Once again my blog is being done from a Dublin hotel room. It seems a long time since July 9. I have done 2 tours with Johnsmith, one with Peter Pavarini and I am half way through a tour with Anne Feeney.
I am feeling a little tired now as I cannot remember having a day off since early May. I have to pace myself now, but I am not complaining. We had a long journey up from Galway today and we were supposed to go into Dublin tonight, but to my great delight, everyone seemed to be tired. I now have a few hours to catch up on emails and some sleep. We are going to The Abbey Theatre tomorrow night, so I am really looking forward to that.
My first tour in July was with Johnsmith to Dingle, (Ballyferriter) Doolin and Clifden. It was a wonderful tour but we found music pretty hard to tie down in Clifden, but I do know that our daytime activities more than made up for it. This was a really wonderful group. We laughed our way through the 10 days and then it was on to Donegal, again with John. The weather was not very kind to us on this trip, but we had a plan B prepaired every day. Our 2 big daytime festival days were cancelled due to heavy rain, so that was dissapointing but the evening concert at Ballyshannon with Altan was tremendous. My thanks to Dave, Dave and Liz for all the music and songs. You were great guys.
With little or no rest we went headlong into a tour with Peter Pavarini and friends. This was new , as we organised golf, for the first time. It worked out great though. Peter and his friends did 2 nice gigs at Shanley’s, Clonakilty and The Brog Inn, Tralee. Brendan, (Stoney) Wall joined us for this one and I hope it will be his first of many. He did a great job. Tom Ruegger did some wonderful cartoons for us. He won 14 Grammys for his work, so I will be very proud to put some of them on my Web Site. I have got to learn how to do it right away. He was great and his wife Annie told us that we had to say that she was great also. Marc, another very special guest pulled some strings for me and got me a new Munster Jersey 2 weeks before they were due in to the shops. Thanks a million Marc. They were a very diverse, but wonderful group.
I am now in the middle of an Anne Feeney Tour and I have just one more to do this year, with Johnsmith, starting on September 16.
I then head for USA on October 9. I cannot wait to get away from the rain and experience a little sun on my back.
I couple of very good and positive things have happened to me within the last week or so. I have very good and positive feelings about business and life in general is very good for me at this time. LONG MAY IT LAST
Tom,
Annie and I loved our trip to Ireland. You, Brendan, Paddy Downes and the entire busload of Ohioans and Floridians made the journey fun, exciting and unforgettable. Thanks so much for showing us around your beloved and wonderful country…we will return!
Tom Ruegger
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August 29th, 2009 | #
Tom – You will probably receive way too many e-mails from me – I wrote one on the Enchanted Tours website. I basically wanted to let you know that if you can fit two fun-loving Southern souls into a tour in 2010, we’d love to go on a tour with you. I know you are either in the middle of a tour now or close to starting one. I explained how we met up with you a couple of years ago indirectly and were helped so much when we were caught in a pickle. My grandmother, whom I never got to meet because she died in childbirth when my Dad was 8, came from Ireland. The older I get, the more the Irish comes out in me, and I would like to think that is good! I am a singer also and great lover of music, so your tours have always appealed to me. Please, if you have time, take a look at our website. We are very involved with our Labs, and now I am venturing into some nursing homes and the VA hospital with my therapy dog as well as singing and playing the autoharp. What an awesome experience for these folks. They are giving so much back to me and they love my Lab. Anyway, take care of yourself, give yourself time to rest, and when you get a chance, please e-mail us back. We are not in any hurry to hear back from you …. trust me … living and working on the farm teaches patience …. calves birth when it is time … we can’t control the weather when the hay needs to be baled, etc. etc. We are truly reminded that we are held in the palm of the Lord’s hands. Take care, Neil and Anne
September 2nd, 2009 | #