For those of you who don’t know who that is — she is only the best singer/songwriter in America today — it’s Kate Campbell.  She is a mix of folk, blues, gospel and country and I love all her music.  Back in October, Mom discovered that she was hosting a trip to Ireland.  Being the generous woman that my mamasita is, she paid for us both to go on the trip.  Chuck has a huge motorcycle trip coming up in August and couldn’t afford to take the time off. It was a small group (only 19 of us including Kate) and it was primarily a music/cultural tour.  We would do touristy things during the day and listen to some of the best musicians in all of Ireland at night.  Most nights we wouldn’t get in before 12:30am but luckily our tour guide (Tom Pigott) made sure that our days didn’t start until 10am.

Anywhoo, on Tuesday, our tour bus picked us up and we headed to the little town of Adare for a meet and greet.

We didn’t get to spend a lot of time in this quaint town — complete with thatched houses — but we did hang out in a park for a little bit and introduce ourselves to each other.  I love that Ireland has a Tidy Towns Competition.  Every time I look at this picture I can’t help but giggle.  I think it might have something to do with the fact that nothing in my life is tidy.  😀

During the short time I spent in Ireland, I learned quite a few important things.  A. English is the Language of the Oppressor and B. The Irish discovered everything including America (look up St. Brendan), bagpipes and triple distilled whiskey making it the smoothest in the world.

Crazy Kate loves Middleton Whiskey (the super high dollar stuff produced by Jameson’s.)  Our second stop that day was the Old Jameson Distillery.  It was definitely a tourist stop — lots of Germans and French — but the food was delicious and the whiskey was pretty darn good.  The Irish drink their whiskey straight up — no ice, no nothing.  I had some ginger ale added to my sample and it was superb.  I have a whole new appreciation for the commercials back in the states — you know, the ones that say, “everyone was in attendance (to the funeral) including John Jameson.”  Tee hee.

Oh yeah, and did you know that Henry Ford was born in Ireland?  Hence the silver Model T.  Kate ran out of the bus and we all snapped a shot of her.

For the next three evenings, we were hunkering down in the lovely town of Skibbereen (located in County Cork) and staying at the very nice West Cork Hotel.  The hotel was perfect except that the room was warm when we first checked in.  Silly us called down to the front desk to see where the air conditioning was.  FYI: There is no ac in Ireland.  Once the front desk gal showed us how to open the windows, the temp was perfect.  Our room overlooked the river and the beds were really comfortable.  I definitely want to go back and bring Chucklebutt.

This is a bridge over the river connecting the hotel to —

— the residence of the man who used to own the hotel.   He built it many years ago, and while he is now retired, he still comes over every morning and every evening to “check on things.”

That first night in Skibbereen, we all ate at the hotel courtesy of Enchanted Way (Tom’s touring company.)  After dinner we were treated to a private concert by Don Stiffe.  He too is an incredible singer/songwriter.  It was amazing how intimate the concert was.  I don’t think I have ever been to a smaller concert.  It was a real treat.  If I had Chucklebutt with me (Mr. Concert Photographer) my pics would have been better in such low lighting.  As is, I feel I got a pretty descent shot.

I bought his CD and one of his songs really resonated with me — The Returning.  Check it out.