I love a good coincidence; as part of the Cornwall trip in June there is a visit to Trebah garden, one of those Cornish sub-tropical gardens and the March edition of the RHSÂ monthly magazine ‘the Garden’ has a long article on the Trebah historic plant collections. We have had an email from Alistair Smith offering to arrange a studio visit with the artist Michael Porter (the man who painted the big triptych of trees that sometimes hangs in the South Gallery), in his Newlyn studio while we are there. Also, Lanhydrock have discovered Henry VIII’s marriage guidance book which is now on show for us to see when we visit.
I have been to some lectures at the Rylands Library recently. This monthly series of lunchtime talks introduces the New JRL Research Institute and it’s vibrant research portfolio. Each informal, accessible seminar showcases cutting-edge research on documents from the last 3000 years…….. Last month was Hebrew Collections, last week was an early illuminated Qur’an. 15 April, Interpreting Papyrus; 6th May, Curating Magic; 3rd June, Encountering Italy. Highly Recommended!
TV dilemma: to watch or not to watch the new Poldark. The daughter says “can’t watch, it will mess with my childhood”. Robin Ellis was perfect as the all round, good, sometimes bad, but always gorgeous hero, fortunately he has aged with the rest of us and now embraces life with diabetes, lives in France and writes cook books for people with diabetes. Then in the same week, up popped John-Boy Walton in The Good Wife. Anyone admitting to watching Cucumber?
Pic. A coin from 306-281 BC featuring Alexander (sometimes called ‘The Great’) of Macedonia, a gift from a friend who knows about my fixation with Alexander. It’s incredible to hold something as old as this.
Head of Alexander
305-281 BC
From the Reign of Lysimachus
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