RDP – Spellbound

thanks to the Ragtag community for hosting RDP https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2023/02/21/rdp-tuesday-spellbound/

Children are spellbound with carnivals and fairs. At the CNE last summer our granddaughter was ‘spellbound’ by the sights and smells of last year’s Exhibition in Toronto.

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I appear to be spellbound by the dessert in front of me. I think I was more gobsmacked by the price of this classic cake.

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Eccles Cake with a wedge of Cheddar

Weekly Prompts – Weekend Challenge – Arches

thanks to Weekly Prompts for hosting the Weekend Challenge – Arches https://weeklyprompts.com/2022/05/28/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-arch/

I’m a full week late with this one but when I went back to this challenge I realized that I had some great ‘arches’ from our vacation in France and London, England.

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Cathedral in Paris, France
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Arched entrance to the Chateau Royal in Amboise, France
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Arched exits at the Amboise Chateau Royal, France
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Arches in one of the main exhibition rooms in the V&A, London
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Arched or barrel ceiling over the staircase in the V&A, London
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From the cafeteria in the V&A, London

Midweek Monochrome Photo Challenge – #90

….thanks to Brashley for hosting the Midweek Monochrome Challenge https://brashley.photography/2022/06/01/mid-week-monochrome-90-polesden-lacey-room/

St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, England

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Monday Murals – In Search of The Stik

….an adventure of epic proportions

While living in London, my husband decided he needed to find some street art created by the famous artist Stik. He went on the internet to locate some Stik murals that were not too far from our flat in Islington/Highbury.

Stik is a British graffiti artist based in London.[1][2] He is known for painting large stick figures.

One of his works fetched £150,000 at auction.

We started our search for a Stik mural at Shakespeare Walk. We got on a bus and made our way using Google Maps. When we got there we found ourselves walking through a nice residential neighbourhood with a community centre and parks. We thought we might be close because we did see some street art made by children.

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We asked a couple of local residents if they could help us but they were at a complete loss and had never heard of Stik. We ended up walking through Butterfield Green before getting back on the bus and heading home.

Two days later, Kevin found another area where he thought we’d have more luck. This time we got on a bus that took us further east towards Dalston. When we got there I wasn’t sure where Kevin was taking me. We walked through back alleys and abandoned lots but didn’t see a Stik.

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We went back to the main street and passed a colourful gate to a city garden but it didn’t open for another 10 minutes so we walked a little further and down a dead-end street where we passed some quirky shop windows and some graffiti art on the buildings.

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We returned to the Curve Garden Gate and looked up and saw this amazing mural on the wall outside the gate. Later we found out the people in the mural were famous local residents of Dalston.

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Kevin was certain that we would find a Stik mural behind those doors. What we did find was an amazing garden space that had been created by the community back in 2012 to make up for the fact that Dalston had no green spaces for the residents to enjoy. Inside there was a cafe, a tiny ‘museum’ of sorts, a play area for children and wonderful pots of spring plants. The walkway inside twisted and turned around trees and plants and areas to sit and enjoy this green space.

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While I was enjoying the scenery and taking photos Kevin was off looking for a Stik. When I caught up with him he looked dejected and not because he couldn’t find it. He found it buried behind scaffolding and overgrown plants. Unfortunately we could only see the bottom third of the figure. Apparently the wall it was painted on was deemed unsafe so the city covered it up for safety reasons.

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The search continues…….

Thanks to Sami for hosting Monday Murals https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2022/05/monday-murals-ellenbrook-ii.html and Marsha for host Photographing Public Art Challenge https://alwayswrite.blog/photographing_public_art_challenge/?wref=tp

Friendly Friday – Nostalgia

…thanks to Amanda for hosting this week’s Friendly Friday

Everyone once in awhile Facebook or my Photo Stream appear on my phone and remind me of events that took place in the past. It seems that I have done a most of my travelling in July which isn’t really unusual because the summer was the only time I could get away as a teacher.

Here are a few of my favourite moments from the past.

My husband when I first met him in 1972.2-B2890-D1-451-F-4-A30-B628-CBFC6-CDD175-B-1-201-a

Our daughter’s wedding day, 9/10/11
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Hiking up the cliff side in Houth, Ireland 2011
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Can you believe this is the same guy but 30 years younger?
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My Dad meeting his first great grandchild, Winnie.
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At Andrea’s and Josie’s wedding
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Travelling with our daughter and granddaughter in Italy, July 2016
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The family at Azadeh’s and Brendan’s wedding in Assisi, July 2016
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Venice with my husband in July 2020
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Gaelan, Winnie and me in Florence in July 2020
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Visiting Brendan and Azadeh in London with the girls, 2018B8824435-4570-4997-ADBD-D8-C6-F72-FBE67

Touring the neighbourhoods of London with Andrea and Josie, 2018
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