Awesome, beautiful tunes at this festival. It was the first time ever in which I was able to sit for lengths of time and play tunes on the whistle. Got to know new friends Ashling and Aileen really well and I'm thrilled to have been at that festival, which was totally different from any before. This is absolutely a record low for # of pictures taken in a week! Wowza! Back to Galway to rest a bit and then headed to Tullamore tomorrow afternoon for the All-Ireland... excited. smiles. [View Full Entry]

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... (con't from last blog) So, we arrived to the aftermaths of some pretty bad flooding, but to lost of smiling faces! It was being held at the Celbridge GAA pitch and it has been done up so nicely! Cool thing... brought my flash with me and was totally in my element. LOVE these picts as it totally captures the moods, movement, laughter, etc.! Yay! What a blast and happy happy happy birthday to Sean and Gearoid! Glad I could be there to celebrate! The next morning we awoke in our B&B in quite rare form, but Mir and Elaine and [View Full Entry]

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Hey all! Wonderful weekend here I just had. I returned back from the World Fleadh to Galway to rest. I was COMPLETELY exhausted in so many different ways. So, it was good to do that for a day or two. Then, Friday, Grainne and I headed up to the edge of Connemara for a day of hiking. It was really great. It was very boggy and brown which made for some interesting footing and path creation adventures. It might not look so hard, but it actually was... for me anyway! But it was a blast and it was really nice to [View Full Entry]

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Alrighty... so on thursday I got on the train and headed to Portlaoise. The world Fleadh was on there and Lunasa was the opening act on Thursday night. I made it in in a frenzy JUST before the doors were about to shut. The show was beautiful and we went out afterwards and EVERYONE was there. It was a blast, but I was not in good form. Definitely completely worn out and exhausted. The plan was to return back to Galway with Elaine and sleep it off for the day... then returning back the following day to Portlaoise (pronounced Port-Leesh by [View Full Entry]

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Hey all! Ok... so got a little behind on blogs and picts, but am catching up now so! After Drumbshambo I hitched my way back to galway. Oh what a great day this was. First, I was in a car with a guy called Tom who was the nicest nicest nicest father of 3... he was headed up to Donegal to spend the weekend with his wife and family who were already there. He was so great! He dropped me just a little ways out of Tubbercurry where I caught another lift from two really nice men who were headed to [View Full Entry]

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Ah gosh I don't know where to begin... Well sure... Ill start from the beginning then! What an absolutely AMAZING week. I left Galway Sunday and Siobhan and Tommy picked me up in Longford after taking the bus. We arrived into Drumbshambo and were quickly (kinda) able to get back into the swing of things. It was like we never left! So... who was there. At the campsite it was Elaine, myself, Siobhan & Tommy, Tom & Judy (Tommy's parents), The Finns (Tom & Mary and kids). At the house there was Sean, Gearoid, Corman, Barry, Una and Kira (Barry & [View Full Entry]

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Hey all! Thursday I headed down to Kilrush. And so I know I’ve been vague… sorry about that. Friends, Family… Meet Aidan. There. :) Aidan and I spent the misty afternoon walking through some pretty cool woods and takin’ pictures... Thursday evening his friends were putting on a fundraiser in Kilkee... such a blast... great music (different, drum, bass, stuff that keeps you movin')... great time. Friday, Polo (Aidan's close friend) and I went out to see the cliffs at Kilkee. We walked along these areas called Pollockholes... When the tide is out, you can wa [View Full Entry]

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What a wild wild wonderful whistful Willy Week. Honestly... really can't think of a better time I've had in miltown! Elaine and I drove from Galway on Saturday and set up camp at this great new place that Siobhan and friends arranged for all of us. It was in a camper park but there was a small little patch of grass on which they let a few of us pitch. It was so nice because it was safe and we didn't have to worry... it was sheltered from most people and the wild wind that blows in through Miltown. I won't [View Full Entry]

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So... right off of Willy Clancy, Miriam and I went to Clonmel... where her and Siobhan live. There I met her parents and did some laundry and hung up my dent to dry out. It was awesome to be in a house again... and it was awesome to be in their house! Mir and I went to the Julie Fowlis gig where Martin was playin' bodhran and Tony Byrne was on guitar... super excited. They were opening for Danu. Yay! It was so awesome. We drank hot drinks and sat outside and watched the show. The mountains were awesome behind the [View Full Entry]

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June 28 - Ooooops! Not quite ready... decided to leave to NYC on Sunday instead! June 29 - Without the help of Mom & Charlie I Would have NEVER Departed for NYC on time! I had a stop in Utica to see my awesome, wonderful, bestest ever pooch, Timber. We had a nice walk and had some fun for a little while! Arrived in NYC, returned the rental car and headed to O'Neill's for the session. It was so great to see everyone. I even played a tune on the fabulous Darren's banjo. Yay. It was so great. We headed over [View Full Entry]

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