Hi folks! This entry will be brief - I'm typing two-fingered on my iPod. We're staying at a beautiful guest house/restaurant here, run by James Cullinan. He's a very well-respected local fiddler, and also chef for the restaurant. We're going to find a session in a bit (everything starts late!), but we don't know if we'll be able to sit in.
A couple of days ago we drove through the Connemara hills. We saw Matt Molloy's pub in Westport, Croagh Padraig, Kylemore Abbey and a monument to those who died on the famine walk in the Doo Lough Valley. We tried to sit in with some local players at a pub. Although they played lots of great tunes, we didn't know many of them, and when we asked them about tune names they didn't know or we couldn't understand them.
The next day we walked to a ruined castle overlooking the water, and then drove round the Sky Road. It was a bank holday, so the shopping/pub district in Galway was really jumping. We took a walk down to Galway Bay before going to our B&B in a thatched-roof cottage. The weather was damp and chilly, but our hosts had a peat fire burning, and they offered us a cup of tea before we turned in.
This we did some shopping while waiting for our laundry to be done. Michael got a better whistle than he's had. We saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen (a stone-age portal tomb - you can Google it if you don't want to wait for our pictures) and then we went to the Cliffs of Moher. It's been neat to see places that relate to tune names - the Cliffs of Moher, Oranmore (where the bucks are from), and we drove along the Road to Lisdoonvarna!
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| memorial for victims of the Famine March |
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| Poulnabrone Dolmen |
Karen and Michael,
ReplyDeleteGreat to read your blog. Sounds like a wonderful experience. Went to see "Four men and a dog " tonight and Anne, Martin, Bobby, Paddy, Mary Joe and Rob were there. Anee told me about your blog. Can't wait for you to get back and share all your new found knowledge at the sessions.
Chris
Mom and Dad,
ReplyDeleteFirst: *IMPORTANT* I'm very sorry, and I messed up on my return flight time. I thought I was getting back 7AM on Tuesday, and it's really 7 in the EVENING that i'll be arriving. This means I CANNOT pick you up at four, contrary to what I've already told you. I'm very sorry for the mix up. Both Steve's will have a laptop during the trip, so I will be checking here and Facebook to make sure you get the message and can find someone else to get you. Worse comes to worse perhaps Chelsea can pick you two up.
I'm about to depart for Chicago as I write this. It sounds like you two have had an amazing trip so far, and I hope the last few days match up.
The house should be in good shape, but I didn't have time to fully clean out the fridge, so there might be some rank vegetables by the time you arrive - if so, appologies. The garden is looking great. It's been quite rainy, so I haven't had to water much at all. In fact, the only time I felt like I needed to water the bulk of the outside plants, it rained later that evening out of nowhere. The only plant that isn't doing well is the hanging plant where the feeder used to be on the garage.
Folkfest was amazing, and Dave Essig (among many others) ruled. I have much to tell you guys later, and i'm sure you do in return. Looking forward to seeing you in a little under a week.
Love
Alastair