First Concert of the summer at Whitehern

Myself, in front of the heart shaped flower garden at Whitehern.

Anita in the front yard of Whitehern. Note the beautiful heart shape that Whitehern gardeners do each year.

It was a perfect day for the first concert of the season and our group enjoyed it very much. A Red Hat group of ladies also attended which was nice to see. I love the way they dress in bright, happy colours. We were missing some of our regular group members as two of them went to Ottawa to see the Queen who is in Canada. She came to Halifax first for the 100th year of the celebration of the Canadian Navy. Then she went to Ottawa and will take part in the Canada Day Celebrations there.

Jeff and Grace dancing to Ruth's lovely music

A joke photo. I dared Jeff to take a picture of me when I was threatening him, so he did! We enjoy teasing each other.

A snap shot taken by Jeff.

Alice, Anita, Jeff, Willie (Bill). We had to move into the shade as the sun was just too warm.

Two newcomers to the group, Alice (a friend of Jeff's) and Willie, a Scottish Gentleman

It was the first concert in the summer season. We had thought it was the Hilda and Jane tea so we came prepared to pay our $10.00. It turned out that it was not going to be held this year but instead they put the first concert one week earlier than usual and will run one week later into September. The regular concert series are each Wednesday from 12-2, rain or shine. If it rains, it is held in the carriage house.

Ruth Sutherland was the performer today with her lovely voice and harp. Very enjoyable. She will come again another time before the summer is over. Judith, co-owner of ArtWord/Artbar heard the music and dropped in and joined our little group. It was good to see her. Perhaps she and Ron can take turns in coming as she seemed to enjoy the brief period of time she spent in the gardens.

Me, holding the wee fellow.

Nonie's little fellow.

The Moms and babies, with Anita, Liz and Grace.

Grace, Sonia and Liz posing with the baby girls.

My Sonia with her two baby girls. Grace looking at them. Both Sonia and Nonie are on Maternity Leave and brought the babies to show us all.

Nonie and her little one at the concert today. Cutest little fellow and so good!

The three little ones are enjoying their first ever concert!

Marvin Ross Production at St. Joseph's Hospital

The Brush, The Pen and Recovery Produced by Marvin Ross

I am unable to post the http: link onto this blog for some reason but please go to your search engine and type in the name of the film and you will be able to see more about it.

What a tremendous film Marvin produced about mental health disorders including schizophrenia. I knew quite a few of the people from The Cottage Studio who were the featured performers for this wonderful film. A few years ago, I had the honour of providing space at an Art Show at St. Paul's which I was in charge of. I have had the pleasure of knowing several of the folk who belong to the Cottage Studio and seen their work.

There were many fine speeches by St. Joe's Head of Staff and also the Head of the Hospital Foundation - all of which were very impressive in their compassion and understanding that they displayed towards people with mental health illnesses. I was most impressed by a young woman who spoke about her own path after being diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was quite young and how her life went. She now is well enough to speak to schools and other places about mental illness. She was indeed a very powerful speaker and I could hear every word she said.

After the event, there was a reception and that is when the pictures below were taken. I was so glad that Marvin invited me to go. It was a tremendous film and one that everybody would benefit from seeing in order to understand those with mental health problems better.

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Bernadette and I. Bernadette is a terrific poet and a dear friend whom I respect tremendously. It is always a joy to see her.

Jen and I at the wonderful evening. She is one of the artists at the Cottage Studio and we know each other from the Freeway. She saw me just as Bernadette and I were leaving. We did not stay for the reception as it was already 8:30.

La Cantina Restaurant

What a lovely lunch we had at La Cantina Restaurant on Walnut, below Main Street in downtown Hamilton. Delicious food, nice service and lovely atmosphere. I was extremely glad that we sat outside in the patio as it was lovely and cool. The portions are very generous, in fact, we all took doggie bags home. This restaurant has a dress code and is perhaps more expensive than family type restaurants but well worth the price.

I imagine that it would be lovely at night there as the inside is very nicely decorated as well.

All in all, a very lovely afternoon spent with the "kids".





A shot of part of the patio.

One of the many lovely shots of the plants at the outdoor patio.

Ken and Jody at the outdoor patio. They invited me to join them as they both are leaving Hamilton for a while. I shall miss both of them.

Ken took this shot....

Ken, Jody and myself enjoying the outdoor patio at La Cantina. Our lovely waitress took this shot.

The Nonie Crete Band at ArtWordArtbar

Good pals, Kev and I at the wonderful ArtWord/Artbar on June 26, 2010.

Mohammed, Ken and Kevin. Ken and Kevin are both musicians.

Eugene Rea and Nonie Crete on stage along with Gary Keoller who played the accordion beautifully.

Eugene, Nonie's husband, who is extremely versatile. Plays the ukalaie, guitar, a flute like instrument and he sang as well.

This is a shot, taken from our table of this wonderful, energetic band!

Kevin and I went together to hear this great band at the ArtWord/Artbar on Colbourne Street which is near the Anglican Cathedral on James St. North.

Busker Crawl June 25,2010

Two young fellows who posed for us. Great guys, we enjoyed talking with them.

An interesting storefront window on James St. North.

In a store front window on James St. North.

In the window of Hamilton Artists Inc.

Taken inside ArtWord/Artbar, listening to Klyde Brook's performance. My pal took this shot.

In the lovely gardens at Christ Church Cathedral on James St. North

This night was a really interesting one with lots going on and all pretty well free! There was the Busker Crawl and then ArtWord/Artbar. My friend Jennifer and I also bumped into two other friends while we were out which made it very nice.

In order to read this blog entry, please go down further and read upwards. For some reason it worked out this way this time.
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Scroll down to the beginning of the blog please......

While the performances were going on inside, we had the honour of seeing a religious parade go by outside our window. It was an Italian group with religious floats. It reminded me so much of the French Canadian religious parades in Lachine. I was so happy to see it. I have seen them before going past my building downtown but quite a few years before and I really was touched by it at that time. Tonight it was my candlelight so pictures would not do it justice.

All in all, a very full and interesting way to spend a Friday night.
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Outside on the stairs of ArtWord/Artbar. Dressed up for busker crawl. Loved their look!

A lady from Mexico, but I did not catch her name. She was talking about the indigenous people of Mexico and elsewhere.

Klyde Brooks, dub poet, performing his poetry at ArtWord/Artbar on Colbourne down from James North. It was very interesting to me to see this form of poetry. I cannot recall seeing it done this way before. I quite liked it, particularly the part where it became interactive with audience participation. It was almost like the round singing the way it used to be done when I was young.

After the busker crawl, we dropped into ArtWord/Artbar and this is Jeff reading some of his dub poetry.

Jennifer took this shot at the fountain at Christ Church Cathedral.

This is the Armory entrance on James North.

This is a Portuguese Restaurant. At night this lights up with blue lights and looks very pretty!

I took quite a few pictures of interesting spots around the James North area. This was in the window of Graham Crawford's history shop.

All the buskers were great and played well. We had a nice little chat with these two young fellows who played outside of Christ Church Cathedral. They were very friendly and played well.

I loved to hear the violin along with the other instruments.

I particularly thought this was a great idea. This fellow was playing the sticks on the poster! Very original....

Jeff, a poet friend of mine who also plays the harmonica.

What a great time my friend and I had last night! It was a real delight to hear all the wonderful talent that came out for this busker crawl. James North has become a very interesting spot to visit, especially now that ArtWord/ArtBar is there. It has become one of my favourite places to go as I really like the hosts who always make me feel very welcome. Last night was no exception. Ny friend and I dropped in for a drink after enjoying the busker crawl. Above are some pictures I took of various artists and of some interesting places on the street.

Thestar.com - VideoZone - What G20 Leaders will not see

Thestar.com - VideoZone - What G20 Leaders will not see


For those who read my blog, I wish you would click on the above video put out by the Toronto Star. Many of you may not know that I did street work for a number of years in Toronto and none of what you see in this video is exaggerated.

