Literary Artshare at Artword Artbar August 18,2010

Unfortunately, my blog programme no longer lets me put comments beside each photo for some reason. In fact, I only get computer language for the photos now.

I wish I knew how to change it but I don't. Performers are below and if you would care to "google" some of the names, you will see lots of material about them on the internet.

The two headliners were Norma West Linder (in the pink outfit) and Sir Robert Lima of the United States.

The featured musician for this event was Peter Tichelaar who entertained the crowd with his melodious voice and his fabulous playing of the ukulele. He will be featured in the Fall at this same venue.

Others who read from their work were:

Becky Alexander
James Deahl - Master of Ceremonies
Andres Gripp
Omaha RisinG
Jeff Seffinga
Stan White

All the above are accomplished poets whose words touched the hearts of those present.

















What a grand evening it was; not only because of the delightful weather outside, but also the warmth and ambiance of ArtWord Artbar, and its welcome to writers and other artists.

For those not familiar with this location, it is on Colbourne, right down from the Anglican Cathedral. James and Colbourne are the cross streets.

Last night was no exception with the two headliners coming far to read here - Norma West Linder from Sarnia, Ontario and Sir Robert Lima from the United States.

Not only were we so fortunate to attract such wonderful artists from so far, we also had guest readers from Preston, London, Cambridge and Toronto.

Each artist was unique in their presentation and words which made it a very enjoyable evening.

I was asked to bring my camera and take pictures so here they are. James saved me a seat near the front so I could get good shots.

It was a very late evening, 11:30 by the time I got dropped off at home, but well worth the time spent there.

There will be another Artshare next month - check the Artword/Artbar website for the date.

Asma's visit August 5,2010

The picture with the drink was at Jackson's Square. The rest are at Pier 8.








What a wonderful time we had together. We have known each other since 1995 and have always gotten along so well. We are like sisters and her children are like my children. When I was still in Toronto, we used to get together quite often but now I live over an hour away.

I am so excited for her, she is going to make Hajj in November. She and two other members of her family are going together.

We went to the mall, went window shopping basically, then ate at the Afghani place in the Old Eaton's Center. Their food is always good and it is halal. They are such a lovely family and I have enjoyed their food ever since I came here. I wish them well as they are hard working people and most pleasant to deal with.

We had fun just looking around and then went on the shuffle bus down to Pier 8 where we had an ice cream cone and walked around abit.

The heat was too much so we sat in the shade and just chatted. We always seem to find things to chat about which is nice. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of shade at Pier 8 so it is difficult to stay down there for too long unless you bring your own chair and sit under a tree.

All in all, a lovely day.

Concert at Whitehern

Jennifer took these photo of Melissa, Kevin and Doug Feaver, the performer.

Jeff and I in the garden at Whitehern. Jennifer took this shot. My eyes are rolling due to a crack that Jeff made. It's a great picture of him though. My deadpan look!

Kevin makes a great Granddad and the little one listens to him which I was very glad to see.

All in all, a good day and I shall be going to a poetry reading shortly this evening so there will be more to hear about tomorrow some time. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!

Kevin and Melissa dropped into my place about 10 a.m. He was lucky I was home. I was in the midst of rearranging furniture and cleaning so he had to take me as he found me unfortunately. We had a nice little visit though and the little girl was as good as gold. I was nervous though because my home is no longer childproof and she is 22 months of age and curious about everything. Fortunately, I have some children's books still so she looked at the pictures and I gave her a spool to play with so that kept her busy for a little while. I was in the midst of doing two loads of washing as well so poor Kev had to just entertain himself until we went to the concert at 12. He is a very comfortable person though so it was no problem.

Would you believe, this is a purse and it has a high heel on it. I had to take a picture of it as it was so different.

These little people were sitting near us. They were adorable children and very well behaved. I suspect they must be brother and sister. I had lots of enjoyment just watching them.

Jennifer took most of these pictures and she is getting better and better with my camera....

A small section of the crowd

Kev and his granddaughter relaxing near the stage. Kevin actually knew the performer as Kevin is a musician himself. He will be performing at Festival of Friends in August himself.

He was amazing, played the guitar, sang and played the mouth organ. His programme was bluegrass and the blues. Very enjoyable !Doug Feaver - performer

Doug Feaver

In the garden, Kevin and his granddaughter - Melissa.

Another great concert at Whitehern. we are so spoiled here in Hamilton with free concerts each Wednesday in the summer months. It was a good crowd today and the performer was excellent.

Thanks for reading - the day was not yet finished, had another nice event to go to so will post it tomorrow.

Festival of Friends Canada Day

I keep this surface covered as they like to lie there and hair can be a bother and this makes it easier for me to wipe it off. They don't mind at all and are content. In fact, they oftentimes burrow into it and try and hide! It is great fun. When I am making the bed, Tiger has a real fight with the two plastic covers and does this each morning as part of his routine. Even Boots is now joining in on the fun.

In case you are wondering what my two "boys" are doing on a blog about Festival of Friends, here is the reason. Just because I can! Actually, all joking aside, I got new batteries from the store and had charged them so was just testing to see they were fine. Thus, pictures of the cats. Tiger is the orange and white one and Boots is the grey/blackish one staring up at the camera.

My pal Rosie and a tree I like at Gage Park.

The main stage - a young lady singing. She had a very powerful voice.

I was somewhat disappointed that Anna and Bill could not come for the day as planned but unfortunately she was not feeling well enough to travel. Rosie and I went to Festival of Friends at Gage Park in the afternoon. It was nice and there were huge crowds there.

The sun was quite hot so we had to shelter under the shade several times. In the meantime, as we were heading to shade, we bumped into Jeff.

He had come on his bike as he usually does in the summer.

We stayed for several hours. There was a $7.00 charge for parking which I thought was highway robbery! We should have taken the bus.....

After our visit to the park, Rosie asked me to help her with her computer so I went back to her place to do so. We managed to muddle through some things but others I could not figure out how to do. I am definitely not a computer whiz but I do have more knowledge in that field than she does.

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.