New York: 2 Days in June

Very lucky I was to bag a day’s work in NYC.

And discover a different part of the city . . .

Columbus Circle

Named for Christopher Columbus, this busy intersection is where Eighth Avenue, Broadway, and West 59th Street and the southwest corner of Central Park all meet. 

A blur of yellow creates a halo around the statue of Columbus as taxis encircle it.

It is the point from which all official distances from New York City are measured.

After the day's work (exciting and exhausting) I checked out of the eye wateringly pricey hotel and scuttled across to Lexington Avenue for my second night at the reasonably price and friendly Shelburne at 303 Lexington

This hotel is in the shadow of the glittering Chrysler Building, Yummy Deco.

Breakfast in Bloom’s (350 Lexington) an old-school deli serving up traditional Jewish-American comfort eats  - great eggs over easy.

The balance of the day was spent in Bryant Park a favourite place and known as Manhattan's town square.

Jurassic Jewels

Treasures on the Beach at Saltwich, Whitby.

Imagine this, your own private beach, and a personal guide, a geologist call Will. 

He has worked all over the world and can unlock the mysteries and excitement of geology. 

Hidden Horizons is the name of his company.! 

Lasting treasure

Will showed us creatures in clear rock pools, red sea anemones waved in the water,  he talked of erratics (glacial rocks that differ from the size and kind native to where we stood).

  

The mysteries of 180 million years were unpacked and laid out for our inspection! - the geological big picture. The sea, fly-past jet fighters and then silence; until skylarks added their surround-a-sound

Treasure seeks

Our every question was answered and at the end of this two hour personal low-water tour we came away with jurassic jewels - ammonites we will treasure forever and Will's enthusiasm.

Thank you Will, Hidden Horizons are now uncovered.

Simple stones - lasting treasure

Sand in the sandwiches

Discovered this delightful photograph and was compelled to turn it into a painting.

At the same time thinking of Betjeman's poem.

Trebetherick

We used to picnic where the thrift

Grew deep and tufted to the edge;

We saw the yellow foam flakes drift

In trembling sponges on the ledge

Below us, till the wind would lift

Them up the cliff and o’er the hedge.

Sand in the sandwiches, wasps in the tea,

Sun on our bathing dresses heavy with the wet,

Squelch of the bladder-wrack waiting for the sea,

Fleas around the tamarisk, an early cigarette.

From where the coastguard houses stood

One used to see below the hill,

The lichened branches of a wood

In summer silver cool and still;

And there the Shade of Evil could

Stretch out at us from Shilla Mill.

Thick with sloe and blackberry, uneven in the light,

Lonely round the hedge, the heavy meadow was remote,

The oldest part of Cornwall was the wood as black as night,

And the pheasant and the rabbit lay torn open at the throat.

But when a storm was at its height,

And feathery slate was black in rain,

And tamarisks were hung with light

And golden sand was brown again,

Spring tide and blizzard would unite

And sea come flooding up the lane.

Waves full of treasure then were roaring up the beach,

Ropes round our mackintoshes, waders warm and dry,

We waited for the wreckage to come swirling into reach,

Ralph, Vasey, Alistair, Biddy, John and I.

Then roller into roller curled

And thundered down the rocky bay,

And we were in a water world

Of rain and blizzard, sea and spray,

And one against the other hurled

We struggled round to Greenaway.

Blesséd be St Enodoc, blesséd be the wave,

Blesséd be the springy turf, we pray, pray to thee,

Ask for our children all happy days you gave

To Ralph, Vasey, Alistair, Biddy, John and me.

From "Old Lights for New Chancels" (1940) & "Collected Poems"

© The Estate of John Betjeman

Reproduced by kind permission of John Murray (Publishers).

Tonking

Nothing like a bit of tonking

Several people commented on my new FB header picture - it was a curious outcome of tonking my oil painting of Venice, which was too over painted 

So I 'tonked' it

The technique of tonking a painting is quite simple, 

Identify the area of the painting that needs changing.
Tear a sheet of newspaper or scrap paper into roughly the same shape and size as the offending area of the painting
Place carefully over the area
Press down firmly with the palms of the hands
Lift carefully off
Removes the paint on to the newsprint

This  is what was actually captured on the news print! I thought the chance output was lovely

Elbe - Rain before 7 fine before 11

So everyone was looking disconsolately at his phone over breakfast.  It was not actually raining although every weather app said it should be. 

However ‘rain before 7 fine before 11’ my grand mother used to say.

The boys headed out of Havelberg I was not far behind them. I had wanted to visit a church however it was closed however the porch had an interesting stone monument so I consoled myself by making a drawing. By the time that was finished and the market stall holders had set up it was brightening up.

Again this was a comparatively short day cycling and by noon we were at our meet up in Rühstädt a small village widely known for its stork colony. 

We saw storks in or around improbably large nests precariously balanced on a chimney tops. Then we had coffee to celebrate the birds and the sunshine.

This was a lovely village, again hardly a soul about. In the centre was church and its neat tidy churchyard. In Germany family members are directly responsible for the maintenance of burial plots of loved ones. At the far end of the churchyard was an orderly collection of tools and watering cans. Several times someone would enter and attend to a particular plot.

Early afternoon saw us in Wittenberge, the final destination for this week. Once settled in (Hotel Germania) we assembled for the customary afternoon ice cream. Afterwards a tour round the town, medieval, mock-Gothic and Communist building styles nestle up against each other with blocks of flats close to the Theatre of Culture. Often we saw residential blocks close to very much older parts of a town or city.

The last supper was another plate of asparagus (spargel) and wine for a change – bikes were garaged for another year and the boat was pushed out!

See all the drawings here http://bit.ly/elbe2017

Elbe oh! A treat in Tangamunde

With a relatively short peddle to Havelberg and it being a lovely morning we each wandered round Tangemunde . At any moment in my wandering I was expecting to see members of the Von Trapp family walking down the street.

At 11 am St Stephen’s church threw open its doors to visitors, in we went. This church is constructed in the Brick Gothic style typical of North Germany. A large bright place and astride the west door a marvellous organ. This Baroque fancy was built in 1624 by Hans Scherer and his brother Fritz.

The Scherer Brother’s organ is reputed to be one of the ten finest in Europe. And joy of joys someone was playing it.

I pelted back to the car for my drawing book. I drew the Baroque pulpit that soared almost as high and lovely as the music.

See all the drawings here http://bit.ly/elbe2017