Monday, October 28, 2019

2019 WHAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN!


My last post ended when we got back from our BC to BAJA and back.  Once we got home it was time to catch up with friends, family and computer work!  Come May we were on the road again and pretty much for the next few months we came home did laundry and left again for all sorts of wonderful adventures.

BANFF ALBERTA was our destination in May for Arnt's residency with his gallery www.mountaingalleries.com On the way we stopped in Jasper to meet up with Wendy who owns the four galleries and check out the Jasper Gallery.  The drive from Jasper to Banff is unbelievable! The vistas of mountains incredible. Once at Banff Arnt works for a week in the art room next to the gallery and he chose to plane wood, work on hand cut dovetails and make maquettes from some of his drawings while encouraging conversations with the hotel visitors. The rest of the time we get to sample the wonderful restaurants, pools in the hotel and walk or bike around the town and area.  I use that time to help Arnt a bit every day in the art room by talking to people and the rest of the time I set up somewhere in the hotel for a bit of art making.  This residency is graciously sponsored by his gallery and the hotel.  We cannot thank them enough.  

the view from the Jasper Lodge where Mountain Galleries is
 


 Wendy and Arnt at her studio in Jasper
beautiful drive Jasper to Banff

Arnt passing on his knowledge
hand cut dovetails
vistors from all over the world stop by

OSOYOOS, BC We drive one route to Banff and another route back home stopping at our friends in Osoyoos.  Was still a bit cold for swimming but the boys got out on the water for some fishing and we gals built a fire and hung out by the lake.  Always great food and wine tasting in the area and we go home stocked up with wine, cider and fruit.  This couple are building and renovating a piece of property which has 500 feet of waterfront and very little disturbance to the land.  The buildings from the 1950s are modest and the new house is also.  This means they have lots of birds, bears, bobcats and deer wandering around the property.  Flowers and fruit trees in the most unexpected places.

WALES, UK we have this amazing couple that we travel with and have been to London, Mexico, Palm Springs, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Prague, Berlin and now Wales.  The first week was at an old estate outside of Cardiff.  It belonged to a Lord lieutenant to the Queen and now his son runs the 100 acre estate and the quaint village Merthyr Mawr.  The houses are mostly thatched and near the river Ogmore with stepping stones across the river to a great pub for lunch.  Timing is everything as it is tidal water and stones are gone at high tide.  Lots of sheep are raised for lamb meat.  They also have draught horses (think pulling the beer wagons) which few were left but are being raised again in this area.  The property also has a hidden chapel and a giant sink hole (scary)! many beautiful trees and flowers. 
draught Horses and castle on the Ogmore River

 


This is the manor house on the estate in Merthyr Mawr.  I always find this era of house a bit conservative considering how big they are and how much land they have but was of the era.

the old green house still in use

hidden chapel and ancient worshipping stone




a few of the thatched houses in the village



our local pub with several types of ciders
 old church and graveyard dating back to the beginning of time

hand stitched cushions in the church
 we went to an asylum which is now a museum in a beautiful old building

We drove around to other little towns and seasides with lighthouses and walking paths stopping at pubs for really lovely lunches.  Always a treat as everyone just starts talking to you and you learn so much from the locals.  Some interesting characters as well.  


when the tide goes out the boats just stay on the sand so scheduling is a must for fishing


When the ferry comes in they tractor out the dock.
We also went to that building in the
back which is actually on an island at high tide.

 This is the inside of that building which is now a museum and event place.  It was once an exotic zoo and a big rock and roll star was going to buy it but way too much money to fix up to his standards.

 

church on the pier
 sometimes the walls are made of blue flint


 all the coloured houses

The old coast guard station is now a private home.
We saw a show about it last year.

 lovely little alley ways and coloured buildings
 met Allan who ran this crazy bookshop.
 met a fisherman with his daily catch

love locks like Paris?
 cricket

  also some modern buildings

We then hit the road and stayed in seaside towns, farms, tucked away inns, little villages on rivers all the while going by small independently owned sheep, cow and vegetable farms.  The fields are very organic and not organized at all in a grid pattern.  The fences are piled up rocks which allow you to open up a gate pretty much anywhere in order to move your herd from one field to another.  We also got to witness a real farm dog herding the cows. So smart and quick.  

this is a two way road and not a bike path...locals drive them pretty fast

miles of stone fences
Other things we saw were:  
1.  a real Downton Abbey estate left to the National Trust on the condition they keep everything (all 30,000 items) on the estate and restore the house and gardens.   These people never threw anything away so you have farm machinery which includes a steam powered table saw, bikes with a penny farthing, original kitchen with all the amazing china, pots and silver, musical instruments, fabulous library, artwork and some rare furniture pieces.  Touring the garden we saw the heritage roses that smell heavenly, fish in the pond, greenhouses, orchards, flowers, vines and plants. 

 Arnt really wanted to go shopping in the tool sheds.

 a steam powered table saw

the stables

 collection of bikes through the years

the gardens were spectacular






gorgeous vintage green houses
 

got to keep the bees happy

 back of house looking over the gardens

front of house where the long drive is

 the downstairs where the kitchen is


the library....fire lit...curl up with hot tea and read read read

 quirky collection of bones, feathers, stones and rocks...oh wait that could be my studio

2.  a river trip where the horse walks on the path beside the river and pulls the long canal boat




house boats you can rent for the day or week

3.  a trip on a steam train powered by coal
 


lovely views of the countryside along the way



 apparently the fishing was good in the rivers

4.  a small farm we stayed at where the stables and wash houses are now self contained guest houses but they still have pigs which you can pet, ponies (pint size horses) and chickens
 the stable above and the wash house below

 funny collection of animals

 more stone fences

5.  castles (there are 600 in Wales) where some have full on restored rooms and others with just the walled garden left. One we visited was on an island that you could walk to at low tide.
 

