Just saying. This is day 17 in the country and the warmest temperature so far was 17C.
Oh yeah, and it’s raining. But to be fair yesterday on the summer solstice, midsummers, it had been dreadfully rainy. A solstice with no sun! But by 4:00 the clouds cleared and we had sunshine for the longest day of the year. An interesting coincidence is the Sun set at 22:07 in both Galway and Edmonton.
Sitting at a table outside on a pedestrian street in Galway city I can hear a young lady busking. Concertina and whistle. Very competent. She has wavy red hair. She could represent Ireland on a tourism poster. A young child stops to dance. Then her father gives her a coin for the case. 
She skips to the case then hops back. Smiles all around.
I took Bus Eireann from Galway City to Letterkenny Co. Donegal. You’ll be happy to hear that with no stops the 248km trip was only 30 minutes shorter that the flight from Montreal to Dublin! (5’40” vs 6’10”). But I’m here reacquainting with Edmonton friend Cathal Tunney and his wife Mary. Had a lovely dinner then picked up his brother Paddy and made the hour trek to Bunbeg at Huidi Beag’s pub. This is in my top 5 best sessions in Ireland, if not the best. Great mix of younger and older musicians. Host with the most Hugh Gallagher (gal-a-her) would jump from fiddle, piano or serving drinks.
Brothers Cathal& Paddy Tunney are great fiddlers and singers. Other musicians included well known harpist Janet Harbison -https://www.janetharbisonharp.com. She was very good!
Gearóid Ó Maonaigh (Mooney) played his beautiful Guild guitar. He is the brother of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (fiddle and vocals) of Altan and father of Ciarán Ó Maonaigh (fiddle) former young traditional musician of the year.
Young Cillian was ripping up the box.
And young Molly Mooney of the Altan lineage was playing every tune. Played til 1 than an hour home.
These are tunes that are currently popular in Ireland (I’ve played at least one time) * denotes tunes played at Jay’s Irish Session
…and MANY MANY more! I will add to this list incrementally
Neactain’s the heart of Galway City
Texas Ollie
Sunset Donegal 22:05 
The Moon over Loch Ottalia 
Creamy AltlaticThe first week has flown by! Galway City, SW Donegal for 3 nights, now back in Galway.
Met up with old friend, fiddler and fisherman Adrian Murray. Adrian had bought 2 of my CD’s and was a big fan of Georgia’s Canada Day Waltz. He had me play it at every session and it went over very well.
here’s the link (at long last- it was nowhere to be found).
Georgia’s Canada Day Waltz -1994
For the record: there are more than 3 musicians in Galway City. But if you’re going to play at the Big 3 (Taaffe’s Tigh Coili’s and the Crane) you’ll often be playing with Johnny O’Halloran, Anders Trajberg and Declan Corey.
We attended the most joyous Sunday service at Glide Church. Fabulous choir with great musicians. Also it is a beautiful sunny day. Then coffee and good bye to Harry & Jan.
After all those miles yesterday I kept a low profile; breakfast in the room, enjoy the outdoor pool, play some tunes & listen to Solas interviewed o KALW radio. Teresa was out checking out the Ferry Building. And just by chance she was on the same bus that Harry & Jan were boarding to come meet us at our hotel.
Off to Miss Saigon for a delicious Vietnamese meal. T & I had planned to see Solas, the great Irish-American quintet. I count 2 of the members as friends whom I met and jammed with in Ireland; Noriana Kennedy on vocals and banjo & Mick McCauley on box & vocals. What a stellar show! Great work lads! They are promoting their new CD, Shamrock City, a concept album re telling the story of Seamus’ great-great uncle who was murdered in Butte Montana in 1916. Great cd and well written. But like Kevin at the Sunday night session I am an instrumentalist and always favour tunes over songs. The tunes they did play were exceptional. At one point Jan whispered in my ear “does a band ever get better than this?” Indeed!
Carmel beach: check, drive back to San Francisco: check, get a ticket in Pacifica for crossing the double line: check, get the car back 30 minutes late: check, go see the Vivian Maier photo exhibit at 49 Geary: check. Vivian Maier died in 2009. She lived most of her life in Chicago, worked as a nanny, and on her days off would stroll the streets capturing scenes interesting for their emotional content, composition, lighting, historical significance etc. All in stunning B&W. A true artist unknown in her lifetime. It wasn’t until a box of her negatives were purchased at a garage sale that she was discovered. We saw 24 of her shots printed in a silver-bromide process and yours for $2400-$3500. Beautiful! Teresa liked it.
Then to the famous Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood; straight uphill. We ate at the magnolia, sharing a table with Diane a college cleric from Cleveland who had many opinions on everything. “Where is Rick Mercer when you need him?” I was thinking. She said numerous things that made me realize Canada is a better country to live in than the States. The number one poignant statement though: “we don’t have any tax money for medicine or schools; it all goes to the military. Welcome to America.” Ouch!
Afterwards we found a jazz bar, the Cafe Deluxe, on Haight. Great little jazz trio playing in there featuring Michael parsons piano. Vinnie rodriguez drums. jazz. Bass Adam Gay.