Window on the World: August 2010

August 2010

August has been a bit of a blur, lots has been happening and our next holiday is looming.

02.08.10: Although I was trying to have a piano lesson free month, Barbara came for a long postponed piano lesson this morning. We had a lovely lesson and we will meet again in early September.

03.08.10: A new person came for an introductory piano lesson. Jo is 78 and mainly plays the guitar. He's interested in learning more about rhythm and timing as he always plays to backing tracks. Interesting dilemma, we shall see how things pan out. Bridget also came for a lesson, definite improvement from last time, next lesson in September.

In the afternoon I went to the surgery to have a skin tag on my back removed. I recently knocked it and the doctor agreed it would be best removed. It was very quick and simple to remove using a cauterising knife.

04.08.10: Lucy and I caught the early train to London. Unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant, but we went to the Tate Modern and saw the photographic exhibition: "Exposed" some good things, some boring, but quite interesting overall. The free exhibition on the next floor was much more interesting - German photographer August Sander had taken portraits of people in their profession, almost like a game, you could look and take a guess and then read the small print at the bottom...We had a lovely meal in the cafe and then called in at the bead shop at Covent Garden before catching the train home.

05.08.10: Today was my parent's 57th Wedding Anniversary. Had second acupuncture session at The Derby Royal. I know it has made an improvement and that I can do more of what I want without having to plan - such a difference... On the down side, while I was waiting at the hospital there was a leaflet showing classes in Derby from September. I am devastated to find there is no mention of my class...

06.08.10: Philippa came to collect me to go to lunch at The Bottle Kiln. Such was the therapy of talking to someone that I now feel much more positive about next term and that 'something' will turn up. She has agreed to come the the Training Day being held by the Crafts Council in September. Thanks Philippa...

08.08.10: Twenty four years ago this was a very special (traumatic) day - Robert's birthday. This year we caught the 10 to 9 train from Derby which eventually arrived in London at 20 past 11, underground to Mansion House and a short walk across the Millennium Bridge saw us meeting up with said first born at the Tate Modern. We had a lovely lunch, although Robert, ever trying something new, managed to get a fish bone stuck in his gum. I dashed up to the top floor to take some photos while Graham paid the bill and then we went the scenic route (we got lost) to the Saatchi Gallery. This is the second time I have visited this gallery and reaffirmed my view that if you like rubbish art you will find it here, almost as though it has been washed up on a beach, the world's detritus... Next, after a short ride in a taxi we arrived at the Serpentine. We had a very expensive drink in the red cafe(?) and while the others relaxed on the grass, I had a look a photographic exhibition in the gallery - until I realised that I had a read a review which advised you not to bother... Time was now getting short, but there was just time to walk down to the Princess Diana Memorial, which we had never visited before. It's a lovely fun place to be when it's warm and sunny as it was today. Robert and Lucy had great fun walking round sloshing in the water with all the other children. Then it was time for goodbyes and a quick dash to our train.

09.08.10: Early morning start to get to The Royal Hospital for my third acupuncture session. I'm beginning to feel a complete fraud going as I have been more or less free of any niggles since the last session.

11.08.10: Today I went to London on my own having left Lucy at the station to catch a train to Cardiff for an interview with Peacocks. I even took my big camera with me, as I did on Sunday. It felt a bit like going without a safety net... First I went to see The Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy. Had to queue for 5-10 minutes to get in. The Exhibition itself was interesting and worth going if only to see the giant gorilla made out of wire coat hangers - amazing. Virtually no photographs in this year's display, except three huge panoramas by Dave Hockney. although I suspect that he didn't actually take them... Anyway, had lunch in the restaurant below and was bitterly disappointed with the faire compared with what was on offer at Tate Modern. After that I walked to Trafalgar Square to take photos of the Ship In A Bottle, although had to wait ages for the sun to come out - I gave up at one point and visited the portrait gallery - always something interesting to see there. Next a quick visit to the Bead Shop, but not before a short stop at Freed's to buy a pair of miniature ballet shoes. When I was little there was a shop in Cheltenham (obviously a ballet shop) where part of the window was stacked up with miniature ballet shoes. I'd always promised myself that 'when I grew up', I would treat myself to a pair... and I did... Then on to Covent Garden and back to St Pancras for the 5 to 6 train. (Picked up Lucy on the way home)

13.08.10: Took Lucy to the station for another interview in London and a very long day for her. Went shopping on my own, unheard of... Called in to see Hannah at The Quad, I'm hoping she will be able to come to our Training Day on 9th September.

