JAMES STREET ART CRAWL

James Street, Hamilton, Friday evening. It’s the Art Crawl, a fun happening. Many galleries are crowded into a couple of blocks and, on the 2nd Friday of each month, they stay open late to welcome one and all with a variety of art and, in some cases, wine and cheese. Everyone is in a convivial mood and you find yourself chatting to artists and viewers alike.  We ran into friends, some of whom we hadn’t seen for years.

Wild Orchid, a great Portuguese restaurant, where we enjoyed a meal.

Brennagh Burns, Cindy Dell and Les Smith take the stage at the Artword Artbar.

 The Artword Artbar (www.artword.net/artbar/ )is a great little place with art downstairs and a stage on the main floor. They feature plenty of local talent and the owners are excited about promoting them. It reminded me a lot of coffee houses in the 60s. But, now you can get a beer.

Jackie takes a break.

Mark McNeil, Jeff Griffiths and Les Smith at the Artword Artbar.

BRANTFORD JAZZ - PART 2

One last look at the Brantford Int'l Jazz Festival before I move on. It was a great event and I hope to get back next year. The main stage acts were introduced by Walter Venafro and Jaymz Bee of JAZZ.FM91, a great all-jazz radio station based in Toronto. Have a listen.

The Shuffle Demons

Buckwheat Zydeco

Jacob Sinclair Trio

C.C. and the Boys

JAZZY BRANTFORD

The Ross Wooldridge Band with guest vocalist Alex Pangman

 The 5th TD Brantford International Jazz Festival is off and running. It's something the city should be very proud of. Brantford isn't the first place you think of when international jazz is mentioned, but that is changing. It's well run, relaxing, filled with great musical acts.

The Legendary Live Band - Local legends at that

Swing Shift Big Band with Larisa Renee on vocal.

How often do you get to see a real live Big Band, these days?

Some of the large, enthusiastic crowd of jazz lovers.

Federal Building

And the architecture in Brantford still blows me away. It has a European look in some parts. A few examples, above and below.

 

Then there are funky areas also...

Going back for more on Sunday. The Shuffle Demons and Buckwheat Zydeco. Jazzy!

CLOUDS, RAIN, FISH

The cloud cover has been spectacular this past week. See photos of Port Bruce below. Much needed rain, also.  Oh, and dead fish.

 

Oh, and owls. Went out early this morning and under a clear sky, brilliant with stars, I heard a few owls conversing, one right close by the front of the house.  

DEER CREEK

A look at our private spa. Actually lots of people go there, but around supper time, when we go,  there are very few swimmers. We started about a week ago, swimming every other day and it's made the world of difference to me. I feel in great shape, better than I have for a long while. We used to get a pass every year but one year it was cold all summer and we kind of got away from it. So glad we decided to go again.

I'M BACK!

Did anyone miss me? Actually a few people did mention that they hadn’t seen anything from me for a while and were wondering. Well, I finished work a while back but just didn’t get into gear to start up the old blog again. We had a nice little trip to Amherstburg which I’ll share a bit about later. We visited and had visitors. Put new windows in the kitchen, thanks to Jeff’s expertise. Started an open mic. Been writing on a regular basis. The list goes on.

But, I’ll start with today when I discovered the Holy Grail. Who would have known it was on the back of a bug. It’s been under our eyes all this time. A living jewel for sure.

I'M STILL HERE

For those who don't know me personally, I haven't given up my blog, nor have I fallen off the edge of the world. Instead, there's this incredible urge that people have to buy tons of flowers from the garden centres, and guess who is one of the drivers who supplies said centres. It's a good job but does exact a toll at this time of year.
So, I'm not complaining, just checking in as it were. In a few weeks things will be back to normal and so will the blog.
See you then. I'll leave you with an antique picture I took last fall. Effects are fun.

Leamington docks

A SPRING BOUQUET FOR MY READERS

GLIDING INTO PORT BURWELL

Paragliders and others enjoying the warm weather.

