Pouring My Art Out

The London Eye…

Posted on July 15, 2015 by pouringmyartout

Going up in the London Eye is another thing to add to your ‘must do’ list when in London.

It is much cheaper than renting a helicopter, but the view is pretty much the same.

This was the last thing we scheduled to do on our last full day in London… but something else happened later that was even cooler… so come back for that…

I hope you have been enjoying these pictures and stories. My stats always begin to drop off when I do the same thing for too long. I try to make it interesting. This time I am blaming the bad numbers on the new wordpress changes to the reader… HA!

Even if you don’t like heights… and I don’t… the Eye is not too scary, because it moves so slowly and smoothly.

And the view really is spectacular.

There you can see Buckingham Palace in the middle of that big patch of green.

It takes like 40 minutes to go all the way around on the Eye.

You are just floating above London like Mary Poppins!

Mollie and my wife were having a blast, but I can only show you my mom… so…

Oh, and I can show you me… and you know I will…

Anyway, you should do the Eye thing if you ever get the chance.

Get your tickets in advance, don’t just get in the line.

Oh, and if you can time your ride for sunset, that would be a good thing too.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged buckingham palace, england, humor, london, london eye, photography, travel | 15 Comments

Hanging out with Shakespeare…

Posted on July 14, 2015 by pouringmyartout

After our lovely cruise on the river Thames, we went to the Old Globe…

Okay, it isn’t the real Old Globe, that one burned down. But it was still pretty awesome.

They recreated it as close to the original as they could… in both detail and location…

This is going to be one of those times when it will be easier for you to Google the details that interest you than for me to try to tell you everything I know about the Old Globe Theater.

But I will tell you that going to a play in Shakespeare’s time was nothing like going to a play today.

The place would be packed with drunken revelers, all shouting and interrupting and fighting and gambling and engaging in… uh… public displays of affection of various sorts… and so on…

The actors were often either ignored or else the audience would be trying to insert themselves into the play. The actors did a lot of adlibbing.

Once again, if you are ever in London, you must visit this remarkable place.

Our guide, the pretty lady by the wooden post, was awesome. She is an actress, and really made the culture and times of the immortal bard come alive… all in rated PG fashion… which wasn’t easy.

My mom, who is a seasoned world traveler and has been to see plays at the Old Globe… and is also over 90, you might recall… elected not to join us on our visit to the Old Globe… instead, while we waited for our tour time to arrive, we went to this old pub…

The Anchor is the oldest pub in London, if I remember correctly… yes, it was built in 1615, but it was a drinking establishment of some sort for much longer than that, having been rebuilt many times… and Shakespeare used to hang out and drink there, or so we were told.

Our English cousins had left us by this time, and my mother elected to stay at the pub and have a beer or two while we went on the Old Globe tour.

I have to say that the pub was delightful.

I can’t even remember what I had for lunch… because… beers… but the food was great and we all shared.

When we got back from our tour, mom was waiting outside, bundled up against the chill… and fortified for warmth… with beers…

Go to London, go to the Old Globe, and go to the Anchor. You will not regret it.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged current-events, england, humor, london, old globe, photography, pubs, shakespeare, thames river, the anchor, travel | 6 Comments

Boating on the Thames…

Posted on July 14, 2015 by pouringmyartout

After our trip to Selfridges, we went on a boat cruise on the river.

There is a lovely picture of my cousin, Lynne, and her son Josh.

And there is one that includes Josh’s fiancé and me… but I had to cut Mollie out… sorry, Mollie. I cut my wife out of the first picture too, because that is the way she wants it.

That is a picture of the HMS Belfast, the World War Two cruiser moored near the Tower of London. A picture of a boat taken from a boat… cool…

Have I ever mentioned that I love boats?

Boats are awesome.

Boats let you see things from new perspectives, and go places you can’t go without them.

I think the boat cruise came free with our three-day hop-on/hop-off bus tour passes.

That is a good view of some of the whimsical new buildings taking over the London skyline.

And that is more or less a classic shot of the Tower Bridge.

Anywhere you travel, if you have the chance, get yourself on a boat.

It doesn’t matter what size it is… it only matters where you can take it to.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged big ben, boats, current-events, england, humor, london, photography, thames river, tower bridge, travel | 4 Comments

Selfridges… the final chapter… oh, and you get to meet some of our English cousins…

Posted on July 13, 2015 by pouringmyartout

That right there is my cousin Lynne… we had the best time hanging out with her in London. I took a picture of her taking a picture of me. I like to take pictures of people while they are taking pictures, especially pictures of me. Sometimes I organize a circular photo-op. As I mentioned in earlier posts, we met up with some of our English relatives in London. They came into the city to see Les Miserables with us, and stayed over so we could hang out together the next day…

There she is, with her totally awesome boyfriend… whom I am not sure I should name, so I won’t… as we wait for Selfridges to open. We had a great time in the big store.

