I loved the serendipitous contrasts that happened here in the Natural History Museum in London as our little 3 year old Granddaughter was admiring the skeleton of the enormous 125 million year old Pliosaur!
Grand-baby T at The Natural History Museum
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1 As we left London after our week with our Grandchildren and moved into countryside, there were fields of all colours – red with Poppies, yellow with a crop of Oilseed Rape, blue with a Linseed crop, gold with Barley and of course, green – beautiful English fields in summertime.
Poppy field June 2010
2 Some of the cloud formations were quite lovely too and when it wasn’t my turn to drive I managed to catch a photo or two.
Beautiful cloud shapes
3 It’s always a heart tingling moment to cross the border into Cornwall!
KERNOW a gas dynergh
1 Yesterday morning, J spotted an unusual bird on the fence and I was delighted to tell him that it was a Jay. This morning, he decided to draw the beautiful bird for his Mummy and Daddy for when they return.
Jay by J
2 We took the tube train to the Natural History Museum today and had a splendid time investigating all manner of things. After our picnic lunch we went out into the Wildlife gardens which were lovely. The building is one of my favourites – I love the patterns made by the coloured bricks.
The Natural History Museum
3 In the pond in the wildlife area we spotted beautiful Dragonflies, a Coot with fluffy babies, Water Lilies and Water boatmen.
The wildlife pond
1 The ballet cardigan fits well and Grand-baby T was very pleased with it.
Off to ballet
2 Thundery rain kept us indoors for much, but not all, of the day so we had fun weaving with ribbons, making a cardboard castle and making amazing gel boards to practise writing on, courtesy of Melissa of Chasing Cheerios. Brilliant idea and very clear instructions! Thank you.
Weaving ribbons
3 On our walk to the bookshop this afternoon we stopped to smell the rain-drenched roses – just gorgeous.
Rose with rain
1 After school today it was the Summer fair and we saw a different part of the school. I was very taken with this sign in the playground which I am told is where someone goes if they are feeling a bit lonely and they need a friend to play with. In moments, they are spotted and someone comes along to offer friendship. What a lovely warm thing to encourage and with lovely drawings which reflect the multicultural nature of this primary school where 48 languages are spoken!
Friendship stop
2 J has lost his first baby tooth today and has put it into a little box for the tooth fairy to find! We are baby sitting for the weekend as Mum and Dad are away and we are not sure of the family routine for such an event! 20p? 50p? Anyone any ideas?
First baby tooth to come out
3 I have been knitting a Ballet cardigan for Grand-baby T since I finished my Wool Against Weapons knitting and have managed to sew it up this evening just in time for tomorrow’s ballet lesson. I hope it fits!
First ballet cardigan
“Between you and me, these shoes really did need a polish!” In Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, London.
Shoeshine conversation
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1 We visited the coffee shop again this morning and I noticed their lovely community notice board.
Community calendar
Harris and Hoole
2 KJ’s cats are very fluffy and very lovely.
Busby, 14 years old
3 We bought some big wooden beads for Gand-baby T and she made this colourful necklace which she is very pleased with.
Beautiful beads
1 It was our Gallery Day today so we started off in Tate Britain to see the fabulous Folk Art exhibition (where photos were not allowed) and the Turner galleries, always a favourite.
Tate Britain
2 Next it was off to the Royal Academy for the Summer Exhibition, a feast of modern art, about 1000 pieces of art – some clever, some quirky, those that made us laugh and those that made us gasp, protest pieces and dramatic pieces and in an enormous range of media. The ones that have stuck in my mind are the wonderful Cake Man by Yinka Shonibare, a very moving transcript of an Eddie Mair interview with Dr David Nott, a conflict zone surgeon, made into a huge canvas by Bob and Roberta Smith, an enormous piece of charred sequoia called Tumble block by David Nash where the wood grain was enhanced but the way the charcoal absorbed light and a beautiful little etching called Midsummer which was affordable! Sadly, though the sign said 100 were available and there were only about 50 red spots on it (meaning sold), when I went to enquire they said that the artist, Flora MacLachlan, had only released 57 to the gallery to sell. That was a disappointment. However, as the lovely Mr S said as we left, ‘That was a really uplifting few hours!’
Cake Man
Charred sequoia
All schools by Bob and Roberta Smith
3 On our way round the back of the RA to see the photos of Dennis Hopper , the burst of colour from the sunflowers on every cafe table was a delight to see.
Sunflower
1 After taking J to school we went shopping with Grandbaby T going first to a delightful coffee shop, Harris and Hoole, where we had been told that T likes to have a gingerbread person. Along with the biscuit, T was given a small tube of icing so that she could decorate her own gingerbread. What a splendid idea and one that I will pass on to our favourite coffee shop at home. Have a look here for the story behind the name, relating to Samuel Pepys!
Decorating my gingerbread person
Tiles at the coffee shop
2 Next we stopped off at the bookshop where T was very excited to be going to choose another book and raced ahead of us as soon as we got inside the door.
I’m off to buy a book!
3 At the end of the day it was a pleasure to collect J from school – such a responsible big boy!
J coming home from school
1 Two Niobe flowers – one fading, one fresh and both beautiful.
Niobe
2 I took a photo of a delicate Church spire as we drove through North London this afternoon.
St John the Baptist Church, High Barnett
3 KJ and the grandkids are growing peppers and J showed me the first red one with great pride.
Bright red pepper
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