It hurts my soul to see all the expense and grandeur put on for the G8, G20 leaders

In my opinion, as an ordinary citizen, it would be better to get our own house in order by building more affordable housing and giving a hand up for those who are "down". I am one hundred percent sure that these leaders do not have to worry about what they will eat nor where they will sleep or how other humans will treat them. In my street work, I have seen the effects of alcoholism, of drug addiction, of prostitution, and of the loss of self respect. I have also seen how our native brothers and sisters are treated and it is not something to be proud of.

No one person is immune from this happening to them, a job loss, a tragedy which affects the mind, alcoholism and drug intake and the list could go on and on. As I said, no one. One may have built up a savings account, have stocks and bonds, but life is uncertain. Stocks and bonds can go down in value, life savings can be wiped out, no one is guaranteed a good "standard of living". We, in Canada, are more fortunate than most of the world but, we, too, have our dark side which we need to constantly work at so that the life of all our citizens will be worth living.

In the splendor which is shown to these "world leaders", should we not reflect on the realities that many of our citizens experience and do all we can, in a democratic way, to uplift our fellow humans who are "down."

Change can start with one, why not you. I always remember the little song I learned in Sunday School when I was a little child. It went something like this:

"Brighten the corner where you are,
Brighten the corner where you are"

There is more but I don't remember it. It has stuck in my mind for going on 68 years and I am so greatful for the songwriter who composed it as it is so true. If each one of us did one little thing each day to brighten up somebody's little world, and collectively worked together to improve our own towns and cities, what a different place the world would be!

Thanks for reading and have a good day. Change can start with each one of us, if we so will it.

City Hall Tour for Artists

Last night was an event (by invitation only) for the Artists in Hamilton. I was fortunate enough to be able to go as was some other artists that I know.

The City of Hamilton had put out a lovely array of food and there were displays around of the different venues where the arts can be viewed.

Eventually, we were all ushered into the new Council Chamber and had the opportunity to listen to various topics brought by different organizations within the Arts Community.

Many people attended this function and before the light failed, we all were asked to go out for a group picture in front of the new City Hall.

It was interesting to see the photographer take this picture as he had to get up on a step ladder to take it.

I would love to see it eventually.

All in all, a nice event.

A.G.M. for Arts Hamilton and ArtShare afterwards

It was quite an enjoyable event. I met some of the board members and even found out one of them is the brother of my family doctor! I did not take my camera with me this time as I thought I would leave just after the meeting ended but I stayed on to hear some of the musicians sing and play. Judith and Ron put on a lovely spread at the end of the meeting and Arts Hamilton picked up the tab for it.

I am certainly very glad to have stayed for the musicians - they were darn good and I enjoyed it very much. Now I know who Dave Pomprey is.

I met a very nice lady called Diane who sat with Jean, Susan and I. She is an artist and we have exchanged business cards.

All in all, a lovely evening and I am glad I went. Ron gave an interesting talk about how he and Judith met and how they have found Hamilton. Ron played his violin during the musical session and I enjoyed that very much also.

I am looking forward to the busker protest on Friday!

Erland Lee Home - Historical house in Hamilton, Ontario

A shot from across the street. Toronto is in the far distance.

A close up shot. They also are one of the my favourite flowers!

Wild roses growing on the property

A close up of a Tiger Lily. One of my favourite flowers

A gorgeous tree on the property

Part of the grounds at Erland Lee Home


E.d. Smith - jam makers. The plant is still in Stoney Creek. Stella and I passed it.

Uniforms

The cutter (one horse open sleigh) which was hung up by ropes

A child's sleigh
Oh Canada!

Some interesting tools. Some of them have written notes. You may be able to zoom in to see them.

This was the building where we had the poetry reading. If you can see it, there is a smaller door within a larger door. This was a working barn at one time which would have held animals, also hay and grain would have been stored upstairs.

Yesterday at the poetry reading at this historical house in Stoney Creek, I took some pictures of the place where the reading took place. It was a barn originally. There were so many interesting items in it that I thought I would share some of the pictures with you.