All Night Hoolie

Maggie 'playing fiddle' with the infamous Jim O' The Mill. Jim runs a secret pub out of the back of his farmhouse. He only has a license to sell alcohol on Thursday nights. We drove about 90 minutes through the Silvermine Mountains nearly to Thurles and arrived at 11:00pm - the music was just getting started!

When we got there, the place was packed. We couldn't even get the door open because the it was crammed with people. We made friends with another tourist from Chicago who was outside. As we hung around the back of the house, we had just about given up on getting in when I noticed people coming out of a back door. A younger lady and Jim were inside what looked like a dining room.  I poked my head in and said "We're looking for some music". The lady said "you've come to the right place!" They ushered us into the dining room and pulled out some chairs. Music cases were everywhere and the music was spilling in from the adjoining room. An older lady with a fiddle next to the door beckoned all of us. Even though the chairs were jammed together, she shooshed enough people over to clear some rickety chairs. We scooted in - amongst the locals and a small handful of tourists. Instrumentalists included 2-3 fiddles, two accordions,  a whistle, a bodhran, 2-3 guitars, and everyone was a vocalist.

We became friends with Matt, dancing with Maggie here. Matt had more than his share of Guinness. He always carried two pints. "Just in case someone needs one" he said...although he drank from both.

All smiles! This is later in the night...nearly 4:00am.

Dad is telling Jim about the book he read that informed him about the Thursday night Craic in the country. Jim was surprised, but he recognized Wisconsin. "We have a regular from Milwaukee," he said, "his name is Liam". Liam and Corey run a podcast out of Milwaukee and rent out a cottage near Thurles. We have been listening to their podcasts and met them several times. Great connection!

Sheila was the accordion and whistle player and brilliant vocalist. The friendly banter between Matt and her provided some comedic entertainment! We out-stayed all the tourists and most of the locals. We could hear the birds start singing and most of the musicians either went home or were too drunk to continue. We packed up and drove back through the mountains at dawn. What a wonderful night!