Serendipity is arriving in bushel baskets this week.
On Friday evening, I was shopping at Safeway, and tried to maneuver around two younger women who were filling their basket with some bargain or other -- bathroom deodorizers, it appeared.
Now, we need to get our story's facts in perspective. When I say "younger," I mean "younger" than your correspondent. Maybe in their 40s or so.
We exchanged pleasantries as we are wont to do with strangers in our little village. One turned to me and said: "What a delightful accent. What part of Ireland are you from?"
Mind you, this is not the first time I have been asked the question. Responded I: "The Oregon part of Ireland." They laughed, and one responded: "Well, it is sexy. Very sexy."
We will pause in our narrative for one moment. I am not certain I have ever heard that adjective used in conjunction with the manner I pronounce my vowels. But I will say that I was duly complimented.
I bid them a good day and went on my leprechaun way.
The exchange was odd because on that very day I had two hits from Ireland on my blog -- both of them coming my way with a Google search for "Jonny Ward."
I briefly introduced you to Jonny (or Jonathan, as I first knew him) in afloat in my mind last October. That is him on the right in the picture at the top of the post. He was then a cadet on the Queen Mary II. He is now third officer on the ship.
I started wondering: who had conducted the Google search? A friend in Ireland? His parents? (His father also served on the Queen Mary II.) A stranger?
The answer will never be known -- unless the searcher would be so good as to leave a comment.
Or, perhaps, I could simply murmur in my new-found sexy Irish voice -- and answer the question for meself.
On Friday evening, I was shopping at Safeway, and tried to maneuver around two younger women who were filling their basket with some bargain or other -- bathroom deodorizers, it appeared.
Now, we need to get our story's facts in perspective. When I say "younger," I mean "younger" than your correspondent. Maybe in their 40s or so.
We exchanged pleasantries as we are wont to do with strangers in our little village. One turned to me and said: "What a delightful accent. What part of Ireland are you from?"
Mind you, this is not the first time I have been asked the question. Responded I: "The Oregon part of Ireland." They laughed, and one responded: "Well, it is sexy. Very sexy."
We will pause in our narrative for one moment. I am not certain I have ever heard that adjective used in conjunction with the manner I pronounce my vowels. But I will say that I was duly complimented.
I bid them a good day and went on my leprechaun way.
The exchange was odd because on that very day I had two hits from Ireland on my blog -- both of them coming my way with a Google search for "Jonny Ward."
I briefly introduced you to Jonny (or Jonathan, as I first knew him) in afloat in my mind last October. That is him on the right in the picture at the top of the post. He was then a cadet on the Queen Mary II. He is now third officer on the ship.
I started wondering: who had conducted the Google search? A friend in Ireland? His parents? (His father also served on the Queen Mary II.) A stranger?
The answer will never be known -- unless the searcher would be so good as to leave a comment.
Or, perhaps, I could simply murmur in my new-found sexy Irish voice -- and answer the question for meself.
