Author Archives: carolinemmurray

Bourns

Posted on 18/08/2016 by carolinemmurray

The word ‘bourn’ has two main meanings: it is either a brook (cf. northern and Scots ‘burn’) or it is a destination, limit, or boundary (as in ‘… That undiscovered country, from whose bourn / No traveller returns’). As a … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, History | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Plant of the Month: August

Posted on 11/08/2016 by carolinemmurray

When everything else is looking a bit tired and dusty, there are some plants which you can rely on to go on and on. They are mostly ‘daisies’, Asteraceae, and mostly introductions from hotter climates, and my favourite is Cosmos. … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Lammas

Posted on 08/08/2016 by carolinemmurray

… is about now, sort of. It is an ancient festival, but seems to have meant different things to different people, and to have been celebrated at different times in different circumstance. It is not an official moveable feast of … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: July

Posted on 31/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

Though it’s difficult to select a subject in July (too much choice!), I decided to write about pinks – as opposed to carnations, sweet Williams, or any others of the Dianthus tribe – but the most superficial investigation shows that … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history, Venice | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Object of the Month: July

Posted on 29/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

I was planning to follow up on some thoughts generated by a recent interesting talk at the Fitzwilliam Museum about portraits of men with their secretaries/assistants/friends, but I got diverted quite early on to a rather different topic. The Museum … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Bemerton

Posted on 21/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

Our school hymnbook was Songs of Praise (without music). I still have my copy, and I honestly can’t remember whether it was mine to keep or whether I stole it (the latter by inadvertence, because I was far too Goody-Two-Shoes … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, History, Literature, Natural history | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Toadstone

Posted on 14/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

This all started when I was looking for frogs in art (another story…). A search engine, clearly unable to tell its Batrachia from its Bufones, came up with the three-legged toad of Liu-Hai, of which, as it happens, there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Summer of the Slug

Posted on 07/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

Has there ever been a ‘summer’ (and that’s another problem, of course…) like this for slugs? I suppose it’s the combination of a mild winter (only one day on which the car windscreen was frosted, and no snow at all) … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Hazelnuts

Posted on 04/07/2016 by carolinemmurray

To the Curtain Theatre at Shoreditch, where we watched the play, Every Man in His Humour, by Mr Ben Jonson, with Mr William Shakespeare among the actors. Well, we almost did, the only minor problem being that we visited the … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, History, Literature, London | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Object of the Month: June

Posted on 26/06/2016 by carolinemmurray

I don’t like, and have never liked, pottery and porcelain figures. I admire the superb craftsmanship that went into making them, but it seems to me a terrible waste of skill and effort to produce these coy and simpering results. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments