Huge update...sorry for the delays!!!

ADDED to June 15th, 2010- We encountered a funny event on our way back to Athlone after the Wicklow mountains. While on the highway we encountered massive traffic. At some point two small horses trotted down the median. Eventually some of the Fools got out of the car and investigated. A traveling circus had lost several horses that shut down the interstate for about an hour. Laura and Ann took the time to rehearse Matt & Ben in the middle of the road while Irish people looked on.

June 16th, 2010- The ladies head out to Dublin for a very cool workshop working with women in recovery. It was a tremendous success. Lou and Austin kicked around Athlone for the day, checking out the Passionfruit theatre for set pieces and props for the performance of Brilliant Traces.

June 17th, 2010- Lou and Austin join up with the ladies at Crumlin's Hospital For Sick Children in Dublin, where they performed the children's show. The staff at Crumlin was amazing! The families and children were very appreciative of our performance. That night the couples stayed in Dublin for date night, while Rita and Elaine went back to Athlone.

June 18th, 2010- The Fools headed to Roscommon to visit Rita's cousin Lorianne. The Silver Eel is owned by Lorianne's husband, Colin. We stayed with them and were to perform our children's show on Sunday. That night we arrived to dinner and drinks in their amazing house in the beautiful countryside. That night we had drinks at the Eel and procured a boat ride on the river the next day.

June 19th, 2010- Lorianne took the crew to Carrick-On-Shannon for some shopping and sightseeing. We made our way back to the Silver Eel for a boat ride. Ann was surprised, she loves boats and was not present during the arranging of the boat ride. Her joyous squeal was classic. After a boat ride, Lou made dinner, though not without the help of Ann, Austin and Laura.

(Lou giving the local dog near the Silver Eel a pet)

June 20th, 2010- Happy Father's day! The Fool's performed the children's show! Roscommon must put something in the water, because those kids are cute, amazingly, adorably cute. An evening of relaxing and an early birthday cake for Colin.

June 21st, 2010- The Fools headed out to Athlone. Back at homebase for resting and recovery.

June 22nd, 2010- The Fools went to Battery Heights for a challenging workshop with the area youth. Resistant to structure and at times unwilling to listen, the kids proved a challenge. Though some were clearly affected. Three of the young ladies in the workshop did show up the next day at our performance at the Passionfruit.

June 23rd, 2010- The Fools performed to a full house at the Passionfruit for their children's performance! The kids were a blast! That night Lou and Rita performed Brilliant Traces for a teary eyed audience. Pats on the back.

June 24th, 2010- The Fools headed up north! Let's talk about the difference between the north and the south in Ireland. Landscape is markedly different. They use the pound instead of the euro. They stop having coherent signage in towns in the north. Needless to say, the navigator (also the blogger) got turned around. We did make it to the Barn eventually. Absolutely stunning. The view from the front door was breathtaking.

June 25th, 2010- The Fools perform the children's show in Glenarm, off the coast. The principal was extraordinary. There is no shortage for friendly helpful people in this country. Lou, Laura, Austin and Ann headed to Giant's Causeway, Rita spent the evening with her mother who joined us previous day. That night to pub for traditional Irish music!

June 26th, 2010- The Fools and Mary headed to Rathlin Island. Rathlin is a gorgeous place accessible only by ferry. Ann, Austin, Rita and Laura rode bikes, Mary rode the bus and Lou walked to the sights on the island. Puffins, seabirds and seals, not to mention the most magical scenery enthralled. Exhausting, but wonderful day. The minimum miles walked/biked was about eight. Whew!

June 27th, 2010- Heading back to Dublin the Fools feel as if the north does not want them to leave. Multiple interstate diversions and a missed turn while seeking a petrol station get the Fools flustered. No worries however, they find their way back to the Avalon House. The Fools stayed the night there for another Workshop with the ladies in recovery.

June 28th, 2010- Another workshop with the awesome ladies! They were receptive and very grateful to have time to play and create. They even promised to see some of our shows later that week! The rest of the day the Fools spent shopping for prezzies in downtown Dublin. That night, back to Elaine's. Unfortunately, Lou takes ill.

June 29th, 2010- The Fools scramble for last minute marketing and rehearsals. Lou rests up and joins the crew that afternoon.

June 30th, 2010- A record breaking tech rehearsal of 3.5 hours for 3 shows! More rehearsing, marketing and resting for Thursday and Friday!

July 1, 2010- July is finally here and we have our first performances at The Base. The children's show went well, though with some tech problems. Brilliant Traces went very well even though Lou sounded like Jason Lee (according to his wife). Rita performed for her mother, brother and sister. Her brother had never seen her perform and, no surprise, he was very impressed.

Chic and Improv, Wicklow Mountains, Chores!

June 13th, 2010- The Fool's leave Athlone for Dublin for a short gig at the trendy and hip Shebeen Chic! We first stop off at Gary and Linda's for late lunch. Linda out did herself again, filling the Fools to the brim with delicious homemade soup and sandwiches followed up by boiled fruit cake. Not the fruitcake you give to the in-laws for Christmas, not by far. Fruitcake flowing with richness and flavour (with a U even!), melting in you mouth. Gary and Linda spoil us with attention and little Ella entertains us with song and play-dough sculptures.

