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Exploring London

August 11th, 2017

Our hotel in London was in the Kensington area with a short walk to the Underground Station. We met out guide and several other members of our Trinity group in the lobby after breakfast and made our way to the station. It was recommended that we buy an Oyster Card which is a weekly pass for using transit in London. We got a tutorial on what trains go where and how to use the underground and headed for St. Paul’s Cathedral which is in the main London area, near the Thames.

We then went off in separate directions. Mr C and I had decided to head over the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern. The Millenium Bridge is a modern pedestrian bridge across the Thames. It is directly across from St. Paul’s, where the choir was to be artists in residence for the next week. Here is a collage of views of and from the bridge. (Click to see larger images.)

While walking across, we discovered a guy making a tiny painting on the bridge. Then we found several of these paintings scattered on the bridge surface. Apparently, he makes a background from gum and then paints it.

At the Tate, we bought tickets for a  special exhibit of Giacometti sculptures. No photos were allowed. The exhibit was extensive and we really enjoyed it.

 

We went to the top floor to have lunch. There were big windows with a view across the river. The dome is St. Pauls.

I also took this panoramic shot from the outside deck. I really love the mixture of very avant garde modern architecture, mixed with the traditional and more ancient architecture. Be sure to click on this link for the impact of this photo.

After lunch we visited the free galleries to see more art.

I photographed these images because they look like interesting layouts for some quilts.

We hung around the area and did some people watching before going back across the bridge to St. Paul’s for the first Evensong sung by the choir. Then back on the underground to the hotel for some dinner.

As I may have mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have been plagued with backaches since my knee replacement surgery. I was very concerned about my ability to keep up with everyone on this trip. I did quite well. I often had to stop and rest. My pain always subsides when I sit for a bit. We had pretty great weather for most of the trip.

I was amazed when I checked my activity level for the day:

Hello!!

August 10th, 2017

I know I have been missing from this blog for a loooong time. I lost interest. I got wrapped up in political stuff. I was spending my energy on Instagram and Facebook. I love reading other people’s blogs and realized that I should get back at it so here I am. I am currently very jet-lagged as Mr C and I just returned from 12 days in Paris and London. We accompanied the Trinity Cathedral Choir. They were invited to sing at Notre Dame Cathedral and the American Cathedral (Episcopal) in Paris. That is where we started our journey on Friday, July 28th.

I had not been to Paris in a long time so it was pretty exciting when our bus from the airport drove by the Arc de Triomphe. We got settled in our room and slept a bit because who can sleep on a plane?? Then we took a walk to the Eiffel Tower which was in the neighborhood of our hotel.

We found a nice restaurant near our hotel and had an early dinner. We were the only ones in the restaurant for most of our meal. We only had one day to do something fun in Paris. My choice was to go to Le Marais to the Picasso Museum. We got a ticket for the metro and off we went. When we got to our stop, Mr C went to one door and I went to another. He is out on the platform and my door is not opening and suddenly the train is taking off. I lost it! I was abandoned. A lovely family (Dad, Mom and 10 year old daughter) came to my rescue. They are French but live in Pittsburgh. They got off at the next stop with me and hatched a plan. She would wait for the next train to come and watch for Mr C. He insisted on escorting me back to the previous stop. She would call him if Mr C arrived before we got on the other train. As luck would have it, both trains arrived at the same time. She contacted us before we got on the train and Mr C and I were reunited. As scary as this was at the time, I loved what happened. This family was so kind and so generous with their time. I will never forget them. I learned that you need to push a little green button to get off the metro in Paris.

We finally arrived in Le Marais. I loved this section of Paris. I could spend days there. We found the museum with a little help from random people on the street.

We thoroughly enjoyed a couple of hours here. There was a special exhibit of his work that involved all the women in his life. But, I enjoyed the permanent exhibit of his work.

 

At one time, he was into multi-media collages and so was kind of a fiber artist!!

(This piece has a reflection from glass.)

That evening, the choir sang mass at the Notre Dame cathedral. When we got there we were amazed to find a long line of folks waiting to get in for the service.

After the service, we enjoyed a wonderful meal with friends from Trinity. One of the couples has a second home in France where they spend several months of the year. It was good to see them. She had made a reservation at a wonderful restaurant. We had a private room and closed the place down. We decided to take a taxi back to the hotel.

The next day, a bus was supposed to pick us up and take us and our luggage to the American Cathedral, but, oops!, it never showed up. People started calling Ubers and taxis and somehow we all got to the cathedral before the morning service.

 

 

After church we had lunch nearby and then a bus picked us up and took us to the train station where we boarded the Eurostar which would take us through the chunnel to London. Another oops, as 14 people got left behind. The Eurostar waits for no one! The next train was a half hour later. They got to go first class and were served dinner and wine.

I will continue with our awesome London adventures tomorrow.

 

Wordless Wednesday

May 31st, 2017

Missing in Action

May 4th, 2017

Just about every day, I tell myself I should blog. I have noticed that I am not the only blogger who has slacked off. I will blame social media and the current political climate for taking my energy for sharing. And, I have been really busy. I finished the resist quilt and got it photographed to enter into Threads of Resistance. I also entered my Hope piece. There are some awesome pieces made for this show so I know I may not get in, but it was very therapeutic to make this.  Here is a detail shot.

I finished teaching the 5 week class at Trinity. I had lots of fun working with a multi-generational group.

I have been finishing up work for the Trinity Circus of Life show. Here is the final rendition of Send in the Clowns. Someone left a bit of a snarky comment about this the last time I post in progress work. I am sorry that she thought it was inappropriate for me to bring politics into my work, but I think that art has been a way to express such feelings since the beginning of time.

I also have entered my Christo’s Gates Redux piece. Not that political!! But, I think the gates evoked a bit of circus vibe.

The week-end that the show opens, we can sell smaller, unframed work. I am making some arty oven mitts and will also have some of my smaller embroideries and art quilts. Here are some of the patchwork I sewed to make the mitts.

I have lots of work to do for the Circus show. I have to prepare the database for all artists and their work and create bar codes for the bin art. I need to teach someone else how to do this so I can retire!!

 

Wordless Wednesday

April 12th, 2017