Run by Snow Patrol

http://youtu.be/jS8IZcx7tJY

Tour around Benwell Towers

The old Benwell Towers building which is behind Benwell Lane is being renovated by the Muslim community.  It will become a school/education centre in a few years time.  This will be a task and a half! Previous occupiers have collectively made a bit of a mess of the place.  It has been used in the past as a pub, night club, film set since it had been used as a residence for the bishop. Give them their due, the muslim owners have received no funding from lottery funding, they have raised the money themselves.  When opened, the building will be open to the wider community, there will be sports facilities and events.

We were invited in to look around, we got up on the roof, it was a lovely day, worth the visit.

Sheree Mack (Writer in Residence Literary & Philosophical Society)

Well done to Sheree for hosting a great "pecha kucha" inspired event at the Literary and Philosophical Socirty. As well as reading her own poetry, she presented Jo Colley, Claire Webster Saarements, Stevie Ronnie, Bill Mc kuminsky and Sue Spencer. The performers for the evening were the brilliant Aidan Clarke and wonderful hang drum music of Simon Wood .

Ray`s retirement party

Diamond Jubilee Street Party

Queen`s Diamond Jubilee at La Boca Art Cafe

Lou, Andrew and Brian behind the counter at La Boca for the jubilee. Cutting the cake and making up corned beef sandwiches while "What do you get when you fall in love, a guy with a pin to burst your bubble....la la that`s what you get for all your trouble......I`ll never fall in love again" We set up a performance day, Laura read poems, Aimee Winehouse sang, I wore my pinny and turban and told stories, Margaret Frayne sang jazz and a good time all around.

A lone trolley was spotted outside the cafe and BD couldn`t help but por his goods into it!  Rob pushed and Andrew took charge wearing his queenie mask.

Canada May 2012

The CN Tower is well worth a visit, 1,815 feet (553 m) high with glass panels in the lift!  There is a floor also with glass panels where people dare eachother ot walk across. Young kids were lying on it, arms outstretched of give the illusion of falling to ther photos. We went to the 360 restaurant were the food is amazing. Tip - make sure thqat you remember where your table is as when you return from the bathroom, guess what, it`s not in the same place. Every 45 minutes or so, sat at your table you can see a fabulous panorama of Toronto. We stayed for 3 hours and by then it was sunset and the buildings were cloaked in pink.

Helicopter ride over Niagra takes some beating, but as it turned a couple of times, so did my stomach, wasn`t actually sick, but I did feel that I was in a clip from Inception.

Quebec is a fabulous city, we ate at Pope George a really old pub and were entertained by two French men and their dog. We got on talking about art and one of them said "Put your hands down the trouser"& I did a double take...is this bloke asking me to put my hand down his trousers? But no, I clicked, he began pretending to draw with his right hand while his own left hand was down the back of his pants.  I remembered a book I have called Drawing on the Right side of the brain. It explains that our right hemisphere always jumps in first at most tasks, especially when we try to draw.  If we can fool the left side to take a back seat, the creative right brain will be given more chance. We are advised to turn a picture upside down, just enough time to confuse the left brian and voila, the creative right is in charge.  This is what he was trying to tell me, Keep the left hand hidden when we draw. Phew.

At Montreal, we were "treated" to a hike around the Grand Prick... er I mean Grand Prix track.  D was all of a flutter "Take a picture of me on the start line"  "Take a picture of me beside the garages" "Take......"  For goodness sake!!  Pirelli, isn`t that a slipper manufacturer?  All I know, and ever want to know.  He kept telling people how the coach driver went into a wobble on the approach...SO!  I did really enjoy a visit to the Mussee Beaux Arts in the city, Leger, Picasso, Matisse, Lipchitz, Rodin and Giacometti, wonderful and not a bit of burning rubber in sight.

Didn`t have one poor meal throughout the stay and loved China Town in Toronto.   We took a rikshaw which was pulled 7 blocks by a young lad who was at university and earning extra money. I have never seen such wonderful foods, colourful stalls and people. One sign did amuse me, an acupuncture establishment "Call here for acupuncture and get poked more often"  I don`t suppose that it`s the first time that phrases have been lost in translation, they probably only meant that there would be more needles for your money. Maybe it should have read "Call here and get more pricks for your money"....No? Ah well, somebody ought to tell them, but it won`t be me.

Jane Daniel`s Birthday

We started off at Las Iguana`s for Dark and Stormy`s cocktails then on to El Terero.  The food was fantastic and company even better. Happy Birthday Jane

Art Exhibition at La Boca Cafe

A good turn out for my exhibition, around 45 people visited between 6-9 at the Art Cafe, then some of us carried on to Pasqualino`s cocktail bar.  Now all there is to do is create more pieces for the next show, should be July, but I have holiday then, so might have to arrange with Andrew and Brian for a more app date, still gives more time to work. I continue to use high bridge studio which is now under Baltic 39 management.

London next week and Canada soon, so must take more photos for inspiration.

