Category Archives: Cambridge

Object of the Month: November

Posted on 24/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

This month’s object is a bit of a cheat. It is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, but is not currently on display – nor, according to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, when he viewed it in 1833, should it ever have … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History, Museums and Galleries, Music | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Dried Flowers

Posted on 12/11/2015 by carolinemmurray

Just back from a brilliant tour of the Cambridge University Herbarium, in the Sainsbury Laboratory next to, but not formally connected to, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Many thanks to Christine Bartram, the Chief Herbarium Technician, for making us so … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Apples

Posted on 26/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

Upon St Crispin’s Day, what better way to celebrate England than to go to the Apple Day at Cambridge University Botanic Garden? For the second time, I had the fun of being a helper, slicing fruit for tasting, and bagging … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Plant of the Month: October

Posted on 23/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

No difficulty in choice this month: the cyclamen, in all its varieties, is the outstanding plant of October. If asked to choose my own favourite flowering plant, I’d be torn between the cyclamen or the clematis (in all its varieties … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Copy-Editing

Posted on 10/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

This title immediately raises issues. If the first part of a two-word hyphenated phrase requires a capital, should the second part also be capitalised? I think it should, because ‘Copy-editing’ looks unbalanced to me, but on the other hand, if … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Cambridge, History | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

St Helena

Posted on 06/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

I say St Helena, you say Napoleon, or possibly vice versa. It’s undoubtedly the case that this tiny and remote island is most famous because of its reluctant and ex-imperial guest between 1815 and his death in 1821. Large numbers … Continue reading →

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My Favourite Potholes

Posted on 02/10/2015 by carolinemmurray

To survive on a bike in Cambridge, ‘Cycle City’ of the Fens, it is essential to assume that all fellow road users – drivers, pedestrians and (especially) cyclists – are rude, unpredictable, illiterate and terminally stupid. (The last of course … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Plant of the Month: September

Posted on 26/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

Decisions, decisions: the autumn equinox is producing such wonderful sights that I’m spoiled for choice for September’s plant of the month. Sedums, rudbeckias, penstemons, cyclamen, colchicums, and of course Michaelmas daisies – which I’m alarmed to see are undergoing a … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Sister of the More Famous Maria

Posted on 02/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

You could have knocked me down with something between a feather and a dumbbell, when, while mooching round Mill Road Cemetery in Cambridge, I came across the grave of Lucy, wife of the Rev. John Robinson, of the Armagh Observatory, … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Cambridge, History, Literature | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Portents of Autumn

Posted on 02/09/2015 by carolinemmurray

After a very wet and gloomy August, things have bucked up slightly at the beginning of September, but though the late summer glories of the herbaceous beds at Cambridge University Botanic Garden are still looking wonderful, some of the trees … Continue reading →

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