And there is Lynne’s son… and our cousin… Josh. He is with his lovely and very sweet fiancé… whom I am also not going to name… but they are so adorable together, and they are both awesome, and it was great to spend time with all of them.

Selfridges was fantastically decorated on the inside as well. There were a bunch of artistically painted chairs hanging from wires beside the grand escalators.

I don’t know if these photos give you any sense of what the inside of the store was like. You can get anything there. The food court has fresh game meat like boar and fallow deer… and cheeses… mmmmmm… cheeses…

You really should at least Google Selfridges. And if you are ever in London, pop on in. Or at least walk by… and see the famous window displays…

Like that one… of life-sized… (if they are the pygmy type)… of mating hippopotami… which I tastefully managed to blur using the window reflection… because I am thoughtful that way.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged england, family, humor, london, mating hippopotami, photography, selfridges, shopping, style, travel | 29 Comments

Selfridges… part 1…

Posted on July 13, 2015 by pouringmyartout

Some of you may remember that I wrote a murder mystery novel set in World War Two London. In fact, because I posted a lot of the book here, and many of you read it as I wrote it… (Okay, it was for that crazy NANO-write a whole freekin’ novel in one month thing, and I am never doing that again, let me tell you)… and in fact, I wrote about 11 or 12 of you in as characters in the book… and it is supposedly being edited by my head minion as we speak… (Trent, how is that going, by the way?)…

Anyway, my older daughter, Jessica, the one who compiles and sends my books in to be published, read the book. And she liked it. But she thinks I need to add a chapter where two of the main characters go on a date. And I chose Selfridges as the place where this date happened. So I felt sort of cool visiting the store in London.

You could say that these pictures are actually research for my novel. Selfridges was built by an American, whose name, strangely enough, was Harry Selfridge. The history of the store is fascinating. There is a great two-hour documentary about it. And there is even a series, made by the BBC, about the store. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you are at all interested, Google the store, or watch one of the shows.

The store is also famous for its window displays.

Obviously these pictures are not research for the novel. These displays were not there in the early 1940’s. Also, the windows were bricked over then.

That window is extra cool… because it has a reflection of me in it… and that guy in the yellow shirt is someone we know… but you will have to wait for the next post to learn all about our English cousins, who, you might recall, had gone to see Les Mis with us the night before, and spent most of this, our last full day in London, running around the city with us.

Mollie had wanted to go to Harrods, but I somehow talked her into going to see Selfridges instead, and we had food, and shopped and it was awesome.

I even asked the information desk if they had any wartime photos of the store, and the nice lady led me to an upper floor where there were lots of posters from those times. I felt like a real professional author on a real research trip.

Anyway, you should learn about the history of Selfridges.

And you should come back later and learn about our relatives from the other side of the pond.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged current-events, england, fiction, history, humor, london, photography, selfridges, travel, writing | 20 Comments

Name that piece of Art… part 109… (or); how self-absorbed can a person really be???

Posted on July 11, 2015 by pouringmyartout

Here are two more pieces of art with pieces of Art… me… in them… although, technically, I guess these are pieces of art with pieces of art with pieces of Art in them…

The only thing I forgot to do was Photoshop myself standing in front of the big pictures of me looking at myself…

I must be slipping.

Posted in My art, Pictures of me | Tagged art, arts, big boobs, conceited, current-events, digital art, humor, I, me, mental-health, myself, slef absorbed, social-media | 22 Comments

Les Mis… in London…

Posted on July 11, 2015 by pouringmyartout

What trip to London would be complete without a visit to the theatre district?

Oh look, I am wearing my good shirt again… HA!

I do love a good stage musical.

My mom actually had some of our English cousins come to London and stay over night so we could all go to this play together. It is a long story, and we will get to it later. For some reason, I haven’t run across any pictures of them yet.

We saw Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre.

It was about as fancy as the name would imply.

No, we didn’t take pictures during the show. I think Mollie took that one of a poster in the lobby.

And yes, it is still the longest running musical in London.

I think this brings us to the end of our second full day in London.

I have tried to limit the number of pictures. I am not sharing every meal, every funny moment, every interesting sight.

I am trying to give you the feel, the sense, a taste, a hint, of what London is like.