That night we have a late spot at the Shebeen Chic. This is a handsome little bar where they have comedy on Sunday nights. The Fools had some nerves and were playing for a fairly international audience, but came out with a decent performance. Elaine (Rita's sister) cheered us on from the audience, our first groupie!

June 14th, 2010- The Fool's had breakfast at their hostel. Avalon House was miles beyond in quality compared to Shelia's hostel. Clean and filled with people, we all got decent rest and headed out town for a group adventure to the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. After winding through Dublin (really the first time in three weeks we actually got lost) we made our way to the gorgeous countryside. Ann found a good trail for us and we took to it. Lou took off like a rabbit up the well-kept trail. The group stopped and constantly was overcome by the fantastical beauty of Ireland's nature. Being from Colorado, that is a tall order, but those mountains and forest had quite a bit of magic in them. The Fools headed to Roundwood for a good meal for nearly all of the group except Ann, who was foiled at every turn. Being gluten intolerant can make it difficult to eat out sometimes, especially when the menu claims to have gluten-free (sometimes spelled glutton) items that are chock full of gluten. We do manage to get Ms. Flynn fed and we drive back to Athlone.

(Shots from the Wicklow Mountains)

June 15th, 2010- A day of earning our keep! The Fools set to doing tasks around the house for our hostess, Mary. The gang loaded up the rental cars with things to be recycled and dumped and Lou and Austin fix the front and back gates to the house. Rita and Mary paper the town for the performance of Brilliant Traces on the 23rd while Laura spends the day writing postcards for friends and family back home.

Blog Time, To Westport, USA vs ENG!

June 10th, 2010- Lou, Laura and Rita take it easy back in Athlone while Ann and Austin arrive later that afternoon. Lou spends the day catching up the blog, fighting internet most of the time. Rita and Laura spend the day in town. Ann and Austin come back well rested after their stay in Cashel. Lou and Laura visit an Irish Beer Garden and are disappointed that beer is not actually growing there.

(Left to right- Lou busy at blogging. Picture on the wall at Richard Graces Beer Garden.)

June 11th, 2010- Lou, Laura and Rita take a trip west to Westport. Before Westport however, the Fools stop off to see Rita's grandparent's home. The home has fallen into disrepair unfortunately, but you could feel the stories oozing from this small farm home. After paying respect to Rita's family at the Round Tower graveyard, we moved on to Westport. Westport is the town that Lou and Laura purchased their wedding bands. James Murtagh Jewelers is located across the street from Matt Molloy's bar in Westport. Anya Murtagh, wife of James, was very kind and was pleased that Lou and Laura stopped in to share their story. Matt Molloy's pub across the street belongs to the famous flautist of The Chieftains. This is an exemplary Irish pub, perfect. The trio wandered about town for awhile and with the assistance of two friendly young boys, found their way after getting off track. Lou, Laura and Rita headed back to Athlone late afternoon.

(Left to right- Rita's grandparent's home. The Chieftains' Grammy on the bar in Matt Molloy's. Lou and Laura at the jeweler store where they purchased their wedding bands.)

June 12th, 2010- The Fool's decide to treat themselves to an American meal to precede the US/England World Cup Match. Ann made an AMAZING apple pie! Lou and Austin made burgers and dogs (though the dogs were questionable at best). After a bit of overeating occurred the Fool's headed to The Snug to watch the match. The US got lucky and really should have done better, hopefully it was just nerves. The Fool's rest up and get ready for their next improv gig on Sunday.

(Ann cuts into the awesome apple pie!)

The Tour begins...

June 8th, 2010- The Fool's manage some sleep. We still have a sick Laura and the change of location has us a bit off kilter, but we gather together for our first performance of Selggin! Liam, the helpful worker at Shelia's, gives us excellent directions to the library in Ballincollig. Arriving with plenty of time, we set up an get ready for the kids!

Nearly sixty young boys arrive for our performance at 11am. Polite and uniformed, they warmed to the fun characters and music. A success! After lunch we try to stave off exhaustion. Lou ventures into a Gamestop to find they are just as, if not more expensive in Ireland than the US. The library was unsure that we would have an audience for the afternoon performance. Another library filled with little ones surprised us just as we got the show started. Amazing!

(Photos left to right- Laura and her new kitten friend. An actual poster of our children's show in Ballincollig! Gamestop in Ireland. Ann and Rita try and rest between shows. Notice in the break room of the library, with a very specific fine.)

That night, good music, curry chips and lamb kebab for Austin, Laura, Rita and Lou! Ann and Austin also give photo bombing lessons.

(Ann and Austin teach Rita and Lou all about photobombing)

June 9th, 2010- Gaining slightly more rest than the night before, and having a slightly less sick Laura, the Fool's headed out to Carrigaline for the second library performance. Only after a slight mishap of a misplaced car. It was found, no worries.

