Last Monday, June 13, marked the “only-two-weeks-left” point in our experience and everything began to speed up. We were so busy that I didn’t have the time to write a single blog post. So, here it is Sunday, the 19th, and I’m going to spend the day catching up on laundry, paper grading, and blog posts. Here’s an overview of last week just to give you an idea of all we did:
Monday: In class the students told their weekend stories, prepared to tell their second traditional story and made St. Brigid’s crosses from multi-colored chenille pipe cleaners. After class, I went to the Marks and Spencer’s and to the Tesco to shop for food for my week of visitors and house guests. That night, Liz Weir and Winfried Dulish arrived from Cape Clear and then brought their Chinese take-out over to eat while we visited.
Tuesday: In class we heard 16 of the 20 stories of the second round. Immediately after class I drove to Tullamore to tell stories to the fourth class at Scoil Mhuire. The girls were great and the principal, Fionnuala Doheny, gave me the lovely commemorative Moneygall wine glass pictured at the top of the post. That night, I made a big pot of potato and leek soup and fed Liz and Winfried, Danielle Allison, Chas Moore, and Simone Schummellfeder from Germany who is telling as part of the Three Rivers Festival.
Wednesday: Liz Weir told in class, and afterwards went to tell in the Ballinasloe Library. Eddie Lenihan arrived in Ballinasloe at 5:00 and then Mary Dillon, librarian at the Ballinasloe and Danielle’s partner in running the festival, brought him and Simone to my apartment for dinner. At dinner we had all of them, plus me, Liz Weir, Danielle, and Chas. We then went to the Sheraton for our big concert. Eddie and Liz told, I was the emcee, and Chas’s musicians provided musical interludes. After the concert, most of the students and Eddie, Danielle, Chas, and I went to The Olive for their Wednesday night session. On the way home we saw the full moon and I had to drive down to the Shannon to see it reflected in the water. Beautiful!
Thursday: Eddie Lenihan came to my class to tell and Liz went to the Athlone Library. Danielle took Eddie to Ballinasloe, and after coffee with Mary Booth, I went to St. Brigid’s school in Moate to tell stories to Rachel Concannon’s (Mary and Frank’s daughter) class of senior infants, plus the junior infants, too. Rachel came up with me to tell Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle to her classmates, and I think she was overall pleased with the experience, although she did say I could have told “The Five Sisters.” Another girl in her class came up afterwards and informed me I’d told the story of the “The Dark, Dark Night” wrong. She quickly, and quite competently, told me her version. It was good and I told her so. She replied, “Come back again and I’ll tell you another one!”
The weather was crazy on Thursday. At 8:30 it was sunny and sandal worthy. By noon it was freezing and chips of hail were hitting the window. Fortunately, I had a few minutes before driving to Moate to get back to my apartment and get the boots on! That afternoon I took a nap while Liz did an interview with Mairead O’Connor at the Athlone Community Radio. That night the weather was beautiful again and Liz and Danielle and I were dining by the window at the Olive Grove, watching the sun and clouds on the Shannon. We stopped in at Flannery’s for a quick one, and then Danielle took us back to the apartment.
Friday: Liz left for Cushendall, after morning sessions in Birr and Clara. She took Laura Rutherford and Andrea Robinson with her. We all went to Trim Castle in the pouring rain. That afternoon I made the final preparations for my workshop in Dublin the next day. That night Chas Moore, Sarah Stevens, Michelle Fish, Lizzy Murphy and I drove to Ballynacargy to see Clare Murphy and Gombeens perform. We then dropped Chas and Lizzy at Grogan's in Glasson so they could join in an engagement party session that they’d been invited to.
Saturday: Bob Farwell, Danielle Allison, and I caught the 7:30 a.m. train to Dublin. Bob was meeting his friend John Ahearn. Danielle and I were picked up by Jack Lynch and driven to The Flying Book Club on Leeson Street so I could conduct a workshop, The Architecture of the Anecdote, for the Storytellers of Ireland. Dublin was sunny and the day was great. Danielle and I caught the 5:10 train back to Athlone and I was back in my apartment eating left-over lasagna by 7:30 p.m.
Whew!
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