14.08.10: Took Lucy to station to catch train to go and see friend from University who lives in Lincoln. Did some gardening in the afternoon and then got dressed up and went to town at 7, had some tea in Nandos and went to see 'Coco and Stravinsky' at The Quad. Strange film in French with subtitles, but interesting to watch and to see 'Stravinski' playing the piano and writing music etc...

15.08.10: Graham went to see old motorbikes racing at Donnington, while we stayed at home and cooked chicken and had home grown vegetables. Took Graham for a walk to Little Eaton late afternoon.

16.08.10: Another early morning start and my last acupuncture session at the hospital. Turns out my acupuncturist collects miniature things for a dolls house made for her by her father. Lucy came with me as she had an interview with a firm at Draycott Business Park just outside Moreton In Marsh, so we set off from the hospital about 9.40am. Lucy had a good interview and then we spent the rest of the day with my parents. In the afternoon a chap came to say that work on a £7 million development on next door's was starting tomorrow. He warned them that enormous dumper trucks will be coming past their house for the next 3 weeks at the rate of one every 20 minutes from 8am until 4.30pm as they are digging down 4 metres. I hope my parents will cope, I'm not sure I would...

20.08.10: Lucy had an interview in Oxford (with Oxfam), so we all went down, met Robert, had lunch out and called in on my parents on the way home.

23.08.10

Today was a long day... Got up at 5.30am and out of the house by 6. Lucy came with us to Birmingham Airport where we exchanged brief goodbyes - she caught the train to Swindon for a 10.30 interview and we set off on our American adventure. We were eventually airborne by 10.30am - an hour and a half late. It was a relief not to have to share our seats with a third person, but there was disappointment when we learned that our seats didn't recline because we were in front of the emergency exit! However, two films later New York was within our sight and a run of luck on the in house roulette game meant there was something to take my mind off the predictable air turbulence half an hour before landing. Just for once we sailed through customs, the collection of suitcases and redeposit to Chicago, only to find that this flight was also delayed by an hour and a half. The view from Newark airport did not bode well, grey skies and drizzly rain - it could have been 7pm, in contrast, the weather in Chicago was warm and sunny with a lovely golden light of 6pm - what a relief. Our car was ready and waiting with Graham's name spelled out overhead and a short trip into Chicago with me oohing and aahing at the size of the skscrapers and we were safely at our first destination. As Graham left me minding the bags in front of the Merchandising Mart, I felt like I was looking out from a goldfish bowl - so much to see and all of it bending around me. We quickly freshened up and out seeing the sights.

Luckily Graham knows Chicago quite well and was confident about where to go and what to see. The Bean is amazing, so shiny, so photogenic - I had to be dragged away. Dinner was back at the hotel, small beef burgers (no cheese on mine!)

24.08.10: Always difficult to sleep the first night, but we did quite well and were having breakfast by 8.15am (6 hours behind UK time) First stop was a camera shop to buy a battery charger for Graham's new camera (he'd left the charger at home). Next The Art Institute of Chicago. We'd gone there hoping to see the Henrie Cartier Bresson exhibition - except that the quality of the art there was just amazing, the best of Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin you name it (famous artists) there it was there, masterpieces the like of which I had never seen before. It took us ages to get to the photographic exhibition because there were so many wonderful treasures to see. The Henri Cartier Bresson (HCB) exhibition was also vast and enthralling, a whole life spent taking photos recording world events - what could be better... By now it was very hot outside, lunch of burgers was outside and then a few more photos of The Bean. Next a long walk down along the waterfront. We were very lucky that it was the start of their 'Tall Ships' parade and we had the best view. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a grassy bank snapping along with several hundred others, the warm sea breeze gently blowing in our faces. When the last of the ships were just specks we caught a boat to the pier opposite and saw some of the Tall Ships close up, a quick look round a stained glass museum and then we headed back to the hotel stopping off for a posh dinner of Atlantic salmon.

25.08.10: I had to beg a bit this morning to visit some shops, but we didn't have to go too far to find the Lego store, filled with all the lego kits you could wish for with life sized models of people and dinosaurs dotted about the mall. Back to the hotel and off to our next destination, Grand Rapids. The journey didn't look very exciting, but when we stopped off to stretch out legs we had a walk along a beach, paddling as we went, like a tropical paradise...

