musicians

king charles & homecut played in our elemental tent in june..
homecut plays at greenbelt festival this weekend

church buildings

i know, i know - church is the people, not the buildings
but these are nice, eh?
[top]Thorncrown Chapel/Eureka Springs, Arkansas USA
[middle] Farewell Chapel/Ljubljana, Slovenia
[bottom] Infinity Chapel/Tanjung Benoa, Bali
(from nifty churchy design site)

zoo

today we saw: a little armadillo scurrying busily around; 2 pygmy hippos; 2 asian lions; an okapi; a red panda; some gorillas; glasswing butterflies & lots more at Bristol Zoo.

cardiff hotel series

The Old Post Office:
on the western edge of Cardiff, it is as the title suggests
from road looks cosy in squashy way, but quite light & airy
we should know coz we went here after our wedding, this time last year

Lost in Translation value..? not remotely like Tokyo,
but possibly the best breakfast in Cardiff
stocked Betty Boo dvds too

view from the hill

nic & me, + hats - when retreated up a hill above glastonbury festival
(i'm the one who's not awake. photo by henrik)
see a phew nice photos from the elemental tent..

huh?

oo & ah at this wobbly building, helped along by north German clevers urbanscreen..

festival a-go-go

off to glastonbury festival-
gonna miss Beth!
helping (once again)at the nifty elemental tent
this year, look out for ceramic mugs, yessir
+ usual cosy marquee with gallery/cafe/music/salon/campfires
bye bye bed, cooker, tarmac, indoor toilets, soundproofing
luv, xmike

canine cartoon characters series: Deputy Dawg

i (vaguely remember this 'dawg' on black & white TV)
i don't think it was that funny a show though
so - better acts to follow

dirty washing over m32

a bristolian - fed up with the cross-city motorway rumbling by - hung his washing out across a footbridge. (from 10th june's wooster collective street art site)

cardiff hotel series

got a little suprise seeing this compact hotel appear 1 day
(or i missed its construction, right next to the central station)
they definitely squashed this neat 5-storey wedge of concrete & class
into a tight corner (near where you used to go under the bridge to the hippo club before that was knocked down). sleeperz holds 74 rooms! - it really doesn't look big enough - clever use of space. lost in translation value...? never been in, but scores highly on ultra-clean look & goldfish-bowl views of messy cardiff nightlife. hope it's well sound-proofed..

another cranky turntable..

cardboard technology

Lizz made this for a children's workshop
& her real turntable has recently worn out

more t's by howies

bird of the month : nightjar

we were going to look (& listen) for nightjars at dusk yesterday (9:04pm)
this is when they can be heard best, we are reliable informed
find out when dawn & dusk occur by you here & learn about nightjars (& check their noises) here

poster child

Stainedglass
Uploaded by posterchild. - Independent web videos.

this is from a while back but forgot how nice it was. the street flower pot things are sweet too..

Handala

50 years of Heinz baked beans

yesterday the Queen visited the baked bean factory in Wigan to celebrate half a century of baked bean production
pfft!

teepay

howies has launched a new teeshirt company called teepay

teepay is the place where you can upload your own designs,
& if they sell enough they'll print them & pay you a royalty

wavy

see inside of waves!
some amazing photos on the Newsround site..

subway art : 25 years on

in 1984 this book came out & helped spread 'grafitti art' worldwide
i remember copying photos from the book with felt-tip pens
& seeing pieces appear on the concrete round where we lived..
now re-released..

artist: Peter Blake

pop artist Peter Blake designed the Sergeant Pepper LP cover for The Beatles. he also made this rock'n'roll tribute out of photos, wood, paint, & a record too.
his paintings of people are also pretty nice. i think i saw him in a pub in London one time.

early bird

oo - it's been all go, what with Beth starting a hospital placement, settin my alarm for 4:50am is a challenge, esp after celebrating Michael L's bithday night before at the Toucan..& Julia & Malaki's wedding at Glenwood was lovely, as was the party [r&b!] in Haveli City Rd. here's a video shown during the signing of the register on Saturday - don't try this at home..

2nd May 1989

the Stone Roses released their eponymously titled debut album
20 years ago today
here's 1 of the songs..

toucan back in town

good news - the Toucan Club is back
this time - once again in Womanby Street [see street photo above]
reliable sources [Emma & Michael] say it's amazing
it's in the old Sugar venue - lots of little floors
should pop in soon..
we popped in Gwdihw last Sunday afternoon for a cuppa
there's some nice places out there..

what i talk about when i talk about running

thanks to Chris who leant me this dizzy book by famous Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. not only does he write bestsellers but he also runs Marathons - in fact he took up running to keep him fit when he took to writing fulltime [after owning a jazz club, incidentally]. here's a typical short sentence of his in his usual matter-of-fact style:

'I'm often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. What do I think about when I'm running? I don't have a clue.'

knitted village

not the Budget:

1/
joeys rescued down under..


2/
plane lands a steet. see here

3/ a budgie..

bridge

jr art on side of brasilian bridge..

baffled believers

(above: light art from wooster site)

every year i get both a little baffled & inspired by easter -
i like this article in the Times by a bishop
& this writing below, from another bishop's blog...

On Easter Day it is traditional for the service to begin with the vicar proclaiming: ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen!’ The congregation responds: ‘He is risen indeed. Alleluia!’ I think this might be a bit wrong. If we are faithful to the Gospels, the congregation should really respond to the proclamation of resurrection: ‘ What?! Don’t be so ridiculous!’ Why? Because the disciples of Jesus did not respond to his resurrection with unbridled joy, but rather with bewilderment and suspicion and doubt.

Maybe we ought to re-live that before we draw our conclusions and begin to walk the road to Emmaus - talking through our confusions and laying the ground for having the ’story’ re-configured/re-told by the Jesus who comes up to us from behind, walks alongside us and ask us questions (rather than starting with the answers).

to further any bafflement - see Belfast group Ikon's Judas event..

& don't forget our daily shiny psalms out there..

Que?

2 years ago, we were priveleged to visit a friend living in Seville
where we walked right into the middle of their huge Semana Santa festival
we also enjoyed staying in Malaga & Cordoba
check the brass band music! - it sounded great late at night
strolling along with 100s of [spooky?] hooded penitants with candles,
1000s of people [children stay up late here!] in amazing cities
*sigh*

Miffy & Mum

it's monday morning

who enjoys ironing?

bute space show

the show in the Bute Space lookin brilliant!
see Baz's Valleygator & much more ...
Sylvia Lewis' watercolours & Mark Williams' oil paintings are excellent too
come down to 123 Bute Street & enjoy the view..