Headin down to County Cork

We have rented a country house near the town of Bantry in County Cork for one week, so Ruth, Aaste, Rosie (the dog) and I will be heading down there today. I doubt we will have much Internet access down there - but will hopefully take some good pictures to post later. If the weather is good we wil attend the Bantry Fair on Sunday. I'm eager to see how different it is from a Canadian country fair. Ruth is threatening to enter her dog in the 'Prettiest Dog" category, but nearly tore Aaste's head off when Aaste suggested maybe she should brush Rosie first. :)

Photos from the Ship

For some reason, we didn't take a lot of photos while onboard, but here are a couple:


March of the Chefs. On the last formal night the chefs (all +70 of them) come out to take a bow.


Our table-mates. A family from Yorkshire. We enjoyed their company quite a lot.


On the observation deck at the very top of all 13 decks it could be a 'tad' windy.


Some of the teen group just hanging out in the 'Zone'.

Photos from Derbyshire

While in Sheffield, Russ took us out one day to see the beautiful countryside: the moors, the dales, charming villages, forests, and Chatsworth House (home of the Duke of Devonshire). See: http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/ for more information about this beautiful part of the country.


Chatsworth Village - Built for, and still inhabitated by the workers of the estate - some 2000 of them.


Chatsworth House


Aaste wins at 'Pooh Sticks'

Surrey to Sheffield to Dublin

(Photo: Our cottage in Surrey - many thanks to our Couch Surfing host, Caroline, who was UNBELIEVABLY good to us.)

Haven't had access to the Internet lately, but have that sorted now. We left Surrey last Monday and took the train up to Sheffield to spend a few days visiting my friend Russ. We hadn't seen each other in almost 3 years - although it doesn't seem that long. Russ had spent almost a year in Toronto on a kind of sabbatical year and now teaches at one of the two mega Universities in Sheffield. Last Thursday we flew to Dublin and were welcomed into my friend Ruth's house. Ruth and I have known each other for 20 years now!!!! We met in Nicaragua in 1987, but that is another story. More soon.

London Scrapbook

On our first day in London, we took a city bus tour. Aaste was still in love with our new camera and was very snap happy. Here are a few of her shots from that day. (And one I took of her on Campden Street).

Aaste on New York City

Sandy: Aaste, what did you like about New York?
Aaste: Central Park
S: Anything else?
A: Well, downtown (Times Square) was pretty neat and I liked that village place like where Carrie (character from Sex and the City) lived.
S: Oh, Greenwich Village. Once we finally found it. (We had some difficulties with directions and ended up walking a bit too long in the scorching heat which A absolutely hates!)
A: Yea.
S: What didn't you like about NY?
A: It's pretty dirty.
S: Would you go to NY again?
A: Maybe, if we stayed in a different neighborhood. One a bit more 'upscale'.
S: You didn't like our neighborhood?
A: Not really. It was kind of unfriendly.
S: Really?
A: Well, sort of. (We were at Central Park West and 103rd - walking west on 103rd to go to Broadway for a bite to eat or a little shopping you passed through an immense, if well cared for, public housing project)
S: But in general I found the people friendlier than I expected. People often asked us if they could help etc.
A: Yes, they were pretty friendly. But our neighborhood just seemed kind of, I don't know, scary sort of - like when I walked home alone after breakfast that time - I felt kind of scared.
S: Yes, I can see that.

Movies and Surrey

I asked Aaste today what she liked best about being aboard an ocean liner. Her first response was dinner! Well - the girl does like to take care of her stomach and indeed the food has been terrific and the dinner 'experience' extremely pleasant. We shared a table with a Yorkshire couple with a sixteen year old daughter and our dinner conversations were full of fun. Second on her list was the 'movies'. If she wasn't holed up in the room watching movies on one of the movie channels she was heading off every evening right after dinner to the movie nights held for the teens her age. All in all she seemed to have a good time. I dragged her to two planetarium shows, a play, and a 'song and dance' show - all of which she seemed to enjoy - but food and movies were her highlights.

This morning she watched "The Holiday" with Kate Winslett, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, and Jack Black. Cameron's character goes to spend the holidays in Surrey at Kate's house. Coincidentally we will be spending the next 3-4 nights in Surrey with a couch surfing contact. We land at about 6am and will travel to London and spend the afternoon sightseeing and then head off to Surrey to settle in with Caroline.

