Plant of the Month: January 2019

Posted on 25/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

A lot of choice, during this (so far) mild winter. I wondered about Sycopsis chinensis, of which the yellow filaments are currently glowing , or one of my own winter-flowering clematis, but – not only because it is glorious in its own right, but because of its role as a sentinel at the entrance to the Winter Garden at the Botanics, which celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year – I’m going for Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’, possibly the most famous of the daphnes, not only for its flowers but for the unmistakable fragrance which you walk into like an invisible wall, even on the coldest day, as you approach the plant. Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Cambridge, Exploration, Gardens, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Object of the Month: January 2019

Posted on 19/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

I have mentioned before how the heroic toilers of the Fitzwilliam Museum rotate the displays, especially in the ceramics galleries, on a regular basis, so that one has to keep one’s eye peeled for novelty as one moves through. Last week’s surprise was a number of pieces of British red stoneware, most of them (almost inevitably) from the Glaisher Bequest. Continue reading →

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

Almost a Year …

Posted on 13/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

In 2017, I photographed one conifer @CUBotanicGarden once a month. I have to admit that the result was not completely gripping, so I thought that for 2018 I would track the development of the laid hedge there. I failed at the second post, as I don’t appear to have a picture for February – and June, August and September are also apparently absent. This is pretty embarrassing, given that I walk past it at least once a week. (I was getting so worried about memory lapses that I did a couple of those on-line ‘Diagnose your own Alzheimer’s’ tests, and am apparently absolutely fine (assuming I remember the result correctly, of course).) Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Woman’s Work

Posted on 10/01/2019 by carolinemmurray

… (a) is never done, proverbially, and (b) consists of cooking, cleaning and home-making (oh, and child-bearing), traditionally. Therefore it is always interesting, and sometimes quite astonishing, to come across a historical figure who worked in a role which, according to the patriarchal scheme of things, was totally unsuitable for a woman. Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, History, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Plant of the Month: December 2018

Posted on 16/12/2018 by carolinemmurray

Not a traditionally Chrismassy plant, but something I came across @CUBotanicGarden the other morning, flowering its socks off against the glasshouse range, Correa backhouseana (or backhousiana according to some sources) is interesting not merely in botanical but also in history-of-science terms. Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The 205

Posted on 08/12/2018 by carolinemmurray

Over three years ago, I made some Resolutions for my unemployed dotage.  My dotage has in fact turned out not be completely unemployed after all, and a delightful proportion of the rest of my time is now taken up with grandmotherly duties (which will only get better since the number of grandchildren has risen by 200% (I hope that’s mathematically accurate?) in the course of 2018. Continue reading →

Posted in History, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The Gazebo Rides Again

Posted on 01/12/2018 by carolinemmurray

This was my fourth year of retailing my wares at Mill Road Winter Fair in Cambridge, and it was a very successful day, in spite of not totally desirable weather. (I should not complain of the odd spot of rain, given the tempest we contended against in my first venture, in 2015.) Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

A Bizarre Story

Posted on 30/11/2018 by carolinemmurray

Thompson Cooper (1837–1904) was the son of Charles Henry Cooper (1808–66), the distinguished Town Clerk of Cambridge, whose historical and biographical works on the city are still a major source of information. From 1842 to 1853 he published four volumes of Annals of Cambridge (volume 5 was completed by his son J.W. Cooper of Trinity Hall, and published ‘with additions and corrections to Volumes I–IV and index to the complete work’ in 1908). Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Biography, Cambridge, History, Italy, Literature, London, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month, November 2018

Posted on 28/11/2018 by carolinemmurray

This is an unlikely pick for the time of year: an aloe which looks as though it ought to be under glass but none the less is thriving (so far, in this unnaturally warm autumn) outdoors, in front of the glass-houses @CUBotanicGarden. Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Commuting in Cycle City

Posted on 20/11/2018 by carolinemmurray

Those of my readers old enough to remember the craze for Citizens’ Band Radio in the 1980s will probably know that the ‘call-sign’ (if that’s the right word) for Cambridge was ‘Cycle City’. If you google ‘cycle city’ these days, the first of 18 million-odd websites which pops up is for (if I understand it correctly, M’Lud) a chain of gym clubs where you can cycle on the spot, indoors. Sic transit gloria birotae … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments