Out to a Concert : Freelance Whales

We went to listen to a band touring from Queens New York, called Freelance Whales, the other night, at a place called The Mod Club Theatre. The opening band was called Hundred Waters, from Florida.

I've mentioned before that going to nightclubs to listen to / see new bands is high on my favourite things to do list, and I am happy that Nick is game to come along, regardless of whether he has heard the band or not. I think that is so cool and open-minded of him. In this case, the bands were not what he would have chosen himself, but he agreed that there was a lot of talent on that stage. I really liked Freelance Whales' use of unique instruments, including a banjo, xylophone, trumpet and squeeze box. Both bands were really good and are currently touring together throughout the states.

Trying Something New : Out for Dim Sum

Have you ever eaten Dim Sum before? It's a style of Chinese food that is presented in bite-sized servings, which come on small plates and in stacking steamer baskets. It's like eating a meal made up of a variety of appetizers.

Encouraged by our pal George, who loves it, we ventured out to have some at a spot called Sky Dragon in China Town, for lunch on Monday.

A Visit to the Art Gallery : Frida and Diego and Evan Penny

Last week my friend Meghan treated me to a really fun night at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where a retrospective of the work of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera was showing. It was so good that after walking through it once we went right back to the beginning and had a second look.

No photographs were allowed in that section of the gallery, but I was able to get shots of these related pieces of papier mâché puppets, created by a local performing art troupe called Shadowland.

The Cat Goes Camping

Eddie got a tent for Christmas and was very keen to go camping. He also got a sleeping bag, with an attractive manly fish-print on it. (It's really a flannelette pillow-case, because they don't actually make sleeping bags for cats, but we'll let him think it's the real thing.)

Two Ways to Make a Notebook

Hi! As mentioned in my previous post, here, I recently made a “Writing Kit for On-the Go” for my sister, which included a couple of notebooks, made using two different methods.

ass="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14507" src="http://www.loulou.to/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/handmade-notebook.jpg" alt="handmade-notebook" width="640" height="427">(1) The first one has bound pages, using an ancient bookbinding method called 'Coptic Binding'.(My notebooks were just small ones, but this method can be used to make thicker books too, by attaching several of these bundles of pages together (called Signatures). There are some tutorials on-line if you'd like to make some of those.) If you're having a case of deja-vu, I have made a similar notebook before however this time I took lots of pictures of the process.To make a notebook, you will need some card-stock for the cover, and paper for the pages. You will also need an awl or tack (as I used) to make holes in the paper, and some string to sew the pages together (I used embroidery thread).To give my notebooks rounded corners, I used a punch that I got from ebay.