This evening we went to the Hall for Cornwall in Truro to listen to Lucy Worsley, historian. She was very entertaining. On the way we appreciated the gorgous flower displays and the view of the cathedral. 
Category Archives: History
Flowers, Cathedral and Lucy Worsley
Another Feather, Metalwork and Flowers
We parked for Truro halfway up Chapel Hill this afternoon and walked into the city, a route I took many, many times as a youngster when we lived on the hill.
We passed a feather, caught in a hedge of Escallonia, spotted the name of our town, Redruth, on a short drain runway across the pavement and finally, the house we lived in, where there were flowers for sale with a piggy bank for the honesty payments. 
Sunflower, Butterfly and Plaque
At Roots today, a sunflower opening its petals
We’ve seen few butterflies at home this year so it was especially good to see a Painted Lady at Roots today.
I took the following photo when in Penzance on July 9th and meant to show you on 11th, the anniversary of the wedding of Dylan Thomas and Caitlin Macnamara in the house opposite the Acorn Theatre in Penzance.
My Mum, Precious Words and Deeds
My lovely Mum died on this day in 1994 and I still want to tell her stuff that excites me or that I need her wisdom on. That doesn’t go away. She was a very special person and supported me every way in everything I did.
Regular readers will have seen this photo before, a favourite taken at Carn Brea Castle on the occasion of Mum and Dad’s Golden Wedding celebration in 1989
I have been going through some treasures and found some letters from Mum, all relating to her care of me while becoming a mum myself.
A story for you – Very early in my third pregnancy , I knew that I was expecting twins. I had wanted to have twins since I was 9 years old! My GP told me I was being silly and that he would tell me if/ when this was so. My lovely parents believed me and bought us ‘multiple birth’ insurance at 8 weeks and the GP wrote a letter to the insurance company saying that he was sure it was a single birth.
Roll on eight months or so to September 9th 1977 and the doubting GP sent me to see the consultant at the hospital. She listened to me, sent me for an x-ray and there they were, arms and legs everywhere! Before taking the plates back to her, I phoned my lovely Mr S and my Mum to share my utter delight. What follows is the letter from my Mum that came the next day:
Letter dated 9/9/1977
Just a week later, our twins arrived on 16th and 17th September, and so did my Mum to help look after our other two, 4 and nearly 2 years old, while I was in hospital and then three more weeks to help – but that is another story.
Quirky Bits in Amsterdam
There were shops all over Amsterdam selling plastic ducks. After passing several , I went in to one to ask ‘Why?” It seems they are simply a retail opportunity to attract tourists!
One of the Duck shops
Information re ducks
I loved the decoration outside a shop selling children’s clothes, the decoration comprising of painted bicycle parts and enormous knitted strawberries! 
On the corner of the street near our hotel, Roemers Hotel, was a house beautifully decorated with blue and white tiles near the top of the building. Lower down was a plaque to Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher. She is described by her friends mentioned below as “attractive, musically talented, and a skilled translator and commentator from French and Italian.They also praised her skill at singing, painting, carving, glass engraving and tapestry work.” From Wikipedia.  
Here’s a translation for you:
If Tesselschade is unfamiliar to you, then you may know
That she was a friend of Roemer Visscher,That she sat in the circle of singers
And with her stylus wrote wittily on the glass
And if you wish to find more merit and gifts
Speak to Huygens, Hooft and Vondel, her friendsPIETER HUISINGA BAKKER
Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher 1594 – 1649 poet
Street Art, Sculptures and Statues
We came across lots of interesting structures around Amsterdam.
Against the Tide by Rini Hurkmans  is a memorial sculpture honouring murdered Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries who was shot on July 6, 2021, and died on July 15, 2021.
It’s worth reading this, if a bit of a struggle.
In the gardens of Begijnhof
One of the lizards in a grassy patch by the street
Loved the goblin
Loved these two on the roof of a club
In silhouette
Gerardus Vossius and Caspar Barlaeus were pioneering Dutch scholars and the founding fathers of the University of Amsterdam. In 1632, they opened the Athenaeum Illustre, a city-sponsored academy that challenged Leiden’s academic monopoly and eventually evolved into the modern university I found this in a hidded garden off the book alley I told you about a couple of days ago.
We went to Amsterdam with our friends A&K and just had to find A’s Great Grandfather, Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis, 31 December 1846 – 18 November 1919) who was a Dutch socialist politician and later a social anarchist and anti-militarist. Just learned that we share a birthday!
A translation of the plaque: Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis sculpture represents the rise of the labor movement in the 19th century. Prometheus is depicted in the relief. This Greek hero stole fire from heaven and gave it to mankind. In earlier designs, Polet had placed the Greek myth at the center, with a subordinate position for Domela. Only in a third design did Polet allow himself to be guided by the form of a statue on a pedestal. In his time, Polet was an important exponent of Expressionism within Dutch sculpture. Artist Johan Polet 1931
Soup, Stamppot and A Talk
We had some delicious courgette soup in the sunshine before going into the very interesting H’Art Museum in Amsterdam.
That evening, wanting to eat Dutch food, I had Boerenkool Stamppot and being a big fan of mash and gravy, absolutely loved this meal.
Tonight we have been to the Hall for Cornwall for a talk I really wasn’t interested in, A Gun Through Time by the historian David Olusoga. However, the subject was made quite fascinating by him concentrating on the social history rather than the military history of guns. 
Two Stations, Saying Goodbye and Garden
I hope the Flowers in May, posted for your delectation, have pleased you. I scheduled them all, taken just before we went away for a long needed break – a train journey to Amsterdam with friends. Over the next week or two I’ll share photos from then.
St Pancras station where we caught the Eurostar
Amsterdam Centraal
While we were away on our long planned train trip to Amsterdam, the funeral of our Dear friend and breakfast companion, J, took place. As we very sadly couldn’t be there to say goodbye and to sing for him with my choir, my lovely choir leader offered to take something precious of mine so that a part of me would be there.
I chose a small ribbon in purple, white and green that Daughter no 3 gave me some time ago. J appreciated my suffragette history and so it seemed an appropriate token to represent me last week. 
Grown well in our absence
Family History, Daisy Hat, A Poem and A Song
On this day in 1909, my Great Grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Wiseman, Suffragette, aged 53, was arrested in London having thrown stones to break windows. Subsequently she was imprisoned in Holloway, went on hunger strike, was force fed and was awarded the Suffragette Portcullis Brooch in recognition of her courage.
I bought a new sun hat!
For some reason the following words came into my mind today and then I remembered that Pete Seeger gave the words some music.
from Ecclesiastes
Porcelain, Dumbbells and A Word
I have two beautiful little porcelain boxes. They were given to my parents on their Ruby wedding anniversary by the man who was their Best Man and who became my Godfather, Maurice Oldfield. These little boxes became mine in due course and I love them.
In November last year I joined an online exercise class designed for women over 60 and I am loving it! Feeling stronger and fitter and far less arthritic pain. We have just graduated from using cans of beans as weights to little dumbbells weighing twice as much and mine arrived in the post today!
We have rain again today, a soft mizzle and I turned to my beautiful book , Ninety-Nine Words for Rain and this one describes today’s drizzly stuff. I just wish I knew how to say these lovely words. 
