It’s Derby Week in Kentucky, and this evening Derby floats will glide through Louisville for the Pegasus Parade. But everyone can’t make it downtown to watch the big parade. Our schools have come up with an ingenious idea so children all over the city can experience the excitement of a parade.  They decorate derby floats to parade through their classrooms, celebrating the famous Kentucky horse race.

Image Credit

I am in Ireland this week, missing all the Derby fun in Louisville.  But before I left home a derby float challenge awaited.  When a creative school project is sent home, a little bit of thinking is always required to come up with a good concept.  But when you are the mother of triplets, one bright idea is never enough.

In pre-school, show and tell offered its unique challenges.  Sometimes three items per child, all beginning with the same letter, were requested for that surprise treasure bag.  I kept praying the letter “q” would never be sent our way.

Dad is on duty taking care of our little ones this week, but before I left for Ireland he assured me float making was not one of his skills.  And so before I packed my bags, shoe boxes, glue sticks, ribbons, fabric, roses and plastic horses were strewn across my kitchen table.

Derby hats feature on my little girl’s float.  Her brothers were adamant no fancy hats could be next, nigh, nor near their floats.

We got patriotic with one float highlighting it with red, white and blue roses, since the Derby is lovingly called the Run for the Roses.

Then I tried to add little roses to the last float, but unfortunately my little one decided these roses were much too small.  If his brother had big roses then he too must have some. So what else could be done, than to stick a few of our big patriotic roses on the last float.  Anything to keep everyone happy.

And so, while I am enjoying the beauty of County Sligo today, I hope everyone in Louisville has a wonderful time at the Pegasus Parade.

And I hope my trio remember to bring their floats to school.

Happy Derby Week to all.

Slán agus beannacht leat!

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

My Ireland Box graciously sponsored a giveaway for our readers last month. The April subscribers have all received and hopefully opened their surprise craft boxes, so today I thought I might share with you the lovely treasures they found inside.

Thanks to Katharine from My Ireland Box for sending me these lovely photos and descriptions of the contents.

Olyart

A lovely Irish sheep is featured on Joanna and Alex’s handmade eco bag, made by Alex & Joanna of Olyart. They are based in Galway and bring a fun quirky style to Irish design. They are inspired by the “Irish people, the Irish lifestyle and landscapes, the roads, weather and seasons”!

Deirdre McKenna

Deirdre is an artist from Dingle, Co. Kerry and is inspired by the bog, the ocean (she once sailed from Dingle to Spain on a Jeanie Johnson replica ship!) and the Wren Boys to name a few. She loves printmaking and helped to set up a studio in Dingle so that artists could develop their skills. The print in the box is from a painting that was created following her voyage from Dingle to Spain. We love her work and her enthusiasm for Irish traditions. We speak Gaelic when we meet!

Clare Jordan Ceramics

Clare’s wearable art! We met her at her Swallow’s Rest Studio and we loved seeing her at work and learning more about the process of making artistic porcelain pieces. We love the way she describes how she explores concepts of life through the delicate strength of porcelain. She made this Dove Pin especially for our customers in her Swallow’s Rest Studio.

Sinead Lough Pottery

Sinead works from an old converted cowshed nestled in the beautiful countryside of West Kerry and adjacent to a cute little cottage! She has an enormously appealing style to her pieces. It’s fun, fresh and looks great in the home. She has a lovely dog called Nellie who keeps her company when she’s at work in her cottage studio!

Placed – René Mullin

We met Rene from Placed Ireland at a recent craft fair. She is based in Belfast. When we saw her gorgeous handmade items with Irish writing printed on them we were over the moon. She has managed to contemporise Irish wording on linen. Grá means ‘Love’ and we love the Irish language here at My Ireland Box. We think this purse is fashionable, cute, Irish and just lovely.

My Ireland Box is now offering one month purchases without subscription- so you can surprise yourself once if that’s all you need!

The value of the April MyIrelandBox Craft is over $72. The purchase price is circa $46 including shipping.

I hope you all enjoyed these little surprises from Ireland.  So why not, go ahead and surprise yourself for May.

Slán agus beannacht leat!

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom