In February we started our actual 2nd and 4th Sunday Session at deVere's. At the first one on Feb-8th we had a decent number of people, including Tim Connolly, who evidently had not been playing for quite some time. We were honored to have him join us!!
It was raining that day - and a COLD wind was a-blowin'!! Perfect weather for being in a nice warm pub, drinking a nice (*insert preference here: hot, cold, warm, stiff, etc) beverage, so we had a decent crowd!
The 4th Sunday Session was even better, as we had Dan Engle, Kathy Barwick (our guitar player, who doesn't really frequent sessions), Tim Connolly again, and surprise visitor Shelly Connolly (I believe they are related, but only by marriage). Much fun was had by all, and coincidentally, it was, once again, rainy and windy!!
We got a surprise gig back in Reno at Ceol Irish Pub, which is quickly becoming our favorite pub, home-away-from-home kinda thing. We were asked to come back and play for the last day of February, Feb-28....and it turned out it was the day of Reno's Beer Crawl...resulting in a decent crowd for the evening!As before, they treated us extremely well, putting Chris and I up in a very nice (resort!) hotel, where we availed ourselves of the down pillows, pillow-top beds and generous nickel slots!! (OK we only won enough to cover our breakfast, but hey, it put us on the plus side!) The next morning, after we leisurely left the hotel and had our well-deserved breakfast, we got on the road back towards Sacramento around 11am, and it was raining. Keep in mind this was Highway 80 over Donner Pass, in FEBRUARY. So when we passed the outskirts of town and saw the big digital Road Conditions sign, it said "Snow Over Pass, Carry Chains". Of which we had none. So we just soldiered on with all the other cars and trucks, watching the temperature drop with each foot we climbed, until it was about 31 degrees, and HUGE snow flakes were falling rather quickly!! It was sticking (there was already snow on the ground, so no big surprise there), but there were just enough cars to keep it from freezing up on the road.....yet. Ultimately the trip was uneventful, we made it back down to Sacramento, but had we lingered over breakfast even another 30 minutes we may have been stuck in Reno for a few days!!
So we once again look forward to March, which this years sees us on a local Sacramento morning show, then off to the Sonora Celtic Faire, back to deVere's for a midday St. Patrick's Day show, and back up the hill to Reno, for a few hours at Ceol, where they take such good care of us. And we're already watching the weather!! ;-)
