cool to look at. Right. And so I went ahead when I started making these and I purchased these Irish coffee glasses. And they were, what were they? Six ounce glasses. They're six ounce coffee glasses. And they don't have a handle. It's just like a flute looking glass, which is the exact same glass you'd see. Nope. Nope. It's just a flute style glass. Okay. Yeah. And it doesn't get too hot. After you start to put in the Irish whiskey, it cools things down.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

A six ounce glass. glass coffee mug, two sugar cubes go into the bottom of that mug. And then you fill that glass with four ounces of freshly brewed coffee.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Fresh

SPEAKER_03:

coffee.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Fresh coffee is important and it's got to be dark and smooth coffee. So you don't want something that's too acidic.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

After you get the coffee in there, now you're going to stir it around because you want to melt the sugar and kind of break up the sugar. So it incorporates into the coffee.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

And then you're going to take an ounce and a half of of Irish whiskey, specifically Tula Mordu, if you want to make it the way they make it out of the Buena Vista, which is, in my opinion, the best way because that's who brought the Irish coffee from Ireland to here. And so once you get that in there, you give it another little stir so everything incorporates. And then you take heavy whipping cream, but you got to lightly whip it. And so I think some people might call it a wet whip. So it's not stiff, but it's aerated and it's a little bit fluffier than if it was just cream by itself. Otherwise, the cream just sinks to the bottom. So you take heavy whipping cream and lightly whip it. And then you take your spoon and you hold that over the top just onto the surface of the drink and you pour that into the spoon so it layers on top of that beverage. Remove the spoon and then you never stir it. Don't stir. You just sip the coffee through the lightly whipped cream. And that's how you drink a proper Irish coffee.

SPEAKER_03:

Very nice. A proper Irish coffee sounds like it looks a lot like a Guinness after it's been poured out of a tap. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

a

SPEAKER_03:

little bit dark on the bottom and the foam on

SPEAKER_01:

the top. So it's, it's, but in this case, the whipping cream on the top is starting to kind of, it just runs down a little bit. It got some legs, but it stays pretty separated,

SPEAKER_03:

which is okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Now, Awesome. And you mentioned the Buena Vista. What is the Buena Vista?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a restaurant in San Francisco. A restaurant. Okay. Yeah. So if you go to San Francisco and you go to the Fisherman's Wharf on the west side of the wharf, and actually the easiest way to describe it is the cable cars go right by it. And then they turn around at the station and come back the other way. So it's impossible to miss. All right. And it sits on the corner and it's got this beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge. That is the spot that is the originator of the Irish coffee, or at least brought it from Ireland to here in the United States. And they still make that Irish coffee the way they made it way back when. And you can see it's a line. It's a production, right? And it's such a cool restaurant. The food's good, but you're really going for the Irish coffee. And it's in a great location. So you go there. This is how I do it. We'd start our mornings at the Buena Vista and then just go walk the wharf, right? and enjoy the city.

SPEAKER_03:

Fantastic. All right. So they brought the Irish coffee to America. How did they find it? How did they stumble across it at the Buena Vista?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was the owner, Jack Kepler, was talking to a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanton Delaplane. Okay. Stanton Delaplane was, he'd travel around and he'd write stories, right? And so they called him a travel writer. Well, he apparently had interacted with the Irish coffee back in Ireland, where it originated at the Foynes Flying Boat Station. And that's, if you think back to the day where they had these big boat plane with the huge wings.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the boat

SPEAKER_01:

plane, yes. Those are the same planes that would fly into the Foynes Airport because it was a port. And so he must have traveled through Foynes and came across this Irish coffee that was invented by a gentleman by the name of Joe Sheridan and told Jack Kepler about it. And so Jack and Stanton were trying to recreate the Irish coffee and they just couldn't get it to work right because every time they would make one, they'd put the cream in and the cream would sink to the bottom. It just never felt right. So Jack Kepler actually went to the foins airport, found Joe Sheridan. Found the original inventor. Found the original inventor and said, how do you make this properly? And, you know. Teach me. Joe being the fine lad he is, he said, sure, let me tell you. You got to whip the cream. You know, and that was about it. Uh-huh. One and a half ounces of Tula Mardu, you know, and so he teaches him how to make the Irish cream the right way. Jack takes it back to the Buena Vista and that is the way they forever made the cocktail at the Buena Vista.

SPEAKER_03:

Fantastic.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, so Joe Sheridan, that's who you said was the inventor. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01:

Joe Sheridan. So

SPEAKER_03:

you have a story

SPEAKER_01:

about his invention, right? I do. It's a quick one, but it's an interesting one. So the airport is kind of on the western side of Ireland, and this drink was invented in 1943. Okay. And the Foynes Airport was a popular destination for civilians and whatnot.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

This part of the world, weather isn't always great. And planes often took off and had to turn around and come back. So they built a restaurant at the port. And Joe Sheridan was the chef at the restaurant. And one night, plane takes off and runs into bad weather, has to turn around and come back. And Joe Sheridan gets word of this. And so he decides to accommodate the guests by whipping up something warm. for them, you know, because it's a cold, rainy night and something with a little, you know, Irish history and it has a little Irish whiskey because there's plenty Irish whiskey going around Ireland. Right. And so he whips this up for the Yanks and they start filing in and he's serving up his Irish coffees to folks, which they weren't called Irish coffees at the moment.

