Hello on Friday Morning

Dear Friends,



I start this e-mail with another foggy brain. I don’t know how it happens, but it just does!



Our Friday started at 10 AM in the meeting room behind the City Council Chambers. Andy Kelly chaired a great Sister City Commission meeting. Our two Irish guests and several Pittsfield Irish Sister City members were also in attendance. During the meeting we heard reports from the Italian Sister City, The Irish Sister City, the Nicaraguan Sister City, and German Sister City. Participation from the audience was very welcome. The Kelly Lad provided coffee and donuts which kept some of us tired people wide awake.



As the meeting ended around 11:15 AM, Carmel Murphy, the city Clerk from Ballina, was given a tour by the Pittsfield City Clerk Linda Tyer. They compared notes on the similarities, and the differences of the city clerk’s job in either country.



After the meeting and the tour, we headed off for lunch at DelGallo’s restaurant. Former Mayor Remo DelGallo, who owns and runs the restaurant had a table reserved for us. We had a wonderful inexpensive lunch, and beer is cheap too. After an hour or so of socializing, Linda and I stopped at the Italian American Club to turn in a check for a Casino trip to the Mohegan Sun on March 21, 2010. We were on a waiting list, and our prayers were answered.



Linda and I went directly home after lunch. As I said in yesterday’s e-mail, I would need an afternoon if I was going to make it through the evening activities.



Our next event was to attend the Polenta Dinner at the ITAM. Besides Linda and I, Pat Barscz, Janie McCormick, Rudy and Kay Sacco, and two friends from the ITAM sat at our table. Janie McCormick experienced Polenta for the first time in her life. Would that make her a Virgin Polenta eater?

We would have had more people at the Polenta Dinner, but some were at the live Irish Piittsfield Community Television program that Pat Gormalley was producing. Other people were at the Colonial Theater for an Irish Rovers Concert.



We left the ITAM and headed off to the Shamrock Restaurant & Pub. Our Irish guests were to meet a bunch of us for some fun and merriment at the Shamrock. The group of people whom we were with said that they were going to make it a short night because they were so tired including my wife. Not! The rounds of beverages were flowing back and forth, and we couldn’t seem to find an appropriate time to leave the Pub. About 10:45 PM, the Irish Sister City people, who attended the Irish Rovers Concert, showed up, and the fun continued. The last thing that I remembered was having a fish bowl size of Jameson Irish Whiskey on the rocks sitting in front of me. I believe the Funeral Director Rob Dwyer bought that round of drinks. My head hit the pillow a little after midnight. When I say hit the pillow, I really mean it. My loud alcohol induced snoring woke me up a 3 AM, and I realized I forgot to put on my sleep apnea mask. Oh Darn!

I almost forgot to mention that there was a group of local musicians at the Shamrock playing an excellent selection of Irish tunes.



Today, Linda and I do not have to participate in any way to entertain our two Irish guests. Mayor Kelly is going on a walking tour in Albany, New York with President Gormalley and a couple other Irish Sister City friends. Carmel Murphy will be escorted to the Lee Outlets to do a little recreational shopping.

In the evening, Pat Gormalley has reserved a table at the Berkshire Hills Country Club for a Hillcrest Education event where they award the State Irish person of the year. Linda and I declined the invitation. We are going out with some non Irish friends who we normally socialize with.

I did forget to ask Pat Gormalley what the plans were for after the Berkshire Hills event. The Berkshire Hills event would end rather early, and there is no way that the group would go directly home. I will have to keep my cell phone on, and see if Linda and I have enough energy to party with them wherever they decide to go.



Well, I am going to use my baking skills and start making those Irish soda breads which I will be bringing to the Irish American Club Corned Beef and cabbage dinner / dance on Saturday night at the Elks Club. My raisins are doing so well soaking in that Irish whiskey that they are doing back flips right now. They are hydrated beyond belief!



Have a great weekend.

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad