This is my last blog from the USA,  before I go home for Christmas.   I leave on Tuesday next and have a pretty brutal journey home.   I fly from Tampa to Chicago at 8.00am.   From Chicago to Washington DC.   Then onto New York before crossing the Atlantic to Dublin, (I arrive at 8.45am the following morning)   I then have to cross Dublin before getting a train to Limerick.   I will be lucky if my journey is completed in 30 hours.   Some of this was self inflicted but our National Airline,  Aer Lingus have been messing with Shannon  flights for the past 4/5 years,  especially in the Winter months.   When I come back on January 16,  I will be flying direct from Dublin to Orlando, Florida.

I am writing again from Sarasota,  where we are in a cold snap,  approx 10 – 15f colder than normal.  It is 62f today and it feels cold to me.  I do know that it is very cold all around the USA,  but…………………..I have been informed that there may be a White Christmas in Ireland.   I have never experienced this,  so it may be nice for the children.    It was –7c last night in some parts of Ireland,  so I am not looking forward  to the cold there.   I am looking forward to seeing my son and his family and seeing my daughter and her family in Switzerland in early January.  It will be really cold there also.

I was very fortunate a couple of weeks ago to see the great Ralph Stanley in concert at a great venue in Tampa,  called Skippers Smokehouse.   It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to.   Sometimes ,  when you see a so called LEGEND,  you can be disappointed  but not with this LEGEND.   His band were wonderful,  he can sing the highest of harmonies and plays a mean banjo also.   The crowd were also so good.   A night I will never forget.   I hope to post some photos in my next blog.   I would love to do it now,  but I am a computer idiot.

I went to Texas a week last Monday to do a tour with my buddy Butch Morgan,  who is coming to Ireland with me on August 24th., 2010.   We had a wonderful tour in East and Northeast Texas.   He played San Antonio,  Navasota and Winnsboro.   He is a really great guy,  but I was more than impressed with his songs.  He has written some great songs.  If you hear of him performing in your area,  DO NOT MISS HIM.   I am so much looking forward to touring with him.   We are more than half-way booked on his tour,  so I am very optimistic that it will be a full tour.   Our tours are filling now and it looks like 8/9 are fully booked and 3/4 more have 4/6 places left,  so I am really pleased with these figures,  so early.   I cannot leave the Texas segment of my blog without commenting on the Texas people.   I have seldom met nicer,  more hospitable people.   I think that Texas “small town people” are very special.   I also spent some time in Austin with Tom and Vicki Belanoski.   Vicki is working with me on the John Spillane Tour.   We had hoped to have finalised all dates,  but we will need a couple of more weeks.   I had a really nice time there and especially enjoyed the UT tour which I got from Tom who is a Dean of Studies, (I think) there.   It was a lovely experience to walk through the campus.   The weather in Texas was like Ireland,  cold,  windy and raining.   A lot of Northeast Texas is under floods,  so I really felt at home.

I heard some wonderful music last night in San Antonio,  Florida.   There was a family group called Jubal’s Kin performing there.   They do Old Time,  Folk,  Gospel etc., but just remember you heard about them from me.   THEY ARE GOING TO MAKE IT.   I am going to see Jack Williams tonight and I am also looking forward to that.

As I prepare to go home,  I have some wonderful memories of my trip here.   I tried to pick out a highlight,  but it was just impossible.   I have driven about 12,000 miles,  visited 27 states,  plus Canada,  so you can see that I was very busy.   I will try to relax a little more when I come back but I am not sure…………………

That’s all for now…………………………..May I wish everybody a VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR