Category Archives: Cambridge

Plant of the Month: January 2020

Posted on 04/01/2020 by carolinemmurray

One of the most mournful utterances you will hear from a gardener is: ‘I had one, but it died.’ Next up is, ‘I had one, but it doesn’t flower any more.’ This is the case, alas, with me and Iris … Continue reading →

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

Tree of the Year

Posted on 02/01/2020 by carolinemmurray

In 2017 I took monthly photos of a particular tree @CUBotanicGarden, and in 2018 I did the same for a hedge. Neither sequence when laid end to end was in fact particularly inspiring, so in 2019 I went for one … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Christmas Is Coming …

Posted on 31/10/2019 by carolinemmurray

Not the words you necessarily want to hear on Hallowe’en, but I must just put in a plug for my stall at the (Cambridge) Mill Road Winter Fair, on Saturday 7 December. This year I have a pitch on Petersfield, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge | Tagged | 3 Comments

Anon.

Posted on 07/09/2019 by carolinemmurray

I just made it to ‘Artist: Unknown: Art and Artefacts from the University of Cambridge Museums and Collections’, the current exhibition at Kettle’s Yard. (It continues until 22 September, but the Hedgehog ménage will be away – Venice, since you … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Venice | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Fingers Crossed!

Posted on 02/09/2019 by carolinemmurray

Terrifyingly, it is that time of year again … the first Christmas catalogue arrived a few days ago (thank you, R.H.S.), and yesterday I filled in my application form for a stall at the Mill Road Winter Fair in Cambridge, … Continue reading →

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Plant of the Month: August 2019

Posted on 29/08/2019 by carolinemmurray

Passiflora, the passion flower, is – perhaps unsurprisingly – a genus in the family Passifloraceae, which is itself part of the enormously varied order of Malpighiales, which includes everything from the willow to the violet by way of poinsettias. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Great Belzoni

Posted on 23/07/2019 by carolinemmurray

… is today hung on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum – or, at any rate, a spectacular likeness produced after his death is. I mentioned this fascinating character several times in my previous blogging persona, but his arrival in Cambridge … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Biography, Cambridge, Exploration, History, Italy, London, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sedgwick’s Boots

Posted on 20/06/2019 by carolinemmurray

I begin with an appalling confession, made because of my reasonable confidence that nobody (least of all @TheMuseumOfLiz) actually reads this stuff … Here goes: although the Golden Jubilee of my arrival in Cambridge is only just below the horizon, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Cambridge, Exploration, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Allegorical Tombs

Posted on 06/05/2019 by carolinemmurray

… are apparently a Thing, and one which I have come across twice in as many days in Venice, though they seem to owe their origin to one Owen Swiny (MacSwiny, McSweeny, MacSwiney, McSwiny, and other variants), of Enniscorthy in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Cambridge, History, Italy, London, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Vernal Equinox

Posted on 20/03/2019 by carolinemmurray

‘The vernal equinox has come too soon’ is, Him Indoors assures me, the opening line of a welcome ode written to celebrate the visit of Her Majesty The Queen to his school at some point in the 1960s. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments