Just returned from a nice ten days touring the Irish countryside with my family. In the nearly eight years I've worked for IONA, this is the first time I ever went to Ireland for something other than business. We first attended the wedding of our friends Brian and Nataly, which was most excellent. We then drove around to see places like Connemara and the Ring of Kerry, and went to meet my Irish relatives in County Cork for the first time (both my maternal grandparents came from there). Nice people! The weather most of the time was surprisingly good, with lots of sunshine and warmth.
We finished with a day and a half in Dublin, where among other things I visited my favorite Dublin pub, Toners, and also sat in on harmonica with "The Business," a great Dublin blues band that plays every Wednesday night at Bruxelle's (on Harry St. just off Grafton St.). Some of my IONA colleagues came down to listen -- thanks guys! The only drawback was that I couldn't hear myself at all (no monitor), and so I had to play by feel, which meant keeping it conservative. It was fun nevertheless, and getting to watch Pat, their great guitarist, really close up was most excellent. I can't wait to join them again on my next trip.