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Diary – 2020 February
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 February
This is Erith Pier and here is the flood barrier gate and its blue shed. The pigeons were playing fling and toss with the large pieces of bread someone had left. When we came back this way later on all the bread had gone.
We went down the long pier. The tide was out, leaving these very very deep gullies in the mud. We decided that they were probably caused by the mud eddying around all the large legs of the pier.
The opposite bank is in Essex and the green hill is waste burial site. Sometimes we see trucks going along in the far distance and clouds of seagulls following them.
5 February
My crocus are doing their best to get going, despite the frosty nights. We went to Hall Place Gardens and this is the main house.
This is a turf maze in circles, with crocuses on the ridges.
Further along we saw this bird getting a worm out of the grass. It looked like a female blackbird in brown, but the way it stood up and moved was like a thrush. Someone has lost their kite in the trees, there is no getting that one down.
This is a type of dogwood that has brilliant yellow and red stems over winter. You have to be quick to get a photo, as later on they will cut it down so it can grow a new lot of twigs during the spring and summer.
Brown Teddy said just look at the difference between a stone that people can sit and stand on, and one behind the fence amongst the plants.
The river was in full flow over the weir.
6 February
We went to Hampton Court Palace wilderness garden. There were loads of snowdrops and a few crocus. The daffodils probably won't be ready for another month. We found a seat in the sunshine to have our sandwiches. There was a lot of bird sound in the trees.
Brown Teddy's favourite part is this secluded garden path with secret seats. The cyclamen flowers were looking very bright and fresh.
This is the only remaining tower of those that King Henry The Eighth built so his court could watch the jousting and mock battles. It is now part of the cafe. We then took a walk by the river where we saw four big cormorants drying their wings in the sunshine, and ducks and seagulls sitting around as well.
As we stopped to take pictures, these huge swans came up to ask for food. There are very big and I am glad it was not my coat that they tried to nibble!
Further upriver is the big long weir, with more sluice gates over the back. It is quite noisy all the time and I suppose the people living close by have just got used to it.
We still had half an hour before our train would leave, so we walked down river by the side of the Palace. Three swans came swimming down and stopped to see us, and I think they are the same ones!
The swans did not know I had my oat biscuits in my bag. Finally we got back to Waterloo Station.
8 February
We went to see Richmond which is on the river Thames before it flows into London.
Lots of feeding going on, with the gulls screeching as well. This must the pigeons' favourite place on a sunny day when people are sitting around.
We walked downriver to the railway bridge. No trains today, and there was a group of men working on the track with a crane. Then we walked to Twickenham Bridge, which has a hinge at the bases of the arches. I later found out that they are to enable it to adjust to changes in temperature.
We then walked on to Richmond Lock. It was closed for maintenance, so we had to look through the railings. On the building is a plaque showing a very high flood level marker. At that level the path would have disappeared and the nearby park would have been a lake.
Here is Richmond Lock with the camera through the railings. Next time we come here, we will be able to walk over it, when the work is finished.
We walked back to Richmond and up through Terrace Gardens to the top of the hill. There is a really good view of all the countryside and the upriver part of the Thames.
14 February
I was up in time to see this lovely dawn from my bedroom window.
The station always has some planters of flowers, and I feel that spring really is here, despite the cold, gales and rain that we have had recently!
We went to Chiswick Park. These are the gardens in front of the big glasshouse. In the glasshouse are the famous old camellias. Fallen flowers are collected up and displayed, here in a heart shape. Last time we visited they were in a dish of water.
All round the park are winter lights installations, mainly in children's themes. We threw some bits of bread to this crow, and he knows how to soften it in the puddles.
Illuminated swings and dragons on poles.
More illuminations. We won't be here after dark, and it was a fairly expensive ticket anyway! The pigeon is only interested in things to eat and was not impressed by the models.
This must be truly magnificent all lit up after dark and reflected in the lake.
We went back to the glasshouse gardens for our sandwiches. The sundial said it was one o'clock. Then we walked along a very long footpath to Barnes Bridge, next to the railway line.
This is the view from Barnes Bridge. The river is very wide and shrinks down quite a bit at low tide.
16 February
My robin outside the kitchen window, waiting for his breakfast of bird pellets.
February
Today we went to the Natural History Museum in Kensington.
We saw a display of dinosaur paintings and drawings. It was easier to take pictures of them from the screen display, as the glass cases had too many reflections.
Here is the wonderful detail of a large painting of some birds. Visitors are encouraged to make their own drawings and put them on display on the shelves. They are all really good and people have obviously spent some time and effort on their artwork. I hope they took a picture of it on their phone before going home and leaving it behind!
