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.
Marilyn reading Ulysses.
Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare & Co. in Paris and James Joyce just before the publication of Ulysses.
First Edition of Ulysses. Joyce wanted it to have a Greek blue so as to hint at Homer.
Make Way for Ducklings from the childrens book by the same title. A bronze sculpture installation which quite often "loses" a duckling now and again! Mother Duck is off picture.
The Swan Boat fleet in the lake of the Boston Public Garden.
The Boston Public Garden is one of the oldest city parks in the Northeast. It has ancient trees from around the world which are identified much like in an arboretum. It is an oasis in the Back Bay and Beacon Hill area and very Henry James/Edith Wharton in spirit. I used to go every spring to ride the famous Swan Boats for my birthday. The ride is so gentle and slow it makes you relax and take it easy right away. I love the weeping willows drooping over the lake and when I was at Emerson College I would visit them in my lunch hour and lie in their shade.
Pat de Groot and Atisha. Pat often says "My birthday is Flag Day in the US". Until she mentioned it I did not even know of that day at all. So have a beautiful day Pat! See her paintings on a previous posting.
Map of the Dene above.
aka Judy Garland born today in 1922. She died at the age of 47 in Chelsea, London.