When we arrived in Grand Rapids we found that we had lost our hour and of was now 7 and not 6 o'clock. The hotel was right next to a busy freeway and the sound of trucks and cars passing over the concrete surface disturbed our sleep throughout the night. We did have a walk round after dinner (fresh water Perch) and found we were right next to the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum and a Natural History museum complete with a real dinosaur skeleton hanging from the ceiling, but the rest of GR was exactly inspiring. It was the home to wealth of Amway, a accolade in its self. I think the highlight of the day was the free glass of chardonnay, 'Tall Ships'

26.08.10: As soon as we woke up we rang my mum to wish her Happy 82nd birthday. Unfortunately it was lunch time for her, but I hope she had a lovely day with my sister's family. Didn't sound as though the weather was particularly good.

Today our destination was Detroit, not your usual holiday stop, but Graham wanted to show me the Henry Ford Museum there. We didn't arrive until 2 as we'd stopped for coffee and had a bit of a detour to see some farms and then found out the museum closed at 5. To call it a whistle stop tour was an understatement, but we managed a quick lunch (pulled pork) a look at the Model T Ford, Wright's aeroplanes and a huge steam train, a ride on a real steam engine around Greenville Village, a walk round the houses of Ford, Wright, Edison and a cottage from Chedworth (near Northleach) and a look in the gift shop - all before 5. Luckily the hotel was nearby, not exactly salubrious, but sufficient.

27.08.10: Today did not bode well, first we knew we had to find a new sim card for the computer as we were crossing the border to Canada and we had trouble even finding the bridge! The mobile phone shop was the other side of some serious construction work and when we tried to get the sim card connected, we couldn't and even when we found some internet we tried paying for the connection only to find that Graham's credit card had been barred...

By 6pm Toronto was on the horizon and as we neared our destination, the sight of the CN Tower made us both forget any gripes we had had today.

The Intercontinental Hotel in the centre of Toronto looked fabulous from the outside and inside it was even grander. We'd been upgraded to a 'Junior Suite' on the 21st floor (of 23) which meant we had a hallway, a lounge area and two giant televisions, best of all though was the view... When we'd entered the lobby, it was really busy, we'd booked our stay at the same time as 'Fan-Expo' - which probably accounted for the fact we kept on bumping into, Ghost Busters, Wonderwoman and several Aliens from Star Trek. I was to photograph them all, but as they didn't appear to think that they looked anything out of the ordinary, I had to keep my camera 'at bay'. Graham spent the whole time we were there complaining about how they (the people attending Fan-Expo needed to 'get out more'!

After taking a few photos from our window, we descended to street level and joined in with the rest of the sightseers watching the street performers and drinking in the wonderful smells from the food stalls - all raising money for an epilepsy organisation. We soon found ourselves down by the harbour - the blustery harbour, it was windy the whole time we were there - I can't imagine how cold it must feel in the winter if it is always that windy. A fish restaurant on the quayside seemed a nice venue for our evening meal- how wrong could I be. It just seemed really dingy inside and when Uriah Heap (the waiter) came to seat us, I knew I had to plan an escape. Having beat a hasty retreat, we found ourselves back at the hotel where Graham treated me to a meal out of this world. I have never tasted the quality of meat or encountered the wonderous presentation on our plates, it was all amazing - as was the bill at the end...

28.08.10: We had a shopping expedition first thing to Queen Street, the main shopping street in Toronto. I was lucky that there were several street performers out that morning to entertain Graham, while I swanned in and out of the bead shops. After a light lunch at Tim Horton's, we caught the ferry to Toronto Island and had a very pleasant walk round. When we got there and had a look at the map, Graham pointed out that one of the beaches said 'clothing optional', so knowing what he was thinking, I encouraged a visit there first. The beach was delightful and we had our second paddle of the holiday, walking the length of the beach. But, strangely nearly all the people who had chosen to populate the beach were male and not female - it was quite an education... We had tea at Shopsy's and stayed on the island until 7 when the light was just beginning to fade and we just couldn't take anymore photos of the beautiful Toronto skyline.

Back to the hotel and washed my hair and was stuck down with severe toothache.