There is a magic that traveling to new places imparts upon us. I remember the feeling of pouring out of a theatre with a crowd of laughing, talking people, all excited about sharing the show we had just seen, bonded in a unique way, and then being suddenly deposited, at night, into a part of the city that I barely knew, and how the life and vibrancy flowed and pulsed around me, and I will be left forever with these memory-visions of bright neon lights and twisting narrow streets and the hustle and bustle of throngs of strangers all intent on living that one night of their own lives, and you can never fully recapture that moment… you have only the impression of it… and a few photos that capture one split second of a magical day.

Posted in My travels, Pictures of me, Stories of my life | Tagged arts, current-events, england, humor, les mis, london, photography, theatre, travel | 13 Comments

And yes, we even saw little Prince George…

Posted on July 10, 2015 by pouringmyartout

That red arrow is pointing to a little blue and pink blob. That blue and pink blob is the baby Prince George, being held, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace by his father, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. You can’t actually see the proud daddy in this shot, and the little Princess, Charlotte, was not there. But yes, we saw pretty much the entire Royal Family.

Admittedly, by the time we reached the Palace, the crowd was pretty big…

And as you can see from that unzoomed photo above, we weren’t all that close to the Palace when they came out.

But we had a great view of the Royal Air Force fly over…

And don’t forget that most of the Royal family had just ridden past us… multiple times… in their carriages, only a few yards away.

So I am not complaining about the crowds.

All in all we had a great time at the Queen’s birthday celebration.

It was an incredible day.

And as the Royal Family went back inside the Palace…

And the marching bands, and the crowds, began to disperse, we had the satisfaction of knowing that, from however far away, we had seen the little prince…

And besides, later on that day we were going to see Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London… with our cousins… so, stay tuned for that.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged buckingham palace, current-events, humor, london, photography, prince George, queen of england, royal family, travel | 8 Comments

The Queen… part… wait… is that The Duchess of Cambridge???

Posted on July 10, 2015 by pouringmyartout

Yeah, you heard me… that right there is Kate… (Catherine)… Duchess of Cambridge. And who is that sitting in the carriage with her? Her brother-in-law, Prince Harry. Her husband will show up in a later post… keep your pants on…

And who should be riding beside her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Cambridge? Yup… that is Cruella… no… I mean… uh… Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Sorry for the slip. The best part of Mollie’s plan to race the Royal carriages down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace is that we got to run alongside most of the British Royal Family.

We would stop and take pictures, and then run some more, all the while dodging around crowds of people. We were actually only a few yards away from the Royal Family.

And here comes the Queen again, with her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Do I sound giddy?

I know, as an American, I am not supposed to get giddy about being close to royalty… but I will be honest with you… I was.

It was freekin’ exciting.

I wish we had had time to stand really still and focus the cameras, and zoom in correctly, and not have to take the pictures by holding the cameras above the crowd…

Because if we had, those pictures of Harry and Kate and Cru… Camilla… would have turned out better…

…and these last three pictures… well… we might even be able to tell who the heck those people are…

Seriously…

That might be Kate’s sister in that one.

But that is just a guess.

Posted in My travels, Stories of my life | Tagged current-events, duchess of cambridge, england, humor, kate, london, photography, prince harry, royal family, the queen, travel | 12 Comments

The Queen… part 4…

Posted on July 10, 2015 by pouringmyartout

After we saw the Queen of England formally inspecting her troops, Mollie had the bright idea of running over to the Mall to get ahead of the procession back to Buckingham Palace…

We got a good spot along the route and were treated to quite a parade.

The thing is… hey, I was wondering what happened to all my ‘things’… that the next few posts will be a little weird because we would wait for the Queen to pass by and then Mollie would start running again, and we would pull ahead of the Queen’s carriage, and then stop and take more pictures, and then repeat the process… so… uh… these are all mixed up.

Is there a more English sight than the Horse Guards riding down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace???

Oh, the pageantry!

Okay, look closely at the photo above these words… and now look quickly at the photo below…

That is the same cell phone on the right… belonging to some unknown person. The camera randomly… and I say randomly because Mollie was holding the camera above her head to take these shots… but the camera decided to focus on the parade in the first picture, and the cell phone in the second one. I think they make a great pair of photos. I guess I could remind you that Mollie was holding the good camera for most of the trip to Europe. It was her trip. But she would let me grab it whenever I wanted to, and it is hard to tell who took what pictures… except for all the selfies of me… which I took with my old, cheap camera.

And we all took pictures with our phones now and then, so all in all it is a little confusing to sort through these.