Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A good day ambling in the Newcastle rain.
Fun day - ambling really.
Ambling from cafes to art galleries in the city.
I love this city. It is quirky in many ways.
Bill and I got up later than intended. It was time for E Minor to go to school. We rushed to get dressed. We all got on the bus together and she got off outside the High School.
We went on into the city centre. We made for the Basement Cafe for breakfast.
Ashley had announced that you could get Mars and bacon paninis in there!
We didn't have one of those, but we did have delicious paninis.
This cafe is attached to a church - a Calvary Chapel....slightly obscure. The cafe was interesting with art work and played good music.
We relaxed for quite a while in comfy sofas.
Next top was The Laing art gallery. I was greeted by a cabinet full of glass and I assumed it to be my passion - 1960s glass.
Wrong!
It dated from 1880 and made by the glass works Sowerby. I didn't know Sowerby made things like it.
The walls were covered in art of all kinds.
There was a gallery of photos by Cecil Beaton of the royal family - Queen mostly. That man is/was truly a master of his art and craft...and the Queen obviously felt very at ease with him.
Well, time then for a drink.
So we walked to another church (actually our 3rd of the day). On Wednesdays this church does tea and cakes in their little church hall at 50p per person. We had a huge pot of tea which provided at least two mug fulls each.
Time then for another art gallery.
We had planned to go to The Baltic - big modern art gallery just over the river. But it was raining and even a 20 minute walk seemed a bit daunting.
So we went to a Baltic art gallery off shoot.
It was on the 4th floor of a building devoted to art students and studios.
The exhibition was odd.
In the main Baltic the work of Jim Shaw is being shown and this exhibition was connected to this modern American artist.
This guy collects art too. It is not normally the art of art galleries, but it is all original art.
He buys original paintings done by talented and less then talented people, which ends up in charity shops and flea markets.
Some of it was so bad it was funny!
And yet because he has taken it seriously and rescued it, we could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the painter. They'll never know how much pleasure they gave us.
And guess what, I can't wait to look for original art on my car boot sale hunts!
Well, after that art gallery it was time for a little something again.
We were walking through China town.
Ashley took us to what he calls the bun shop. It sells a wide variety of Chinese buns to eat in or take away.
I had a savoury bun. Well, the bun itself is a sweet bun; this one was topped with a sweetcorn cream and bacon and something else.
We also bought one each to take home.
And home was next on the agenda. We got the bus back from the city centre and we were home before youg E.
The kettle went on - yes, time for a little something again!
And I enjoyed my sweet bun with a cuppa - custard, pineapple and peach.
It has been just the sort of day I love.
I didn't know at the start where the day would take me and what I would see or do.
We are tired now (5 o'clock in the afternoon) and Bill is dozing.
Later I will help Ashley with his version of ravioli mark 2. There was a lot of rice left over and I worked out that cashews and pineappple with the spices and other vegetables would make it feel completely different.
Ambling from cafes to art galleries in the city.
I love this city. It is quirky in many ways.
Bill and I got up later than intended. It was time for E Minor to go to school. We rushed to get dressed. We all got on the bus together and she got off outside the High School.
We went on into the city centre. We made for the Basement Cafe for breakfast.
Ashley had announced that you could get Mars and bacon paninis in there!
We didn't have one of those, but we did have delicious paninis.
This cafe is attached to a church - a Calvary Chapel....slightly obscure. The cafe was interesting with art work and played good music.
We relaxed for quite a while in comfy sofas.
Next top was The Laing art gallery. I was greeted by a cabinet full of glass and I assumed it to be my passion - 1960s glass.
Wrong!
It dated from 1880 and made by the glass works Sowerby. I didn't know Sowerby made things like it.
The walls were covered in art of all kinds.
There was a gallery of photos by Cecil Beaton of the royal family - Queen mostly. That man is/was truly a master of his art and craft...and the Queen obviously felt very at ease with him.
Well, time then for a drink.
So we walked to another church (actually our 3rd of the day). On Wednesdays this church does tea and cakes in their little church hall at 50p per person. We had a huge pot of tea which provided at least two mug fulls each.
Time then for another art gallery.
We had planned to go to The Baltic - big modern art gallery just over the river. But it was raining and even a 20 minute walk seemed a bit daunting.
So we went to a Baltic art gallery off shoot.
It was on the 4th floor of a building devoted to art students and studios.
The exhibition was odd.
In the main Baltic the work of Jim Shaw is being shown and this exhibition was connected to this modern American artist.
This guy collects art too. It is not normally the art of art galleries, but it is all original art.
He buys original paintings done by talented and less then talented people, which ends up in charity shops and flea markets.
Some of it was so bad it was funny!
And yet because he has taken it seriously and rescued it, we could feel the energy and enthusiasm of the painter. They'll never know how much pleasure they gave us.
And guess what, I can't wait to look for original art on my car boot sale hunts!
Well, after that art gallery it was time for a little something again.
We were walking through China town.
Ashley took us to what he calls the bun shop. It sells a wide variety of Chinese buns to eat in or take away.
I had a savoury bun. Well, the bun itself is a sweet bun; this one was topped with a sweetcorn cream and bacon and something else.
We also bought one each to take home.
And home was next on the agenda. We got the bus back from the city centre and we were home before youg E.
The kettle went on - yes, time for a little something again!
And I enjoyed my sweet bun with a cuppa - custard, pineapple and peach.
It has been just the sort of day I love.
I didn't know at the start where the day would take me and what I would see or do.
We are tired now (5 o'clock in the afternoon) and Bill is dozing.
Later I will help Ashley with his version of ravioli mark 2. There was a lot of rice left over and I worked out that cashews and pineappple with the spices and other vegetables would make it feel completely different.