29.08.10: Today was 'People Day'. When I was 9 and we spent a magical year in New Zealand, we stayed with relations in Long Beach on the way over and cousins in Canada on the way back. We were hoping to see Amy and Lanny (his real name is Harland) in Pelham, Ontario, but only Amy was at home, Lanny was in Quebec (for reasons too complicated to explain) Amy treated us to a lovely lunch of shrimps, Caesar salad and peach cobbler, well the peaches were lovely... It was excessively hot outside, but cool and shady at Amy's new house. We left about three and drove to Niagara Falls. I was so excited about going to see the Falls again, but disappointed at the same time. In 2006 we spent 5 nights staying at Niagara Falls and it was wonderful except I was really unwell due to Hermione. Although it was the same time of year, it was quite overcast, so I was thrilled that today I would be able to take photos with a blue sky and bright sunshine. Just a pity that I was in agony with my teeth... As predicted, took loads of photos, bought a much needed drink with the last of the Canadian money we had and queued for ages to get across the border. Eventually we set off via Buffalo to our next rendezvous, Graham had organised to meet up with a business colleague at Applebees, where we had a great meal of steak (I convinced myself that eating would help...) in the company of Jim and Patty.We left at 10 and drove another hour and three quarters to our hotel at Elvira - where at quarter to 12 we couldn't find the entrance as they were busy renovating the hotel and had moved it!

30.08.10: Today was the highlight of the trip, a visit to the Glass Museum at Corning. It did mean that we back-tracked a bit, but the hotel at Elvira was very comfortable once we'd gained entry. Graham came along today, not under sufferance, but thinking it would be a 'girly' day - but he actually enjoyed it as much if not more than me. First we stopped at the car park and were ushered on to an awaiting bus. Thinking the museum must be miles away we took our seats at the back, only to arrive in about 30 seconds! After queuing for a little while, we saw a collection of modern glass works of art ( it had been given to the museum by Ben and Natalie Heineman and was breathtaking) then a collection of glass that dated from 600BC to the modern day (this was vast and went on for ever) then a demonstration of glass blowing where the commentator was more impressive that the vase that was made and then running out of time we headed for the shop. Thank you Graham for the beautiful vase which cost a fortune and only stands 4 inches high... (it is signed) He bought Lucy a paperweight, which looked mathematical and I bought her a butter knife with a bead handle. We were just on the edge of The Finger Lakes which Graham was keen to visit, but we didn't get very far as I had spotted 'Watkins Glen' on the map which I felt I had to visit - it being my maiden name. It was a State Park and as such we had to pay to get in. Had we known what delights awaited us we would have been happy to pay double. First we had a picnic lunch - it was now gone three o'clock and then reading the small map we'd been given, we set off up through a small tunnel. It was as though we had been transported to a Fairy Glen, we followed a wide path which traced the narrow gorge. At every twist and turn there was something different to see, waterfalls, ponds, sheer cliffs - it was such a wonderful experience culminating with the thrill of being able to pass behind not one but two waterfalls. Almost at the top, we ran out of time and had to head back. I almost can't bear to look at the photos in case I haven't been able to capture the magic of the experience...

31.08.10: Last night we stayed Albany, the capital of New York State. It wasn't particularly late, but neither of us could muster the energy or inclination to have a walk round. So we just freshened up and went to the bar for something to eat and some relaxing alcohol. The waitress was a bit surprised when we had burger without cheese (to share) and a cheese platter (so Graham still could have a cheese fix!) The morning was spent washing hair and posting to this blog before we set off around 11.0am. The Sat Nav told us that our next stop was only 2 and a half hours away, but because we took the scenic route, stopping by a park to see the Hudson River up close (it is so wide and so flat) a sandwich at Cairo (where we saw our first stick insect) and a short walk round at Kingston (boy was it hot!) we didn't arrive until 6.30pm. I should mention that we had intended to visit 'something' and made our way to Kingston to see the Senate House (where the first senate met in 1676) I knew it said "closed Tuesdays" but somehow it didn't register that it was indeed Tuesday. As we stood in the grounds wondering what to do next, a lady approached us and asked if we'd come to see the house and how it was closed... It turned out, she was the curator and invited us in to the museum to give us a leaflet (and to take shelter from the extreme heat). We spent the best part of an hour discussing the history of America (amongst other things) It really was a fascinating conversation - and we got to use the washrooms in the museum...

Our last hotel was in Mount Kisco, except Graham had managed to put in the wrong address into the Sat Nav and we ended up looking for the hotel in the middle of the most amazing housing estate I have ever seen (they were all beautiful mansions) The hotel, although 50 yards from a railway line was quiet and quite impressive inside and we spent the time after our meal being entertained with chocolate cookies and brandy talking to a hostess dressed in a long nighty and slippers who regaled us with stories of Sleepy Hollow...