Sunday was a new day and almost as wet as the old day had been. Considering that it wasn't raining constantly and that I had $20 in beer tickets, I had to go back. So I did, despite the fact that my feet had gotten badly blistered from the first two days and walking had grown painful.

Once inside I made a beeline for the Sprecher Beer booth, the nearest beer to the entrance I'd used. Instinctively, the accent kicked in and I asked for beer. "Could I have a Stout please?" The lady on the other side of the counter asked me to repeat myself so I did, a bit louder the second time, figuring she couldn't hear me. She smiled as she reached for a glass. She expressed her amusement for the way I'd expressed myself and asked to hear it one more time. I obliged. She had an accent as well. "Where are you from?" she asked as she pulled my beer. "Here," I responded simply. She seemed rather disappointed at that.

Wandering around by myself at Irish Fest is fun but I often find it hard to get settled, even with my feet bothering me. I visited the Rock Stage for an acoustic set that turned out to be the final performance at that stage. After listening to Scythian for a few songs, I went and bought one of their CDs. Under the circumstances, they were working hard to get the crowd to enjoy themselves and I wanted to reward that however I could. The CD is quite good as well.

Eric's clan was still all wet from the night before and weren't coming. As that news came during a spattering of rain, I didn't blame them. I hobbled around and finished my quests for the year: bought a CD (as already noted), had a baked potato, had my tea and shamrock cookie and listened to a few more bands for a bit.

As I wandered and listened, I had a moment. Irish music is so full of passion, full of life, even for the bad things in life, that it can't help but raise the spirits. Even in the rain, there was joy. It's as if the music asks "What's your problem? Ah, that's not so bad. Have a bit of a drink and realize that life will go on. Until it doesn't anymore. No point in worrying about anything too much. You'll just hurt yourself. Relax, have a bit of fun and enjoy yourself. Trouble will catch up with you soon enough and you'll have something new that's not worth worrying about."

Well, the longer songs ask that anyway.

After a few hours and the spending of the majority of my drink tickets, the rain started to come back. I took it as a hint and headed for home.

It had been a good time.