 This castle only has the walled garden left.



This castle is in pretty good condition with towers 
and rooms with the wood floors still intact.



6.  Some samples of architecture


 I don't even understand how they can make these large panes of curved glass!















7.  The food was extremely good in Wales whether you ate in a pub or a fancy restaurant.  Lots of local fish and meat and vegetables.  Lunch usually consisted of a picnic as we always carried a small cooler with us filled with snacks and drinks.


8.  Visited a historic village with samples of houses and barns from all over Wales.
They also had animals and an active bakery and village shops.








who does not love blue china
 can't resist a laundry shot


 love the old shops
 outdoor oven

This is how you move a house....mark every 
single brick, take apart and re-build!!


9.  Near the end of the trip we went to the old farm where Arnt's grandfather was raised for part of his childhood.  We talked to the farmer and the new owners of the place and was just great to look back in time and see his Welsh side of the family. 
 This is the front door and his grandfather is the 
baby below and the child on the lap above.
 This is Arnt at the front door.  The awning is away for repair.
 I think they added wings as the family 
grew or owners became more affluent.

10.  other sites along the road







11.  left Wales and spent a couple days in England and visited Oxford

 Arnt and I watch British mysteries and they take place in Oxford a lot.  
Was great to finally see the place.  Also a dear friend is from there.  
Being a student there must be wonderful.  So much history, 
grand buildings, amazing libraries and beautiful grounds.















 this is the porter to one of the buidings....in the mysteries they wear bowler hats

 students must take time to play as well


 he might be thinking of what piece of furniture he could turn this into

 We were staying a few hours train ride north of Oxford in some incredible country side.




Once back home we loaded up ODIN our sailboat and headed north with Arnt's brother and his wife on their sailboat ERN for 4 days with them and then on through the Skookumchuck Narrows and into the Sechelt Inlet to visit friends in Storm Bay.  There were 5 of our friends grandchildren and their parents and we just had the best time fishing, crabbing, clamming, sailing, canoeing, making art and eating great meals.  A few other families were there as well that we have known over the years.  






  We had to cut our BC sailing trip a bit short as Arnt was due in New York City to go on a sailing race on his brother's boat Polaris.  I stayed in NYC and went to art galleries and hung out with my nephews and sister-in-law. 

CAMP at the MET was full of the craziest fashions! 
this room probably had 50 vignettes in the little stages
 

fabrics, flowers and fanciful ideas ... its all there
tv dinner anyone?
meat and cake
merry go round
birds
ballerina very clever

 the crowd came dressed for the show

 Scout and I had to go to the roof for pop-tails
(boozy popsicle in a glass of champagne)

 there was also a guitar show with all the original instruments

Gibson Guitar painted by Jimi Hendrix (my guy when I was a teen)

The artist Diana Weymar has a project called
artists from all over hand stitch one of Trump's real tweets...
when you see them all together it really is unbelievable!!!!
There are now over 2020 of them and still going strong.
She is having shows all over the states.



This is the one I added on my grandmothers hand stitched handkerchief.

highlight of the art trip was going to Robert Kelly's studio
with champagne,  snacks, tour of house and studio (used to be a rave space)
lots of talk about art, process, marketing and future plans!
His work is in lots of museums and private collections in US and Europe


the Whitney Biennial was fabulous with 
lots of variety and art for thought

 photos don't show the scale but they are over 7' tall

huge beautiful ceramic pieces



right! back to the sail boat race....3 days non-stop around Long Island 
2 uncles and 2 nephews as crew
A win win...oh yeah out of 60 boats and 6 in their class they came in second!! 
 We will be heading there in 2020 to defend that title for sure. 

Polaris


the fire boat sending everyone off from the Statue of Liberty



 this was our view as they all crossed the starting line
then we had to go and have a frozen cocktail
and a fab Italian dinner on the river
 

Polaris underway
We made them paper sailing hats with Polaris written on 
them and they wore them during the whole party.
their Dad Lloyd used to make them when they were kids

 Co-Captains and crew


Other summer time fun.

The annual surf contest in Tofino on Long Beach

 We had 30 surfers this year and almost half children and teens
so that means parents take on extra jobs like being a sherpa.
This is called the Long Table dinner.  
We close off a block and have a pot luck on the street with our neighbours.


 We also enjoyed the symphony at the Van Dusen Gardens
They had food and drink stations and we got to explore the gardens.

So our sailboat ODIN which we have had for 20 years is getting a bit small for us as we age.  Just 21' on deck and you cannot stand up inside.  We went round and round and decided we would build a new wood boat and sell ODIN in five years.  Arnt said he was going to start building parts for the boat to get a jump on the build.  He was looking for wood for masts and booms and came across a 5 year old 23' wood boat built by a shipwright on Saltspring Island.  We looked at it and realized that really the hull is the hardest part and Arnt was only wanting to build a cabin and the interior and this is what we bought....a flush deck so we can build the cabin to our likes and the interior as well.  We went to pick her up with a friend and I drove the truck back with the spare parts and Arnt and Daniel sailed her back.  We are smitten!
This is Anja!
 already had her in the Vancouver Maritime Museum Heritage Classic
yep that is ODIN in the background giving chase

This also means we need to sell ODIN so if you know anyone 
interested let us know and we can send all the information.


Now home for many months with no big plans in the works for travelling but lots of work on our new boat Anja getting her ready for the summer season.  Oh right and we have to make a bunch of art for the upcoming www.culturecrawl.ca   Hope to see you all there.  November 14-17 for the Crawl 
and our Panefico preview party with 5 artists November 9 3-9pm.  

The year has not ended yet but both Arnt and I feel so lucky to have been on all these adventures.
  What a Year!!!



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