The renovated pier in Port Burwell

SAT 10 MAR 2012 6:50pm  Went down to our beach, just to see if I could do it. It wasn't easy, especially coming back up. The cliffs have changed so much this winter it almost defies description. The path we used to go down now ends half way down at a sheer drop. I went off the side hanging on to half uprooted trees and treading on little islands of soil, the rest being out-croppings of clay and running water. Both sides of the trail have massive areas fallen down. You can't go to the west at all because of huge mountains of clay, which is slippery and sucks you in. There wasn't much beach the other way either with  high water and waves.

It was really great being down there. The sun shone in a cloudless sky. The Eagle was sitting in his tree up at the cliff top. I hope that tree doesn't fall in, it's good to be able to see him occasionally.  I'll try to get pics of the area soon.

SUN 11 MAR 2012 2:50pm J went to Meeting and shopping this am.
My niece, Sherri phoned and gave me more family tree info. Her oldest, Krista, is interested in all that, so she will be looking through it on line.

I'm down by the east  beach in Burwell. Lot's of people out enjoying the sunshine and record temperatures. Para-gliders are jumping off the cliffs and landing on the beach. Getting off the beach is proving more of a challenge. The sails get up but won't lift the gliders. The beach itself is very wide. Too bad ours wasn't taking notes. I suppose it will grow as the season goes on.
The newly cemented pier looks good and makes for a nice stroll in the sun. Lot's of people enjoying it.

I came down to work on my course stuff. I think it's almost done just to copy it out.

Tried starting my bike today and it almost turned over. Put the battery on charge. It's 14 degrees or so all week with 20 on Thurs. Amazing.

HAGERSVILLE OR BUST

Some fine old buildings in Hagersville, Ontario. Jackie will be going there one day a week for 8 weeks to teach Qi gong.  I was kind of taken with this street.

LONG POINT INNER BAY

Took a bit of a drive and on the way home came across this late afternoon scene on Long Point Bay. How'd we get so lucky?

I'M A BODHRAN MAN

TUES 21 FEB 2012 1:31 pm  Went for a drive yesterday, ending up at Niagara Falls. If there is a tackier town in North America I don't know where it is. But, it's so much fun. There have to be more motels than anywhere else in existence. Clifton Hill is a riot of colour and noise, everyone vying for the tourist dollar.

Then you go down and around the corner and there is one of the most spectacular natural sights you could imagine. Hundreds of tons of cascading water, thrilling the tourists and keeping our lights on, all in one fell swoop, (meaning single action or occurrence – I looked it up). It's a strange juxtaposition that's been going on since the first Europeans stumbled upon the falls.
'This is pretty cool, but imagine it with a hot-dog stand!' 


We stumbled upon a Tender Tootsies outlet and I found some much needed new boots.

Saturday I went with Matt and Vanessa to see Jay Linden and Duane Rutter share the stage at the Moonshine Cafe www.themoonshinecafe.com/about.htm in Oakville. It was a full house but you could almost hear a name drop as they traded original songs for close to three hours. I've mentioned before how the Moonshine is very supportive of musicians, treating them with the respect they deserve. A good place to see someone if you want to really listen to all the nuances.

I stayed over at Matt's and had a really good day hanging with the kids on Sunday.

My Bodhran

J just came home from the post office with a big package for me. It is a Bodhran (Celtic  drum)from Michael. (My bd is coming up.) It even has a CD to tell you how to play it. I've always liked the sound of them, so now I can learn. Good stuff!

INSPECTING THE GULLIES

WED 15 FEB 2012 Today I'm taking you on a walk to the far gully, the other path down to the lake shore.

The cherry trees are receiving a line of manure.

Ice is building a bit along the shore. It would normally cover the lake by now.

Sand blowing up the cliff face collects in an impressive dune.

Seriously eroding cliffs.

And we make it to the gully., also eroding rapidly.

Here's where the stream from the gully (Hemlock Creek) empties into Lake Erie.

  You probably can get to the bottom but it's not an easy trek. I'll leave it for another day.

Looking back up the gully.

On the way back we get another view of the dune.

And a close up of the ripples of sand.

      That was a good walk. Hope you enjoyed it.