We had the distinct pleasure of working with the wonderful staff at Carrigaline. Thoughtful and friendly, they made sure that our performances went well. Two performances filled with children and their parents. One employee in particular went out of her way to help us. Thanks Liz! Riding a high off of two days of great performances, the Fool's decided on taking some personal time. Ann and Austin headed back to Cashel for a stay in a B&B, while the rest of the Fool's drove back to Athlone, stopping in Kilkenny along the way.

(Rita outside The Field pub in Kilkenny. Some awesome wall art in Kilkenny. Selggin on Carrigaline's security feed. Poster at Carrigaline. Signed note and pic of John Keane, playwright of The Field at the The Field Pub.)

Fools! To Cork With Ye!

June 7th, 2010- The Fool's left Athlone late Monday afternoon to head to Cork. County Cork is the largest County in the Country and some Corkonians often consider their fair city the real capital of the country. Cork is just several hours south of Athlone and is reminiscent of Seattle for Ann and Austin and San Francisco to Laura. However, before we even made it to Cork we stopped off in Cashel for dinner. Entering the city was amazing. Coming around corner Cashel Castle loomed over us in a dramatic fashion. Stunning.

(Photos left to right- Ann humoring Lou by taking a photo next to a bar with her namesake on it. Apparently Flynn is a fairly common name in this country. Austin and Laura in Cashel.)


After dinner in a charming, yet empty restaurant, the Fool's continued onto Cork. We stayed in cramped conditions at Shelia's Hostel in the northern part of the city. Not ideal, but a place to rest for the official part of tour. The Fool's dropped off their gear and headed out to explore the city a bit.

(Photos left to right- Sheila's Hostel. A bridge in Cork city.)

If you haven't noticed this already, there are a lot of pubs in Ireland. At the end of the day, that is where many folks end up. The Fool's are no exception. We stumbled (by stumbled, Lou found it) into The Long Valley. Laura then made friends with some local poets were having a poetry slam in the bar upstairs. The Fool's entered the Five Word Challenge. The rules are that anyone can enter into the contest as long as they write a poem in 15 minutes using five words given by the audience. Our words were: free, stone, blazing, mule, and coffin. This is what we came up with, Exquisite corpse style- (The order of lines written were Rita, Austin, Ann, Lou and Laura).

Coffins of stone Blazing through the night
Lone mule wanders thru the field
The last free wo-man in Syracuse has met her end.
Coffins of stone- Coffins of stone- The mule sees our light
Free me she cries Free me this night.

We know, we know, it is simply too awesome to imagine that we also can WRITE POETRY! To make things even better, to enter you must perform your poem. We nominated Austin to use his best Texas gentlemen accent. Very nice. Alas, we did not win. Actually they were very talented. You can check out the website of the people who run the event, here!

The Fool's take the day for Laura's B-Day!

June 6th, 2010- A partially recovered Laura welcomed her most favorite day of the year. Her birthday! Lou and Laura headed downtown for a lunch, some shopping and general meandering. The rest of the Fool's met up with them, had a drink at Gertie Brownes and went home to get ready for dinner. Laura wore an outfit that was in part her birthday gifts from her friends and husband. The Fool's treated themselves and Mary Broderick to a delicious dinner at Kin Khao Thai. Laura was able to have her favorite thai meal, Tom Ka, while the rest of the Fool's had various curries.

After dinner we retreated to Mary's house to a delicious homemade cake from a local bakery with fresh whipped cream and cherry compote! Filled nearly beyond capacity, the Fool's sought some entertainment. They found it at The Fiddler's Pub. Singing an array of songs, James Singleton (not sure on that name) got the locals and the Fool's joining in, in no time. Our personal favorite was, "That's Amore," with the alternate lyrics. While the traditional lyrics are "when the stars make you drool, just like pasta faglioli (italo-american pronunciation: pasta FA-ZOOL)," Mr. Singleton's version was "when the stars make you drool just like pasta food." A for effort Mr. Singleton, we are in Ireland after all.



Lou made friends with a local who grabbed his hands during "Pretty Woman."

Laura made friends with a local child whose grandfather was Mr. Singleton. She thought Laura looked like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. They danced about as the locals looked on. We went home shortly there after as we had a day of travel on Monday. Happy Birthday Laura!

The Kitchen became our studio! A Fool falls ill!

June 5th, 2010- The Fool's arise the next morning to find that Laura has fallen ill. She developed a sore throat and cough over the previous days and it finally hit her full force on Saturday. Fortunately, we had no shows or rehearsal planned for the day. Laura spent the day in bed. Lou and Rita designed, sketched and painted the portable drop for the children's show. Ann and Austin ran other miscellaneous, but important errands about town. Lou and Rita stepped out for a bit to do some secret birthday shopping for a certain sickly Fool. We ended the evening watching the final performance of Britain's Got Talent. See how exciting theatre life is!?!


(From left to right- Lou and Rita painting the drop. Rita finishing up some flowers. Ann and Austin totally enthralled with Britain's Got Talent.)