Should've Been in Italy, but...

Well, long time no post.  I'm sorry to have been out of touch. And my last post sounds like a different, wet world, doesn't it?  Thankfully that's not so any more, for this May has been amazingly hot,  bright and beautiful.

Actually, we should have been in Italy to meet up with family. I should have been telling you all about the Duomo, and icecreams, and stuff like that. But, T needed an operation, nothing very serious, and there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about the timing.   So we didn't go. As it turned out, the weather in Turin was nasty and in England it was beautiful, so it turned out for the best that we stayed, and it was a chance to follow up on the project of exploring nature, wild places and nature reserves. (In the UK it's possible to find some fantastic places by checking out local wildlife trusts.)

We stayed for just over a week in Eastern Suffolk, and found a place called Darsham Marshes that we'd never seen before.  One of the highlights there for us was this tree in full blossom, all 30-odd feet  of it (10 metres). It's actually one fallen tree which remained alive and some of its branches transformed themselves into trees, so now it seems like a whole grove of flowering apples.  A picture doesn't do it justice, but what an experience standing in the midst of it surrounded by blossom with the birds singing their lungs out.

Not far away, near the drowned village of Dunwich, we took a footpath leading up onto low cliffs, to see what remains of Greyfriars Abbey.  

There is not a great deal, although enough to be interesting.  The abbey was sacked by King Henry VIII, who left the gatehouse you can see in the centre of the photo (someone stables horses inside the site), and the walls surrounding the site are still there, showing from the sheer size that it was a pretty important place.  There are also remains of the abbey itself within the walls, though much of the stone from these huge ruins was used by local people for building their own places, I believe - and very sensible of them too, as it turned out, since the sea would have got the abbey anyhow a couple of centuries later. ... look at this set of rather blurry old pictures.  

They show what happened to the local church, St. James, which stood right by Greyfriars.  Now, no trace of the church remains on the site. The sea also devoured the churchyard, except for just one grave which stands right by the cliff edge.    When Jacob Forster's grieving relatives buried him in 1796, they can't have imagined he'd have achieved this posthumous fame, can they? 

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In fact, while we were awaiting this op, the weather forecast was good nearly every day, so it was the perfect distraction to go out.  One evening, sitting in a field at Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, by the river, I noticed great green and purple dragonflies flying all around.  It was clearly their mating season so I evilly violated their privacy by taking a few photos.   I don't pretend to understand exactly how it works, or how they stop their legs getting tangled up.  

A couple of days later, at Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire, these hillside woods were shaded by what I think was once a beech hedge. The hedge must have been abandoned at least a century ago as what there is now is a line of  bushy trees with long spreading branches. 

Also around this area - chalk hills called the Chilterns - we were surprised to find so many woods still full of bluebells.  I think the extremely cold early Spring held all the usual flowers back. 

By contrast, here are the trunks and branches of the tall confirous woodland near Marlston Hermitage in Berkshire. I thought they looked decorative enough to have been painted - as the backdrop of a play, perhaps.  I once saw a performance of Chekhov's "Wild Honey" which is set in a mysterious Northern forest, which could suit  these trees very well.  

Maidensgrove, nearby, has a fabulous common currently full of all kinds of wild flowers, including buttercups, and lots of wild may out on the trees.  My new blog header photo was taken there. And the village also has a  17th century pub called the Five Horseshoes, which has an idyllic location and does great food.

Back in London,  T had his operation on Saturday, so we both missed the Royal Wedding. To his great surprise (and pleasure) he felt well enough to come out for a walk across Regents Park today and as a result we saw more daisies in one place than either of us had ever seen in our lives.

And the baby ducks are growing well.

 On the other side of the park we went to a small but ingenious exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects about perspective and imaginary spaces.   He insisted on having his photo taken walking through one of the perspective installations, so he really is feeling better.....

Having been outside so much this month, I'm seriously behind with just about everything that happens at home, so I'd better start catching up now that the sun has gone in.  Everything from sorting out a malfunctioning credit card, to sorting out plants, and of course catching up on writing.  I have been looking at (though not commenting much) on blogs -   but I will, and I hope you've also been enjoying the month of May.

We are also considering trying to pop over to Northern Italy a bit later in the summer for a long weekend.  We'll see.

Unexpected Kew

I am on the move so not visiting everyone's blogs as much as usual, and I can't sort out a problem with comments either -grr! But .I will do it on my return and meanwhile here's a post I drafted just before I left about a few unexpected aspects of those famous botanical gardens at Kew. 



