Thursday evening

Before dinner, a pint of Orchard Thieves Irish cider in the hotel lobby.

After dinner we have a one-hour concert in one of the hotel meeting rooms. James and Donnie are joined by their longtime friends Joe, Roddy, Seamus, and Theresa for a session before they all head out to the music locales for sessions in the pubs. An Irish session or seisiún is an informal, round-robin musical gathering for instrumental or vocal tunes, frequently in a pub.

In the picture, Joe hasn’t arrived yet. James’ birthday is today, and although he has hoped to escape notice, we interrupt the concert with a heartfelt happy birthday song.

Donnie on the left end, James on the right end. Next day, Paul Smith (80+ years old) who went out pub crawling with them after the concert, said that Seamus (with the concertina) doesn’t hit his musical stride until after 11.

The hotel is hosting a wedding reception on Friday and preparations are ongoing in the lobby. Table assignments are posted, looks like dinner for 290 plus the wedding party and parents. The joint’ll be jumpin’ Friday evening.