Paul Brady - The Island

A brilliant song, beautifully sung by its author, one of my favourite songwriters. If you were thinking that you had a cause to fight and that it might be worth considering violence to achieve your ends, then you could do worse than listen closely to the words of this song.

Hello in there...

My buddy Alan Scott sends me these funnies occasionally. This one particularly made me chuckle...

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen.
The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, 'Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great.. I would recommend it very highly.'
The other man said, 'What is the name of the restaurant?'
The first man thought and thought and finally said, 'What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love?
You know.... The one that's red and has thorns.'
'Do you mean a rose?'
'Yes, that's the one,' replied the man. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, 'Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?'

CLAS AGM in that London

A trip a couple of weeks ago to the Calligraphy and Lettering Arts Society AGM at the British Library. I joined CLAS last year so this was my first experience of being at one of their events and getting to know a few people, see some superb work, and generally imbibe the atmosphere around a gathering of some top calligraphers.

First off was the business AGM, election of officers etc; all very capably led through by chair Janet Meghan, with a skilful mix of serious intent and humour.At lunchtime a wonderful exhibition 'Art & The Letter' with work submitted from CLAS members. I liked the fact that they mixed up the three elements - 'Beginner, More Experienced, Advanced' all over the exhibition. Some brilliant stuff as you can see. Managed to limit myself to one purchase from the book stall - Edward Johnston's definitive 'Writing, Illuminating and Lettering', a paperback bargain at £4!

After lunch a lecture with Professor Ewan Clayton and Dr Manny Ling, from the Sunderland University, Calligraphy Centre of Excellence. Fascinating sharing of their very different approaches to their craft, with lovely insights as to their backgrounds and also some spiritual influences.

Deer... right here... in Cramlington

Spotted these four lovely deer feeding on the field this morning across from our house in Cramlington. Country ways... country ways!

Happy 10th Birthday Leon!

Our grandson Leon is ten years old today. Here's a picture of him with his dad just before they went on holiday to Finland earlier this year. Also here is a special track that his dad wrote for his big day. I have to admit it brought a tear to my eye listening to it. Happy 10th birthday Leon... hope you have a great day!

In the beginning was the Word... or in this case perhaps the Letter!

I recently bought what many are coming to consider the closest thing there is to the 'bible' of typography. There are many books around which are written for designers and typographers, and are mainly to do with typographic design and how to arrange type in terms of graphic composition, but this book - The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst - deals with much more than that. Go here for a good review of the book by Roy Johnson.

Half Term in that London

A half term trip to visit the southern contingent of children and grandchildren. A mixture of busy-ness and chilling, travelling in the capital, plodging around in the rain, a gorgeous Thai meal with Aaron and Nicola, playing with the grandkids and a quick visit to the National Portrait Gallery!... listening to Angel play her violin, watching 'UP' with the Toggies.... oh.... and Emma died her hair red... beautiful!