Packed and ready to head for home

We were up and packing at 4:30 a.m. Quite a challenging puzzle to fit all of our props, instruments, clothes and sundry souvenirs into 4 suitcases and 4 carry-ons.  3 hours later we sucessfully mastered that challenge, doing a final check in the hotel lobby to be sure that we wouldn’t be ‘dinged’ by having any of our suitcases over the weight restrictions.

Changing terminals in Heathrow

All went smoothy (although the system of road toll fees in Ireland is a whole other story) and we checked in for our flight to Heathrow.  Upon landing in London from Dublin, we navigated our way through the maze of terminals to be told that our plane to Montreal was presently being seen to by technicians due to a problem with the fuel line and wouldn’t be leaving today.  They rerouted us to Ottawa via Toronto, making the day a 26 hour one but hey, that’s life in ‘touring land’  sometimes.   (We did at least have a relaxing time in the American Express lounge.)

To a wonderful tour and as they say in Ireland: "Cheers!"

Entrance to Santry Park, Dublin

Our last performing day started with literally a run in the park: Santry Park, Dublin, across from our Holiday Inn where I had had my first run 20 days ago on day 2 of our tour.

Actually it wasn’t quite a run IN the park it was AROUND the 4 km park since the park didn’t open until 9 a.m. and we had to be on the road to Portlaoise by then.  2 laps and I was well warmed up for our hour’s drive to Portlaoise Library and for our last and 32nd show of our tour.

Tuning up in Portlaoise Library, Co. Laois

A beautiful sunny day, a day that we actually needed our sunglasses for for the first time this tour.  The library was easy to find and it was a wonderful cozy space with a warm welcoming and tea from our contact, Suzanne.

Performance at PortLaoise Library

We had a lovely responsive crowd of parents and children and Lali Morris, programme director for the Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, made a special 2 hour trip from Galway in order to see our show for consideration in particiation in their 2012 October Festival.  It would be delightful indeed to be a part of this festival next year.

The audience at Portlaoise Library  was a perfect group to end our tour with and we hope to return and perform there again next year as part of Ireland’s Children’s Book Festival along with other venues where we performed during this tour.

Young stage-hands at Portlaoise Library

Carroll's souvenir shop in downtown Dublin

From Portlaoise, we headed back to Dublin to return our rented sound equipment and from there, to the heart of downtown Dublin to do some souvenier shopping at Carroll’s.

Downtown Dublin

Downtown Dublin

I was rather overwhelmed by the culture shock of  VERY busy traffic both on the roads and pedestrian wise, but we managed.  After some shopping and a coffee stop, we forged a not-so-hasty retreat as we drove through Dublin’s rush hour traffic to finally arrive at our Holiday Inn.

Holiday Inn, Dublin

ALL of our props and equipment had to be taken in for repacking for our flight home to Canada in the morning.  Getting a full car load and 3 weeks worth of instruments, props, clothes  and equipment was going to be a ‘Houdini’ feat that would require a celebratory dinner and a very good night’s sleep!

Balbriggan Beach, Co. Dublin

We woke to another lovely Irish morning with no rain greeting us so I headed for a run along Balbriggan beach and Arthur for a walk of the town and harbour.  It is a beautiful quaint little seaside town  just an hours drive north of bustling Dublin City.

Balbriggan Harbour

Performance at Balbriggan Library

Audience at Balbriggan Library

Malahide Library, Co. Dublin

There was no time for dilly-dallying afterwards since we had to be performing in Malahide Library (a town 30 minutes away) at noon. Off we scooted only to run into road construction and a detour just outside of Malahide.  We arrived in time for a 1o minute set-up (which usually takes 30 minutes), and then on went the show.

On went the show in Malahide

Malahide Library Show, Rattlin' Bog Song

Our patient audience was as entertained by our speedy set-up as they were by our performance.

Malahide Show, chanter demonstration

View of Malahide from library window

Starbucks in Malahide

Arthur tuning up in the Blanchardstown Library, Co. Dublin

Blanchardstown is quite the very big and busy suburb of Dublin.  The library was in the big Civic Centre which was also part of the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, a huge shopping area  bustling with post-rush hour traffic by 6 p.m.

We performed in a big open space down by the main door and being an evening show, adult passers by were rather amused by our performance and the laughter of the children attending.

Performing with our young helpers at Blanchardstown Library

A quiet morning in downtown Wexford

A lovely, windy run through downtown Wexford and along Wexford Bay to begin the day (no rain though!). Arthur had a power walk and took some great pictures of Wexford Town.

