A little late as usual - it’s hard to keep a schedule when one is far from one’s home routine. However, I’ve done the three untitled collages in this post and have a painting on canvas of a whip-poor-will in progress on the easel I bought to use here. I’m back in my morning sun space by the glass doors off the back garden in the kitchen. I like it there and I’m out of Paul’s way in the studio. We’ve continued to run around Newcastle and it’s hard to remember what we did and when, but we did venture out to the IKEA in Gateshead thinking we were going to buy an ottoman but ended up with a full length mirror for my room because the ottoman we wanted was not out on display and we didn’t fancy buying something sight unseen.

Fancy - listen to me, two weeks away from the Cape and I’m losing my lingo along with my regular diet. Yesterday, I had my first piece of blood, or black, pudding at Ernest’s in Ousburn, the Newcastle neighborhood that reminds me of Manhattan’s Soho in the 80’s. I didn’t hate the pudding and would eat it again if it came on a plate of other things. I’m a fan of steak pies, and fish and chips, as well as bangers and mash since they do make delicious sausages in the UK. And, by the way, leopard print is everywhere in Newcastle including my closet, although I still tend to wear my standard black uniform and black slip-on sneakers. Mostly this trip has been about being domestic with Paul and building a home together. We both love flea markets and charity shops, and are not too proud to scavenge the back lanes for treasure like the dresser we found to store his massive DVD collection. Now, if only we could find a nice ottoman.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the art we’ve seen this week. There was a large installation by Fred Williams in the MFA post-graduate exhibition at Newcastle University which I found interesting - that’s a shot of Paul walking through it below. And Wednesday we went to a presentation of photos and a discussion afterwards with members of the SIDE gallery. You may recall how thrilled I was when they selected a photograph of mine for an online show a few months ago, and I felt so comfortable at this presentation that I plan to attend more when I’m here. But for now I’m going to bake some gingerbread for Paul and finish the whip-poor-will this weekend. Time is, as always, a’wasting - so on with the day.