Shipboard Life

My god there is a lot to do here! I can't find time to take a nap! Theatre productions, films, bars, fantastic food, yoga classes, art auctions, wine tastings, you name it. Our cabin is bigger than our room was in New York, and although we do not have a window the air circulation system is fine and the darkness means we sleep without the interruption of sunshine. There are over 2600 passengers and about 1300 staff/crew. So - although the majority of people here are of the 'retired' type, with over 3000 people - there is a little bit of everything. Well - I'm off to a lecture by Scott Ritter (he was the UN Chief Weapons Inspector way back when in Iraq). Could be interesting....

What happened to us?

To see the 'newspaper' created to go with Dan Perjovschi's Project 85 - "What happened to us?" 2007 which I was impressed with at MOMA in NYC - go to the link below. There is more info at the MOMA website as well as the artist's own site. This newspaper reproduces some of the images in his mural.

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2002/projects/projects85/Projects85newspaper.pdf

Pics from New York

Weird Advertising

Advertisement for a storage company seen in NYC:

"Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose."

Are they being political? or ?????

New York Museums

I LOVED the Guggenheim - like I think I said before. The way the building is designed is fantastic - although undoubtedly not the most efficient use of space. I lost Aaste around the 4th level because I became mesmerized by a video installation about Wagon Stations at A-Z West. This has something to do with a U.S. alternative desert community, somewhat related to "Burning Man" and "Joshua Tree" - two alternative events/communities that I have recently become remotely aware of mostly due to my foray into couch surfing.

These exposures to 'alternative' / creative sub-cultures have made me wonder if part of the reason that I have embarked upon this 'journey' is to help me to reconnect / connect with the creative/alternative persona within. There is a part of me that is at home in 'that' world. Yet there is a part of me that is at home in the 9-5 / capitalist / mainstream culture. I seem to straddlle the worlds and can not decide to be completely a part of either.

At the Guggenheim I also learned for the first time of the Italian ' divisionist' painters. Drawing heavily on the French impressionists and pointilism (ala George Seuralt) they juxtoposed strokes of pigment to create visual effects of intense single colours. I was impressed.

As much as I loved the Guggenheim - the Museum of Modern Art was even more impressive. The collections there were fantastic, and I look forward to the day I can return. (For that matter, I am now even more excited about visiting the Tate in London.) In addition to fantastic collections of Picasso (always enjoyable) and Matisse (never quite understood the attraction, although there are some pieces I find mesmerizing), they have entire rooms of Pollack and Warhol, not to mention memorable pieces by Cezanne, Sereaut and Rosseau. I came upon the amazing optical illusion paintings of Bridget Riley. I spent minutes infatuated with a painting by Canadian born painter Philip Gaston and am now on a quest to discover the relationship between Georges Braque (whom I had never heard of) and Picasso. Of course the entire room filled with the enormous triptych (c1920) of Monet's "Reflection of clouds in the Water Lily Pond" was almost worth the price of admission alone. I was particularly pleased to spend time with Andrew Wyeth's "Cristina's World" which has always captured my imagination and now know is a glimpse into the world of a spirited woman physically crippled by polio. Finally, the main atrium was decorated by an immense mural of drawings by the Romanian artist, Dan Perjovschi entitled "What Happened to Us" (2007) which was extremely amusing and thought provoking. If I remember I will post the link ... but if I don't - look it up because it is clear and amusing stuff.

New York City Day 1

It was a hot and muggy New York day. Exactly what you would expect for August in New York. Our hostel is just fine. TOTALLY unfancy and a bit run down - but everything is clean. The room is very small, but the air conditioning works and the bathroom is just next door and even at 10 this morning there was hot water for the shower.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. I wasn't overly impressed by the Met; but thoroughly enjoyed the Guggenheim - both the collections and the magnificent building.

We bought a new camera as my old one was driving me absolutely bonkers! So I will soon have some pics to post.

At 7pm we went on a Harbour Lights Cruise which gave Aaste an opportunity to see the Statue of Liberty; which was (for some reason) the ONE thing Aaste was determined to see here.

Tomorrow the plan is to do MOMA and then wander in southern Manhattan, as so far we have mostly just seen midtown areas. So tired I can hardly type ....