We drove north today being led by Jim Crean in the Wexford Librarys’ van for our 2 library shows  in the  towns of Bunclody and Gorey.

Some of our young audience at Bunclody Library

Greeted at Bunclody library (with tea and friendliness!), we had a lovely group to perform for and it was nice to have time afterwards to do some book signings and chat to a few of our audience members.

Harp demo at Bunclody library, Co. Wexford

Step-dancing and banjo playing at Bunclody Library

Driving on to our afternoon show, it was great to have Jim leading the way for us and it saved us the potential trouble of finding out where were the library was.  (The lovely new building tucked away quite nicely in the centre of town.  We’re still getting used to no street addresses.)

Performing at Gorey Library, Co. Wexford

An enthusiastic afternoon crowd in the Gorey Library of primary students off school for the holiday week plus parents, grandparents and other library goers.

Some young audience members at Gorey Library, Co. Wexford

From Gorey, we headed north towards Dublin to our eventual evening destination of Balbriggan.  We took the 2 hour Coastal Drive scenic route and it was a grey blustery afternoon with huge waves on the sea and miles of beaches and huge sand dunes.  Beautiful.  We were slowed down a bit by Dublin’s late rush hour along the major ring road of the city but soon we landed safely in Balbriggan to find that our Bracken Court Hotel was right beside the library.  Sweet.  No having to second guess where our first show of three tomorrow will be!

City wall ruins in downtown Wexford

A beautiful, warm, sunny and clear morning…we did wonder if we were indeed in Ireland.  Thankfully, yes!  :-)

Another morning run to start the day, this time along the shore of the downtown Wexford Harbour.  The only other signs of life at this early a start were a few sea gulls and some dog walkers.

We were spoiled today with our itinerary of shows as we had a wonderful chauffeur, Theresa Kelly, who kindly ferried us about to all 3 of our library performances in the greater Wexford area; Wexford Town, New Ross, and Enniscorthy.  It is school break so it was quite a mixture of children and families attending these shows.

Performance in Wexford Town Library

Performance at New Ross Library, Co.Wexford

Dunbrody famine ship, New Ross, Co. Wexford

Family show audience at Enniscorthy Library, Co. Wexford

A fun and full day that ended with a late dinner at the Thomas Moore Tavern Bistro for one of our favourite Irish fish delicacies; John Dorey. SOOOO… good!  We had first tried this type of fish on one of our initial trips to Ireland, fresh off of a trawler in the West Cork area.  Highly recommended if you ever come across it anywhere!

An evening walk was definitely in order and Wexford is a lovely town to stroll about in.  All the pedestrian walkways, the narrow streets and a place full of life especially with the Opera festival on makes it a fun place to walk about at any time. We eventually made our way back to our cozy St. George Guesthouse for good night’s sleep to be ‘fresh as daisies’ for two more shows in the greater Wexford area tomorrow.

St. George Guesthouse, Wexford

View of Dungarvan and the Celtic Sea from Lawlors Hotel, Co. Waterford

I began the day with a magnificent run along the Celtic Sea from our hotel in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.  A blustery, grey morning but it was warm and no rain….yet!   Huge waves and spray came up over the stone walls along the shoreline as I ran and it was lovely.  It is a bank holiday throughout Ireland today so its pretty quiet in the town.  A good day for a few hours of a coastal drive and sight seeing en route to Wexford.

Dunville Castle, Co. Wexford

Copper Coast trail drive from Dunvargan to Tramore, Co. Wexford

Travelling along the Copper Coast trail was a very soggy drive. Beautiful scenery none-the-less of a very rough sea, old copper mines and many castles and ruins.  A lot of these roads are designated bike trails the width of one side of a single lane Canadian country road with no shoulders and only moss covered stone walls to tumble into.  Yikes!

Lime Kiln along Copper Coast Trail, Co. Waterford

Amazing Halloween lawn statues, Co. Waterford

Crystal Harp in Waterford Crystal showroom

We came into the city of Waterford and had to have a stop at the Waterford Crystal gallery.  Some magnificent pieces and displays.  A crystal harp, bodhran and fiddle amongst our favourites.

Crystal bodhran and fiddle at the Waterford Crystal showroom

Waterford Chrystal showroom, Waterford

Downtown Wexford

Eventually we arrived in Wexford and made our way to our St. George Guesthouse in the heart of downtown.  It is the week of the Wexford Fringe and Opera Festival and the place was hopping.  We settled in and then went out to explore the town.  The streets and shops were bustling and everything was open, unlike Dunvargan this morning.

