As you can see I am becoming very prolific.   Just finished Danny’s Blog yesterday and here I am off again.   I arrived home on April 9,  to prepare for my first tour of the year with Chuck Brodsky.   As most people know by now,  there is a volcano eruption in Iceland which is causing chaos throughout Europe.   Well,  because of that my first tour was cancelled.  It was a pretty traumatic time for all involved in the tour and my heart goes out to all our travellers who were looking forward to coming to Ireland.   I would like to thank Chuck for his patience and especially for his understanding of the whole situation.   We have now re-scheduled the tour for August 31,  but obviously most of the people cannot re-schedule their time off,  but we are on anyway.   Up to date we have 10 people,  so that’s good.   If anyone is interested in coming,  I can assure you it will be a very special tour.

I have been very busy since I arrived home and at the moment my daughter is home from Switzerland with her son and husband.   I spent a couple of days with them and will try try to put up a photo taken a couple of days ago at Bunratty folk park. The little one on the right is my grandaughter.   I will be telling you about her later.   Another highlight was an afternoon spent with PJ Curtis on the Burren.   We went to look for the famous Blue Gentian.   this is a wonderful flower that blooms just for 4 weeks each year.   Again,  I will try to put up another photo.  I have never seen such a vivid blue.  It’s amazing.

Well now to my Cd Release.   I can tell you firstly,  that it with much trepidation that I am doing this.   We are launching it at McDermott’s Pub in Doolin on Tuesday, May 18 and ALL ARE WELCOME.    The music will be provided by Foolin’ in Doolin,  who will be joined by Eimear and Tara Howley,  who in my opinion are two of the most talented young musicians in Ireland today.  Geraldine MacGowan will also be there and  Donogh Hennessy will also grace us with his presence,  as will Don Stiffe from Galway.  OF COURSE Johnsmith will be there and I am hoping that John Spillane can also get to Doolin for the night.   It promises to be a great night.  Patsy McDermott is making a great fuss of the whole thing.  I am very honoured that Foolin’ in Doolin,  Cyril O’Donoghue, Geraldine MacGowan, Don Stiffe and Johnsmith agreed to be part of my album and of course I am indebted to Donogh Hennessy for producing my songs on the album and also for his wonderful playing.

All proceeds from the Cd will be going to charity.   There are two charities involved.  One is Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin,  Dublin.   This is a children’s hospital who need funds so very badly.  My grandaughter had open heart surgery there when she was only 7 days old and now is like any other healthy 9 year old child.   They do wonderful work and I am very happy to be doing a little bit for them.   The other charity is an American based one called The Peanut Butter Foundation,  who do wonderful work for starving children especially in Malawi and Sierra Leone.   A friend of mine who toured with us a couple of times showed me a DVD of her/their work in Sierra Leone and it nearly broke my heart to see the starving children,  but this peanut butter paste that has been devised has saved countless children’s lives.   The proceeds will be divided 50/50 between the two.

I will be selling the Cd to my tour groups this year,  but would love if people from my past tours contacted me about the CD.  I am not sure how I will ship it to USA yet, but I am working on the procedure at the moment.  Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The price in Ireland will be €15 per copy and in USA it will be $20, including post and packaging.

I am now getting ready to meet Johnsmith’s group for our tour which starts on Wednesday.   We have had a pretty worrying few days due to the ash again,  but it now seems that flights will get to Ireland,  although some of them may overfly Shannon to Dublin,  but we will get over that.   It is a very exciting time for me.  I do love this time of the year and the start of my tours.   I am indeed so lucky to be involved in all this.  I consider myself so blessed.

I will write a report on our first tour and of course the CD Launch in a couple of weeks.