SPEAKER_03:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

And as people were drinking them, he said there was a hush. That came over the crowd.

SPEAKER_03:

Everybody's

SPEAKER_01:

yummying. Yeah. Everybody's like enjoying this beverage. And somebody says, hey, buddy, is this Brazilian coffee? And Joe goes, nah, it's Irish coffee. And that was it. And that was the name of the drink. And boom, forevermore, it was known as the Irish coffee. And it just got cemented into history at that moment.

SPEAKER_03:

Love it. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. You bet. What a story right there, folks. And as I mentioned, if you enjoyed that, there's a whole lot more like it in the bonus episode. So check that out when you can. And heck, now you can make yourself an Irish coffee to sip on and double up the enjoyment factor. And there you have it, folks. Some great stories to share with your someone special to celebrate March 17th. Once again, those are a fun shamrock fairy tale. how the world hosts parades to celebrate Paddy's Day, and how to make and enjoy an Irish coffee. As you green up for this special day of celebration, take a moment to reflect that all around the world in different cultures, folks are also greening up and channeling their inner Irish. I know we can't celebrate and party every day, but we can make more days to be aligned and have fun together, can't we? All right, before we get to anything else, I wanted to make a special shout-out and thank you to Stephen from Podcast Delivery. They featured the Daystrider show on their Instagram feed back on March 1st, and I really appreciate it. Check out Podcast Delivery to find suggestions for new shows to listen to. So after you've shared the awesome stories you've heard, you can also mention the following famous folks who celebrate their birthdays today. Kurt Russell. He's been in over 60 movies and in 40 television shows. That's crazy. And he's been nominated for over 20 different acting awards and won at least five of those. Plus, he's in a couple of different Hall of Fames. Even people who live under rocks would be hard-pressed to say they haven't seen at least one Kurt Russell movie. Nat King Cole celebrates today. He was a singer and a jazz pianist whose 30-year career included over 100 hit songs. And he was the first African-American to host a variety TV series in 1956. Pretty neat. Mia Hamm was born on this day as well. She was a professional soccer player, but is most famous for her performances in winning two Olympic gold medals for the U.S. soccer team, as well as her performances in the ladies' FIFA World Cup teams. According to famousbirthdays.com, the 50th most famous person born on March 17th is Will Smith, the hockey player. He played ice hockey for Boston College and was drafted fourth overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2023 NHL draft. So keep an eye out for him. Maybe someday he will be the most famous person born on this day. Who knows? All right, so you need a great gift idea for your loved one? Well... After you share those stories, you can have them open up a gift that is customized just for their birthday. And I have several great ideas for you. And as always, you can find the links for those in the gift ideas section of the show notes. We talked about shamrocks to kick off today's episode, and you can get just about anything in or as a shamrock. Glasses, necklaces, shirts, stickers, glasses, and on and on. And you can find the three-leaf variety and the four-leaf variety. And in fact, For that loved one who has everything, you can get them a real four-leaf clover that's been preserved as a decoration or as a keychain. If you want to gear up for a Paddy's Day parade, you just need some green and some beads and some headgear, right? We've got links to all that. If you want to make an Irish coffee and use those six-ounce stem glasses with the no handles that Uncle Brad was talking about, I found some of those as well, and I put a link in the show notes. All right, so we'll stop there with the Irish stuff and feature some of the famous folks, starting with Kurt. You can get any of his movies, and several are in a collection, and I have a link for all those. There are some greatest hits CDs for Nat King Cole. They would be a treat to enjoy with your loved one. And then for Mia Hamm, you can get a bobblehead of her or some cool wall art, and there are books about her to inspire your young loved ones. All right, so that's a lot of gifts customized to March 17th as great options for you. And as always, if those ideas aren't cool enough, you can always give them a shout out right here on the podcast. If you want to try the old fashioned way, you can email me and I'll give the shout out. Or you can try the new feature we've added and record your own shout out right here on the podcast. And that would sound something like this.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, my name's Blake. I just wanted to shout out my friend Spencer. Today's his birthday. I just want to say I hope he has a really great birthday today. Happy birthday, Spencer.

SPEAKER_02:

Happy birthday, Spencer. It's Eli. Have a

SPEAKER_03:

nice day. I just want to say thank you. If you listened today, you've spent a half hour of your life with me learning some things and hopefully laughing a little. And I really appreciate that much more than you know. I am having so much fun researching this stuff and finding guests to be on the show and befriending them, at least so far. And I'm really excited about the upcoming five episodes that will be published over the next 90 days. I'm living the dream, folks, and you are a part of that. So thanks for listening. Sincerely. Thank you so much. Okay. Feeling good. Now, I'm going to still end with the same line as always. If you had as much fun listening as I did creating this episode, then share it with a friend or family member, and that would be incredibly and sincerely appreciated. Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, this is Truman Pastworthy reminding you that every day has a great story. And we'll be striding through them all to find some more goodies for you. Now get out there and make your own great story today.