View from inside the Annexe Gallery, Wexford

There were a dozen of gallery exhibits that we stopped into, a favourite being an exhibition by Mary Wallace and Gilly Thomas at the Annexe Gallery at the Wexford Centre.  We had a wonderful organic soup and sandwich late lunch in the Arts Centre Cafe.  After spending 3 hours of further walking about (and finally investing in an umbrella!), we returned to our hotel to put our feet up for a bit  before heading out to dinner at the much raved about, Opera Restaurant. Delicious specials and we planned it right…..tonight’s opera started by the time we got there and we had the diningroom mostly to ourselves.

Traditional music session at the Sky and Ground pub, Wexford

Afterwards took in some live traditional music at the Sky and Ground pub down the street so it was a full and fun evening.  We did make it a relatively early night though …tomorrow we have 3 library shows sprinkled throughout Wexford County and must be at our Rathskallion best!

Downtown Wexford at night

Morning performance at the Honey Fitz Theatre

After a late night and a very welcomed extra hours sleep due to the time change, we said goodbye to our hosts Roseanne and Pat and made our way back to the Honey Fitz theatre for a morning performance.  The area church is right next to the theatre so we gave a post-service performance where the community was also invited and everyone mingled and had tea and brack (raisin cake).

We made a stop just past the theatre at historic Lough Gur, a lake with a legend of an ancient buried city being drowned under the water.  It is an area where there has been habitation for over 8,000 years.  We were allowed an early tour of the small museum at the visitors centre and then took an hour long walk around the lake and up on the surrounding hills.  Beautiful.

Lough Gur, Co. Limerick

Resting on stone chair at Lough Gur

Starting our drive south, the rain started, and we eventually took a late lunch break in the town of Lismore, Co. Waterford.

Lismore Castle, Co.Waterford

A delightful homemade lunch in a small cafe where the women who owned it were very friendly and suggested that if we were heading to Dungarvan, a lovely town on the sea, to see about staying at the Lawlor Hotel right downtown and overlooking the harbour.  There was indeed ‘room at the Inn’ and we settled in,  soon afterwards, managing an apparently much needed 3 hour nap!

A post nap tea time and an evening walk about the town and the harbour before having a fine dinner at our hotel restaurant.  Another walk about town afterwards checking the pubs for traditional music but none that we could find.  There certainly was a lot of entertaining Halloween costumes and pub activity though and soon we returned for a nightcap in our hotel pub.

Lawlors Hotel, downtown Dungarvan, Co. Waterford

Tomorrow brings a full day off of performances (only 2 during the entire tour much to Arthur’s horror :-).

Laura and Harry busy at play at our hosts Roseanne and Pat Dunne's house

After a lovely sleep-in for a change, we joined our hosts downstairs for breakfast and a social time.  Soon afterwards, the children and Roseanne were off to an afternoon puppet show which is part of the weekend storytelling festival here in Lough Gur’s Honey Fritz Theatre where both of our two shows this weekend will also be held.

Arthur and I spent the day rehearsing our adult show program, doing a laundry (definitely due!) and drinking tea.   In the late afternoon there was a decision as to whether or not to have a run (since it was a day verging on sunshine) or to have a nap.  The nap won.

Rested up, we had an amazing evening performing at the Honey Fitz theatre in Lough Gur, Co.Limerick.  We were performing guests as part of their annual storytelling festival, along with Scottish storyteller, Little John Nee, and Irish musician, Sean Tyrell.  Also as part of the evening was some poetry reading by a local poet and storytelling presentations from the  primary and junior school winners of the county storytelling contest.  They were delightful!  A fun time was had by all.

The finale at the Honey Fitz Theatre: Arthur, Sean, Wendy, John.

And from Arthur about the evening:

Arthur at the Honey Fitz Theatre

We’ve had the Irish experience that I’ve been waiting for but didn’t really know what it was. We were part of an evening of storytelling, music, poetry and community that included Sean Tyrell, Little John Nee, a local poet and the winners of the local public school story writing contest. It all happened at a small theatre, The Honey Fitz Theatre in Lough Gur, County Limerick, just outside of Limerick City. Our hosts were Roseanne and Pat Dunne. Roseanne is the energy behind the theatre. Wendy contacted her through her mass e-mails to Ireland. Roseanne got back to Wendy and asked what we were doing on the Oct 29th weekend (it was not booked because we wanted to take the time off). Wendy relented and said, “Why not?”, and we were hired to be part of this unique evening as well as to perform Sunday morning for ‘Tea and Brack’ after mass. Roseanne also asked if we could supply our rented sound system as the one they had couldn’t supply enough channels.