We then went up into the Geology Department. I love to see the gold nuggets and gold crystals, just as they came out of the mine. I also really like the cases with colourful minerals, like these brilliant blue and green ones.
This is the Aurora Pyramid of Hope, made of 296 coloured diamonds, firstly in ordinary light and then in ultra-violet light. They are on loan and I am very glad the owner has let all of us see these lovely diamonds, and not kept them hidden away in a bank vault somewhere! The room they are in is called The Vault, because it can be shut very securely to keep all the gems safe.
You can read about how the collection came about in this article on the website of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain:
https://gem-a.com/news-publications/news-blogs/from-the-archives/from/aurora-pyramid-of-hope
The Geology room is generally fairly quiet, not like the very crowded main central hall. Even when it is crowded, it is a nice atmosphere, because there is so much excitement especially from people coming to see the dinosaurs.
We then went to Holland Park nearby and ate our sandwiches here. It began to rain so we were huddled in a corner under some greenery. Then it was blue sky and sunshine again. The robin came to see us for some crumbs.
Several peacocks live in the Kyoto gardens, and there are also some lovely Koi in the big pond.
19 February
We went to the National Gallery which is in Trafalgar Square in central London. It is always crowded here with tourists from all over the world.
The building is very ornate and smart inside, and the floors are patterned marble. The National Gallery has lots of very famous paintings that we all see in books and I have put some below, for my own little gallery.
The Hay Wain (1821) by John Constable, and Mr and Mrs Andrews (1750) by Thomas Gainsborough.
The Fighting Temeraire (1838) by JMW Turner, and part of a painting of Venice by Canaletto.
Shipwreck in Stormy Seas (1773) by Claude-Joseph Vernet. You can almost hear the thunder and lightning going on, and the roaring gale. The waves look horrendous. I would not like to be here at all.
The Small Meadows In Spring (1800) by Alfred Sisely, and Late Afternoon In Our Meadow (1887) by Camille Pissarro. I really like paintings like these, with fresh greenery and sunlight streaming through. I feel as if I am really there, in the sunshine or in the spring breezes.
It is interesting to look into the details in the corners, I like this bowl of fruit in a silver basket, and all the detail in this lacy sleeve. You can get really close to the paintings to see how it was done.
We stood on the front balcony for a while, watching the street performers below. Some council men were pressure washing the plinths around the lions.
21 February
Today we went to Uxbridge which is in the far west of London. The station is still as it was years ago and I hope they keep it that way. This town crest is on the gates over the road that keeps the area traffic free.
22 February
A break in the wet and windy weather, and the crocuses are surviving very well.
24 February
We went to the British Museum. It is a huge building absolutely full of history from the very beginning to now. It is going to take a long time to see everything, if we ever will. We can only do one or two rooms per visit. Then after a while, the sandwiches and drink seem a lot more interesting to us!
We wanted to see the Money room. These are cowrie shells from China from 1000 BC, used as money on strings. This is a Roman coin with Julius Caesar's head on it, and it is the one in the Bible where they were told to "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar" (which meant taxes, because his image is on the money).
This is a clay tablet from Babylon with writing mentioning coin payments, 300 BC.
Hoard from a shipwreck in Devon with gold from Africa. This is a five billion dollar banknote, when the country of Zimbabwe had runaway inflation, it is worth just about nothing now!
This geometric lathe made the swirly patterns for printing banknotes, so they cannot be forged.
We went on to the rooms with British Roman history. This is a model of Housesteads Fort at Hadrian's Wall, 120 AD. The mosaic is from a Roman village at Abbots Ann in Hampshire, 400 AD.
This is the Venus wall mosaic from Hemsworth in Dorset 400 AD. It was taken apart and given a new backing, and is mounted on the museum wall.
This is part of a restored wall painting from Lullingstone Roma Villa (400 AD) in Eynsford, Kent. It looks very modern and it would be interesting to paint my own version of this and put it on my wall.
26 February
Today has been very wet and stormy, and this huge
dark cloud had plumes of rain falling from it. At the end of the
afternoon the sky cleared to brilliant sun.
29 February
We went to the park, now that the sun is out, on
our way to the shops. The Canada geese are standing in the huge puddle
that has collected here from all the heavy rain. The big pond doesn't
overflow its edges, because there is a small weir to the left. The
greenery to the right is the birds' private island.
The young geese were in the calm part, and here is the little weir,
about a metre high, gushing and quite loud.
The bluetits have arrived in my garden and finally I got a picture of
one of them, taken from the kitchen window. They
are very good at eating the greenfly from all the young rose shoots that
cover the fence.
You can use the space on your 404 page to help find missing people by embedding info from notfound.org See Yellow Teddy's 404 page
Where to report a lost or found teddy or toy https://whiteboomerang.com
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