VIRGA

Virga is precipitation which does not reach the ground.

Anne Frank born today in 1929

Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Pets Corner Jesmond Dene

Map of the Dene above.

Today we went for a picnic in the Dene in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne.

We brought a basket with delicious hummus with pesto and pita bread, juice, water, fancy tasty bickies and a banana walnut cake I had baked this very morning. We were celebrating Joel's 60th birthday with Himself, Noah and Lou in the warm weather at Pets Corner.

Lou likes to go there and I remember Noah showing me this amazing park in Newcastle the first time I ever visited. We all sat at a picnic table and had hot teas and coffee and Lou had Ribena as well. It was so nice and relaxed and Lou and Noah enjoyed seeing eachother again, as it is way too rare for them.

The Dene is magical and one can go on many adventures there. We have found hidden stone chapel ruins, a holy well, bowling ground and pavilion, and shoe trees which look positively "druidic"!

Lord Armstrong designed this very natural landscape style park in a river valley. He lived at Cragside near Rothbury and he was a shipbuilder, bridge builder, I guess an engineer is what he was. Plus an inventor. I have to look him up to tell you more! Cragside has a famous rhododendron walk that goes on for miles and miles.

The most memorable moment for me was seeing a peacock perform his mating dance for the peahen. Such a performance and his many layers of feathers and different activities. Not only the huge fan shaped plume shake and rattle but back feathers and booty waddle also.

In another pen this huge potbelly pig lay snoring in his shed! It was Sunday afternoon after all.

Frances Ethel Gumm

aka Judy Garland born today in 1922. She died at the age of 47 in Chelsea, London.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Model for the Guggenheim Museum-FLW on the far left.

ExteriorInterior
An early work a Filling station
A drawing for an Opera House

Falling Water House
InteriorFLW Glass window

Barrell chair

Husser table
FLW himself

He was born today in 1867 in Wisconsin and died in Scottsdale. Arizona in 1959.

A prominent and influential architect not only in the United States but also in Europe he practised what is called Organic Architecture.

The Guggenheim Museum in NYC and the Falling Water house are two of the most well-known buildings. I have been to see as many as I have been able to over the years. The Hollyhock House in Los Angeles is truly interesting and you can also go inside and see the original interior.

Chicago has several houses of his in the Oak Park neighbourhood. In Scottsdale where he lived at the end of his life and died at, is now a FLW museum well worth a visit! He had an intuitive feeling for wood and the furniture and interiors he designed reflect this innate sense of wood. His leaded window designs are frequently "plagiarised" and really not particularly well.

I love the diversity of FLW. His drawings are beautiful in their own right and his life was quite extraordinary.

I am sure there will be a Hollywood film made of his life starring some handsome hunk and falling flat just like the Sylvia Plath film did and many others. A feature length film takes on a hell of a challenge to tell an infinitely complex life story involving so much creative work and personal history. I think almost impossible. I have seen a few that have been good e.g. Before Night Falls and one on Francis Bacon.

Lavender and Lady's Mantle

Two new additions in the yarden around the path to the front door.

We Real Cool

We real cool. We
Left school

We Lurk late.We
Strike straight.

We Sing sin. We
Thin gin.

We Jazz June. We
Die soon.


From The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks 1960.