Well, it was a fantastic evening. Little John Nee was the master of ceremonies. He’s a one-man ball of energy, wit and talent, offering readings, stories and real Irish experiences through spoken word, ukelele, corn can guitar and wonderful acting. He made us all laugh so hard we were crying! Sean Tyrell has been playing and singing his music for over 40 years. He has 6 recordings and has toured the world, including a couple of gigs at our own Black Sheep in Wakefield, QC. He plays Mandocello and tenor guitar with a style and touch that is simple yet complex in his delivery: a fine collection of traditional songs and poems he’s put to music. The stories from the winners of the school story-writing contest were old hands at the art yet not older than 12: the two youngest were a pair of girls 9 and 11 years old and the ‘senior’ was 12. Their stories confirmed the ability of the Irish to turn a good yarn! The poet was a local gent who gave a great reading in an accent that was beyond our ability to understand most of it!
The audience of about 100 was most appreciative and hospitable. Wendy and I played about 30 minutes of tunes and songs (including my ragtime version of ‘O Canada’ with Ian Tamblyn’s ‘Woodsmoke and Oranges’ as an intro). Little John did about 40 minutes and Sean about 30 as well. It was a fine warm night of everything that you could imagine as Irish.

View from our Lancaster Londe B&B in downtown Cork City

A real treat today for us…especially for Arthur…in that the libraries arranged taxi service for us so that we wouldn’t have to navigate the VERY challenging roads and traffic of the city.

At our morning show at Mayfield Library in the north end of Cork, we had a wonderful group of special needs very attentive teenagers.  Tea of course was offered and since once again it was a day of no rain (knock on wood!), we lingered outside visiting with Mary, the chief librarian as we waited for our taxi to arrived to take us to our next venue.

Performing at Mayfield Library, Cork City

We were then ferried back into the heart of Cork City for our afternoon show at Grand Parade Library.  A packed room of ninety 9 and 10 year olds who seemed quite delighted by our Canadian accents.

Students at Grand Parade Library, Cork City

We navigated our way out of Cork City with not too much trouble and had a stop in the town of Mallow for a late pub lunch en route to the Limerick area.

Downtown Mallow, Co. Limerick

The Honey Fritz Theatre, where we perform tomorrow night, is on the outskirts of Limerick.  We stopped in there to meet our host, Roseanne Dunne, who was also putting us up for 2 nights.  After giving us specific directions to her house, we were greeted by her husband Pat and two children and served a wonderful dinner.

Pat and Roseanne Dunne's house, Co. Limerick

The day and busy week of performances must have caught up with me since I had a 13 hour sleep.  A personal record!

Starting the day with a swim workout

My morning swim practice did indeed happen.  A full hour workout in our Maldron Hotel’s 25m pool….a rarity of length for most hotels.  Afterwards, it was wonderful to see that as daylight eventually appeared, we were to be treated by yet another clear and what turned out to be a ‘rainless’ day.

County Library, Tallaght, Co. Dublin

Our morning and afternoon shows were only a block away in Tallaght’s city square library, located in  huge city block complex that houses the local library, arts centre, theatre and a series of cafes and shops.  By 9:30 a.m. it was a hub of activity.  Once again we given a royal welcome by enthusiastic library staff and audiences of school children and area vistors.

School children at Tallaght County Library performance

Following our shows we were treated to a lovely lunch at the theatre by Una, the head of the library,and afterwards we started our 3 hour mid-afternoon drive to Cork City.

Arthur did a fine job of driving, (as always since he is the designated and registered driver), and we were more than happy to arrive at our accommodations at Lancaster Lodge in downtown Cork City.

Arriving in downtown Cork City

Cork is a  hustling and bustling cosmopolitan city and there was no lack of activity as we arrived in the heart of rush hour. Hooray for our GPS (the British accented voice of Jane) for navigating us to our downtown hotel destination with only a street name and not a specific address being typed in.  Technology is indeed amazing!

A night walk in downtown Cork City

On arriving,  we unpacked and chilled out for a bit, catching up on emails etc. then ventured out for a late dinner and walk about the downtown.  Things were hopping in the shops, restaurants and bars at 9:30 p.m. and apparently Halloween comes early here with many dressed up in costume on a busy Thursday night. Quite entertaining.

Back to the hotel for tea and last minute catch ups for the day.  Tomorrow will be a treat as we are being transported via taxis to our 2 performances and lucky Arthur, he doesn’t have to drive for a change!