On Thursday night an unruly herd of 12 neo Celtic/Appalachian Old-Time musicians/cloggers from the Shepherdstown, West Virginia area, depart Baltimore for an unsuspecting and still sleeping Emerald Isle, to descend from the skies of Shannon on Friday the 17th for 14-18 days of untrammeled merriment. 'Tis the Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel we're bound for; the good, the bad, and the merely indiscrete. We come from the banks of the Potomac, Shennandoah and Antietem, to the banks of the Shannon and Liffey.

As mentioned in earlier posts, we plan to stay in Doolin for three nights, Listowel for the six days of the Fleadh and the Scoil Eigse, then to Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford for four days, with side trips in all directions. The other will fly back while I head north to do the Ulster-American Park in Omagh, then the Causeway Coast around to Larne, a side trip to Newtonards, then a race to catch the plane out of Dublin on the 2nd of September.

We have three of our group in this year's Competitions; Arjuna in Flute and Whistle, Emily in Banjo, and Carl in Mandolin. (Arjuna took First in Miscellaneous (Hammered Dulcimer) in '98 and Emily got Third in Banjo last year, so we've a record to keep).

Since I have no guarantee of computer access, I may not be able to post anything until I get back, but the lot of us want to make this some form of an annual debasement, so I will be making notes on the pubs, and sessions we play in, to create the All Irish Descendant Pub Crawl List (a pixilated body of work, juxtaposing the products of sobriety and memory into a cogent written form).

Carol C will have some idea where we are (if only from the distant glow on the horizon) so she might post to this thread, (or ignore it altogether).

I was hoping to hear from Sabine prior to leaving, to see how her trip and playing attempts went, but alas, she was had on the first date, and was never seen again.

And while we up-river 'catters tend to drive the real estate values down where ever we are, we are a friendly bunch, with most of us housebroken, who can understand English if you speak real slow, and pronounce the big words carefully.

And to those Irish 'catters looking for a pint and a chuckle, say Hi!