Emma`s Birthday

I`m naming this photo "Hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil"  Why is it so difficult to pose for a photo, maybe because I`m always taking them and folks are fed up?  But, I don`t care, I will continue to take them, this is history in the making, sods!!!

Ian Waugh`s Birthday Party (Bar Loco) April

Gotye and Kimbra "Somebody That I Used to Know"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY&feature=colike

Wallington Hall

Procol Harum "Whiter Shade of Pale"

Amy McDonald

Papa hasn`t got a brand new bag!

D needs a new bag for work. After stuffing it full of extremely heavy crap it has given up and died. Didn`t want to go for a new one himself, sent me. I trawled around the market and various shops, nothing, which isn`t surprising as..rectangle shape won`t do, it has to be square and with three zippy areas...."Like the old one". Enough time wasted, I give up, he can look for one himself.

As he is now 60 also, I don`t have to suffer the same old joke of me being older than him, him being my toy boy etc etc. The best card was from brother D, 3 very stout naked men showing their arses. Brother said "Eeee look three Dave`s" We all trouped to Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant in town which was excellent. They had sculpted little turnips into flower shapes for decoration. Brother D confided that he once went to a Chinese friend`s dad`s restaurant, they made the offer, if he ate a whole turnip he could have the meal free. "After eating half the turnip, I was full, so I couldn`t eat a meal anyway" Aye, that figures.

I was telling my sister in law that I have a book which translates Cockney Rhyming slang, we commented on such phrases as "apples and pears" for stairs and brother informed us that "Did you know that a piss is "hit and miss"? and by the way I need one?" he promptly left the table. When he came back we were treated to a youtube clip showing a frog slicking out it`s tongue onto an iphone as the cruel owner was showing the creature virtual ants running about. The frog gets annoyed and bites the owners hand, fair do`s.

Leaving the restaurant, we cross the road to the eight storey car park, we are at the top, (It`s St Patrick`s Day and everywhere is full to the gills.) We all take the stairs, except husband D, who stands smuggly at the lift door sneering at us. However, daughter in law B presses all of the buttons for the lift as we pass, aren`t kids great? We stand on the roof taking photos of the surrounding Chinatown while D makes his interrupted ascent.

Went to the studio today and as hard as I try to copy from a photo of a woman, mostly in shadow, it turns out more like a bloke, second attempt, will try once more and that`s it!

Pink Lane Poetry and Performance 3rd Birthday (Photo by Bish)

When will bloody cold symptoms go away? I have coughed,barked,wheezed so much that Chico the parrot is copying. During the night I woke with a scratchy throat and took a Strepsil, fell asleep with it in my mouth. I have a peculiar habit of brushing my teeth first thing in the morning, when I spat out the water it was red, thought it was blood, my tongue was dyed bright red so I had to brush that also.

This is the second week of feeling crap, waking up looking like Methusalah`s mother, but yesterday decided to go to a meeting and to carry out one of my reading sessions. The group members are all willing to share a memory and these turn out to be fascinating. J`s father used to own a meat safe, which was made of wood with a lining of metal which was perforated with holes to let cold air in. He knew a man who hunted rooks, one day a sack full of them was given to J`s father. The family cooked them and took the breast off each one to eat, she said they were lovely. Now, until last night, I haven`t recalled a dream for months, but after that story I woke up in a panic, a huge crow had pecked a hole in Chico`s cage and was chasing him around inside. May have been a combination of medical remedies and the fact that I quaffed a huge glass of tequila and corky`s then brandy, all for medicinal purposes of course. Or, if I`m analysing, could be wishful thinking! D bent down near the cage last night to put a plug in and Chico pecked him viciously on the arm and drew blood. He is so territorial about his cage, but when I think back, all of our animals have bitten D, dogs in particular and P`s hamster.

I have succumbed to watching tv during my infectious phase. Adele is a multiple winner of awards, she`s fab. Watched some recorded stuff, Bob Dylan The 1966 World Tour Home Movie, documentary hosted by Micky Jones, again, Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as The Banger Sisters, Eve Arnold, A Retrospective,Empire of the Seas was great, a four parter Heart of Oak, "How victory over the Armada turned England into a seafaring nation"
but the best programme was Wonders of the Solar System, unfortunately didn`t realise that it was 5th in the series. Professor Brian Cox (He only looks about 15) explored underwater in a pod, ice caps and dried out deserts with tunnels and evidence of waterfalls, similar patterns on Mars and footage of Jupiter`s moons.

Won`t be at the life drawing group this Saturday as I am attending a photography exhibition at The Side Gallery, the work of Pentti Sammallahti. A Finnish photographer who began taking pictures aged eleven.

The grant for Side has also been successful and is safe until September, the funding will enable fundraising programmes and new work to be displayed. Hope that this means Newcastle will be on the way to securing this gem of a gallery.

Monkfish Productions (The Shed, Gateshead)

The 5th birthday of Monkfish and launch of the new website went very well with a good turn out of supporters. We were treated to some of the films which the company have produced over the years, with only one which I hadn`t seen before. James served drinks and cut the birthday cake which was lovely. Well done all and looking forward to seeing work over the next five years.