“The flowers of the earth have risen;
They are singing their Easter song.
Up the valleys and over the hillsides,
They come as unnumbered throng.”
“Nature’s Easter Music” by Lucy Larcom
(1824 to 1893)

Hubby and I thought our yard was wonderful, with so many crocuses and tulips poking their tops through the ground, in spite of all the snow. Then, the other evening, we walked down to the Murphy School and saw perhaps hundreds of daffodils almost ready to flower lining the front of the school.

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We went down to the Murphy School for the February Pope’s Hill meeting. President Phil Carver welcomed Capt. Richard Sexton, from Police District C-11, to the meeting. The captain told us that robberies were up slightly but larcenies and car thefts were down. There had been five robberies the previous night but Capt. Sexton and his staff blamed the number “on the full moon.” His biggest concern was the number of robberies. He told us that there are five train stations in C-11, with many people walking to and from the stations, providing thieves with victims on whom to prey. The captain also spoke of the new police class. He hopes to get some of the new officers. He also mentioned that Officer Mike Keaney had been in a car accident.

Then our usual Community Service Officer, Dennis Rorie, came to the microphone. He gave us the phone number to call police from a cell phone in Boston; the number is 617-343-4911. If a person in Boston calls 911, the call is routed to the State Police. He mentioned that there was a “B&E” at a home in the Pope’s Hill area on Feb. 4. He also told us that firearms were removed from a home on Adams Street. President Phil told members that the association had a great relationship with all the police.

I was sorry that I didn’t get a chance to speak to State Trooper Brian Dunn because he was talking to people at the front of the cafeteria. He told us that students were being robbed at the Columbia/JFK T Station and that wearing earphones while walking to the trains is not a wise thing to do. Brian said that the increase in the amount of daylight would help the situation. In other notes: He mentioned that he and other troopers had been sent to New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy, that the water in the area was up to waist high in places, and that 50 feet of coastline is gone. He also advised members to purchase a generator in the spring or the summer and noted that the next State Police exam will be held on Apr. 20.

Felix Arroyo, City Councilor-at-large, was the next speaker. He told us that he was a union organizer. He proudly noted that 10,000 “kids” were employed last summer by the state. (14,000 applied for jobs.) He mentioned how asthma is responsible for having 50 percent of children forced to stay overnight at a hospital and said that Suffolk County is the third worst county for breathing-related diseases. He mentioned that construction vehicles are pollutants. He noted, however, that the exhausts of vehicles like garbage and fire trucks have been retrofitted so they do not pollute the city’s air.

Rep. Nick Collins, from South Boston, was the next speaker. He told the audience that he is a graduate of Boston Latin School and Babson College and that he is a candidate for the State Senate seat vacated recently by Jack Hart and that is concerned about public safety. He also mentioned that his two younger sisters attended the Murphy School.
Linda Dorcena Forry, who is also running for that State Senate seat, was the final politician to speak. She told us that she is the state representative from the 12th Suffolk District, a child of Haitian immigrants, and the proud mother of four children. She also is married to this paper’s publisher and editor, Bill Forry.

The final speaker was Bob McGann, a spokesperson for Tedeschi’s, the owners of Li’l Peach on Neponset Avenue. He announced that the Metro Glass building will be taken down in three or four months. The new addition will allow the Lottery to be located at one end of the building. He praised the employees at the store. One local resident told Bob that the air-conditioning unit at the store was very noisy. Just before the end of the meeting, we were told that the Meatloaf Dinner to raise funds for Dorchester Day activities will be held this Thursday (March 21) at the First Parish Church atop Meetinghouse Hill. Donation is $15 for adults and $7 for children or $30 for a family of four.

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Last Thursday evening, Hubby and I walked down to the Murphy School for the annual St. Patrick’s Dinner for seniors. There was a young man dressed as a leprechaun greeting all the seniors. When we walked into the cafeteria on a green construction paper path (akin to “the Yellow Brick Road”), we were amazed at how many seniors were already there, most of them playing Bingo. We found an empty table. There were quite a few youngsters helping those playing. They asked us if we wanted to join in but we declined. I can’t keep up with the game, trying to cover all the called numbers. Soon daughter Sue joined us and on her heels came pals Eileen Burke and Carolyn O’Connor. Who should be volunteering that evening but a friend of all of ours, Peachy Galvin, who was giving out raffle tickets. (It was so good to see her.) She must have brought the luck of the Irish around with her because four out of five at our table won prizes. (I will cry if I have to tell you who did not win one!) Rep. Collins also brought four very nice gift bags for the raffle. I saw that one of his bags had scratch tickets in it. I must mention that Hubby, who is usually very lucky, won a ceramic Celtic Cross with an Irish Blessing and decorative shamrocks painted on it. Daughter Sue and pal Eileen each won a pair of earrings. We were so happy to see that our friend Irene Duff, at a nearby table, also won a prize. Diane Zinck brought out three little step dancers. She even knew the girls’ names. They were Mia McCarthy (Diane’s granddaughter), Ava Le Blanc, and Corey Miller. The three girls were great.

Our table looked pretty with little glittery symbols of Ireland, like crocks of gold, rainbows, and harps, scattered around a green plastic hat, with green balloons attached to it, which was the table’s centerpiece. There were even some green after-dinner mints on the table. At each seat there was a bottle of water, plus plastic silverware, placed inside a folded napkin and tied with a green bow. We watched as the crew of volunteers set up the buffet. I should have known that the delicious buffet was from Gerard’s; it was a corned beef dinner, with grey corned beef. The young volunteers delivered the meals to the seniors sitting at the tables. I have never seen such a big dinner. In addition to the corned beef, which was sliced nice and thin, there were potatoes (scrumptious), beets, turnip, carrots, and cabbage, plus a big roll. (I had brought some mustard from home.) We had already been given a smaller roll by a lovely little girl who carried around a huge plastic bowl filled with the rolls. Hubby took her photo because she looked so cute, carrying such a big bowl.
Several boys came around twice with cans of soda and some adult helpers came around with the hot coffee. The kids brought us cream. The desserts came on lovely plastic trays. The pieces of Irish bread went quickly. There were Toll House cookies, mini éclairs, all types of tasty items. I did have a cookie.

For entertainment, we were fortunate to have the Greene/O’Leary step dancers. There must have been 20 dancers, in all. The costumes were positively beautiful. The hairpieces bobbed up and down as they performed for us, from the tiniest girl to the taller, older girls. I didn’t mention that there was one young man in the group. Danny is probably about five years old and stole the hearts of everyone watching the dancers, who performed in soft shoes and tap shoes. Danny kept up with them. I was sitting rather far back in the cafeteria and I could see his little head bobbing up and down among the girls. We couldn’t help but laugh. As we got ready to leave, we thanked the helpers who were near us. On the way out of the school, we mingled with the dancers, including little Danny. I said, “Good night” to him. What a great event the Murphy St. Patrick’s Dinner was! We thank the many volunteers who helped make things go so smoothly. There will be a little more about the Murphy dinner next week.

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On Sat., March 30 at 11 a.m. the Fields Corner Library will be hosting a Sherlock Holmes event. They have a speaker who will answer all of your questions and reveal clues about the literary character. There will be tea and talk about the world’s most famous detective. The library is located at 1520 Dorchester Avenue. Telephone 617-436-2155.

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Listen to Ch. 533 on Boston’s Comcast Cable. The Irish music, hopefully, should be on for another few days. (We taped the channel overnight one night last week to watch and listen to later.