I'm glad that I'm not the only one who had a strange St. Patrick's Day. I'd told a medievalist/reenactor friend that I'd walk in the Cleveland Ohio St. Pat's parade, if I could. Well, it turned out that my three kids had the day off from school, so we all found ourselves 80 miles from home, freezing our knuckles off in costume. Even putting the costumes over warm clothing didn't quite do it. So there I was, riding backwards on the float, dressed like a (plump) refugee from the Potato Famine, holding a green "Erin Go Braugh" flag. To my left was my 11 year old daughter wearing chain mail and brandishing a short sword (well, it fits her personality), while one brother played a bodhran and another carried a long-handled war axe. I was standing between two pillars representing the prehistoric age, and the front half of the float had a rotating display that included large posters of a page from the Book of Kells, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. An eclectic display, to say the least. But then, we were followed by a Belfast flute-and-drum band, all with their hair dyed electric chartreuse, playing that great Australian hit "Wild Colonial Boy"!...sometimes it's just better not to ask...