Like  this goose with absolutely no sense of privacy has laid her eggs in the flower urns on the border of the great lake by the Palm House. About the busiest imaginable part of the Gardens, but perhaps she was inspired, in her little bird brain, by the sight of the egg like decoration all round the urn. They are about the size, shape and colour of her own eggs! You'll see the gardeners have put a barrier round her, with instructions to the public not to disturb her. But really she seemed perfectly unfazed.

There are usually special events and artistic things going on in Kew - I think they aim to make it worthwhile to spend the day there with the family.  I couldn't for the life of me work out why they had given this tree a wonderful crocheted coat (below), but this little fellow was most delighted with it.

And this little girl loved the wooden sheep and her baby lambs.

Now I do know what this (below) is for. It's about choosing how much funding to give various areas of medical research involving plants. It's a way of voting. You choose a strand of wool in the colour that corresponds with the area of health you think should be prioritised for research, and tie it on the vine tree.

It is highly unscientific, but does look pretty.  I think I voted for antibiotics research.

For as long as I can remember, the big building you can see in the background of that goose picture at the top, was called the Wood Museum. I could never figure it out (you will notice I am not very good at figuring out things at Kew).  It was always interesting in a Victorian sort of way, and reminded me of the Pitt Rivers museum in Oxford, in the days when Pitt Rivers was truly dusty and forgotten.

Now, the Wood Museum has become a museum of Kew Gardens' collection of the things you can make of plants, and contains all kinds of intriguing Victoriana. Some of the collection is pretty old, but new exhibits are always being added, and it's an important resource for researchers. I was captivated by a model made by Rakkal Chunder Pal in India in 1886, showing an indigo dye works in all its intricate, realistic detail, from the ox-carts carrying the indigo plants to the works. You see the men carrying them up to the racks to dry

After several other processes, these poor fellows have to stand in the indigo up to their waists and beat the mixture with their paddles.

It's a huge model, and really deserves a whole post, because it's large and indigo dye making is an intricate process ... but hopefully you will get there yourself one day and manage to see it all.

These are earrings, created from some little seeds called Job's Tears, and what seems to be some form of yarn. The accompanying notice said that the Royal School of Needlework was helping conserve many of their more fragile items, like this.  I was particularly intrigued by a 19th century Japanese vest made of mulberry paper, but unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot as the museum is quite dark.

I found these porcelain false teeth, set in india-rubber, most fascinating.  I wonder when dentists stopped calling themselves "surgeons."

The exhibition looks to be permanent, and so I hope to revisit next time I go to Kew and look at it all again - it repays close examination.  But it was getting near to closing time when I left, and I took a rather remote woodland path around the side of the gardens just to see the student show gardens.  And I met this blocking my way, standing in the middle of the path.

I've never met a peacock in a wood before.  It didn't exactly seem scared of me but after we looked at each other, it decided to make a detour through the long grass instead of continuing along the path.. 

What a wonderful thing to meet in a wood!

And of course in between seeing this stuff I also saw any number of amazing plants. That's what Kew is all about, and my next post will show some of the most picturesque and interesting.

Giveaway Winner - Spam Advice? - and Ducks

TADA! The giveaway winner is announced!

S. was overwhelmed at the responsibility of choosing a grown up winner, and became so concerned about the people left out that eventually I hugged him for his kind heart and drew the winners from a hat myself.

The winner is.... Shannon Lawrence, a writer who hosts the Blogging from A to Z homepage and is always a good source of information and inspiration. She's won the white German chocolate and the Dutch book.

Congratulations, Shannon. If you'd like to get your details across to me, I'll get the items in the mail to you.

I've got something else interesting to post about (at least I think it's interesting) but won't have time to do it today. I do have a little question though, relating to my other blog, here, about my books on Lewis Carroll, and writing.

It's not too active any more because I'm now involved in other projects, but I do post occasionally. Unfortunately, it's obviously on a spammer's mailing list, so my comment moderation is always full of fake posts with links to dubious websites. I delete them, but I wonder if anyone can suggest who to complain to if you can identify large companies paying to pester people in this way.

For instance, Abercrombie and Fitch, a clothes store, recently sent me this fascinating message (I've only quoted part of it) "Very nice site, in future i ready to hear more from you. like your post so in future i ready to hear more from youVery nice site In future I ready to hear more from youVery " The link goes to Abercrombie and Fitch's French website., or a convincing facsimile of it.

I wouldn't shop at Abercrombie & Fitch anyhow because they were convicted in an extremely unpleasant case of discriminating against a disabled student - details here.

They wanted her to stay out of sight of customers in their expensive Savile Row shop because she has a false arm.

So they clearly don't care about sleazy publicity. On the other hand, there may be some way of getting this stopped. Or maybe not. Anyone got any suggestions?

Finally, anyone got any idea of what these two cute are talking about? I spotted them in the British Museum shop and they made me laugh.