Archive for July, 2017

O’Flaherty’s Again

Monday, July 17th, 2017

Maybe 23 years ago (or more, I don’t remember):

Left Handed banjo Jim in front of O’Flaherty’s Pub in Dingle, Ireland

We were staying at a B&B in the town of Dingle, Ireland and were with friends Pietro and Allison at the time. We stopped in the pub called O’Flaherty’s and had a great evening jamming with the local musicians including two young lads who both played the Irish bagpipes (known as Uilleann pipes) and although the boys spoke only “The Irish”, we were able to create some entertaining music. I drank much of the Guinness that night provided free via the patrons. The banjo I am holding is not the RAGBRAI banjo as it would be years before I took to riding along the cornfields of Iowa. This was the banjo that I made from a “Baseball bat Blank”, I recognized it from the white plastic peg head. I made this banjo when I worked at Chicago Extruded Metals Company maybe around 1975?

Jim and the RAGBRAI banjo in front of the same pub!

Same sign, maybe a new paint job, but it’s still there! We were staying in Kilarney so we couldn’t stay for the evening. I wanted to just get the above photo-op so when we parked in town I asked a local for directions to O’Flaherty’s. He (the local) said I should go to some other pub because this one was too commercial, but I insisted that this was a reunion of sorts so I thanked him for the directions and we found the place maybe 4 blocks from where we parked.

When I walked in, the place seemed much smaller than I remember but perhaps it was because there were video cameras, lights and microphones everywhere! I think maybe they were going to film a commercial or something on the day of my visit. Oh well, at least I got a picture of me in front of the place.

Some Irish Travel Pix

Sunday, July 16th, 2017

I may put some comments on these… If I have time.

Ross and Innisfallen

Friday, July 14th, 2017

In Kilarney:

Ross castle

There’s this big national park in Kilarney and on this day of our visit we had the most beautiful weather. And while this was the high tourist season, there were not that many people in the park.

Boat out to the island

OK, see there are some tourists, but not many of them took the boat out to the island.

Banjo on the island

At the abbey ruins on Innisfallen Island it seems that we had the whole place to ourselves. We took some paths around the island and finally saw some other people who were lost (sort of like us).

Queen Mary Too

Thursday, July 6th, 2017

Getting to ‘Yerp, not on a plane:

Why not take an ocean voyage?

On one of those stuffy UK ships named after royalty. Our plan was to meet Jeanne’s cousin someplace in Ireland. We thought of doing a cruise maybe to Norway but instead chose an Atlantic crossing: Actually a bit cheaper (maybe) than flying, More legroom too!

Formal nights

Never get to wear the tux in Colorado. On the ship there were three formal nights so I got to loose 25 lbs before sailing so I could fit in. The tux.

Ragbrai Banjo was there

Note that I am not in Iowa; I played on the ship on “12 Forward” in an area protected from the wind. I also played at the ship’s talent night which included ballroom dancers, saxophone player, a few singers and a Willie Nelson impersonator.

Jeanne got to color!

For most of the crossing the weather was cool and foggy. The thick fog prevented us from seeing much out of our balcony stateroom and the cool temps kept us away from the pools. The entertainment on board was wonderful however.

QE2 Music

The was in the “Queen’s Room” but there was an entertainment stage with high tech features including an area for doing a “Dome Show” like at our museum back in FoCo.

High Tea

With all the entertainment on board, we usually skipped lunch and instead headed for the “High Tea” . The crossing took 7 days from New York to Southampton, UK.