Chasing autumn colours part I

Went to Kew Gardens a few weeks ago to look at the autumn colours, but we were about a week too late. You’ve got to hit that sweet spot before it gets too wet and windy, and we missed the peak, but it was still an amazing day, as any day is in my favourite London place. It was so great to be back as we missed the spring and summer there, and I couldn’t help but smile watching this crow enjoying an autumnal walk too.

Quite soon after entering we sat down on a bench for our picnic and enjoyed the view of the lake. Still some good colour there.

I always always always end up taking a picture of this pine tree every time we go. It’s just so damn majestic! And it has such a serious lean. Hope it doesn’t completely collapse one day.

Ahhhh, excellent choice of bench, lady.

Still haven’t been inside the Great Pagoda; it was recently refurbished and in normal times you can go up it, but alas not currently. I look forward to exploring it properly one day.

There was still some autumn colours to be seen, like this tree…

… and this one. I’d love a big print of this… I say that every now and again about a picture, and then I never do it. I’ll just blame it on the fact that there isn’t an empty wall anywhere in our house - which is true.

We brought Oomoo’s classmate L for the day, and not long after I took this a Kew employee sped up in a golf cart telling us off. No tree climbing here kids!

Good thing you can still cartwheel though, eh? Have you tried cartwheeling recently? It frickin’ hurts. For me it feels like my back is about to snap in half and my legs are about pop out of my hip sockets.

On the ground on the way into the Palm House. Looks like Gill Sans to me.

I’ve never experienced the Palm House as empty as it was that day. It can easily feel claustrophobic with the heat and all the people, but on this visit we could spend a bit more time in there and look a bit more carefully at the plants.

And pay attention to the smaller ground creeping plants like this one. Beaut!

Tina Turner anyone? Ha. Ha.

As usual I took quite a lot of pics, so I’ve had to break the visit into two parts, so you don’t OD, and besides, let’s prolong all this pretty for a bit, yeah? Ok ok, I realise as I write this that this particular picture isn’t 🙃. Kew is still open during this lockdown, but all of the buildings are closed to visitors. I quite fancy going back there again soon. A December walk could be good?! Let’s do it.

A trip to the Arctic - kind of

So, we managed one cultural outing during half term a couple of weeks ago when we went to see that Arctic: Culture and Climate exhibition at the British Museum. It was fascinating to learn about how the four million people who live there live and have lived for thousands of years. It’s also depressing to see how their surroundings are changing beyond recognition due to climate change. Their and all of our lives will look very different in the coming decades, but I guess ultimately everything is constantly changing on our planet, and always has done, but the difference now is that we’re to blame. Sigh. Stupid humans! It’s crazy how we can be so clever but also so incredibly ignorant. Anyway… it was quite dark and busy in exhibition (no social distancing but lots of face masks) so I didn’t manage to take many pictures. This map made out of seal skin was amazing. The indigenous people of the Arctic Circle made/make use of every part of animals that they hunted for food, so a seal skin could end up being a map or waterproofs among other things.

It was one of those exhibitions where there was quite a bit to read about every piece, which of course was very good and informative, but I find that if I read too much I then don’t end up looking properly. I should always remember to look first and then read. I have no memory of what this little dude was, but all I know is that he’s very cool.

The bead work on this apron made up of some sort of skin (reindeer? caribou?) was mind-blowing. I wonder how many months it would’ve taken to make.

This jacket made out of caribou fur was also pretty amazing. Love the design. All hand sewn.

There were prints made by artists scattered through the exhibition.

And sculptures out of soap stone.

As well as engravings done on walrus tusks.

I went through the exhibition slower than Oomoo and Mr Famapa, so they were finishing up as I was half-way through. They asked me to guess what Oomoo’s choice was if he could take one thing home with him, and as soon as I saw these masks I knew straight away that these were it.

My take-home would’ve been this soapstone printing block, such a beautiful object, don’t you think? Even with the cracks.

And this is how the print looked from the above block. So cool! If you want find out a bit more you can read more about the Artic here on the British Museum blog. Once a year the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics takes place, where people from the circumpolar areas in the world compete in sporting categories that are designed to preserve cultural practices and traditional survival skills. I found a little clip on youTube from one of them here. Some categories look really painful, others really fun, and some seriously impressive. It was such an interesting exhibition and I’m so grateful we got the chance to go before everything closed up again.

From the saddle

Went out for a bike ride with my friend H on Saturday. We’ve been going for a few bike rides recently and I’ve always forgotten to bring my camera, so I made sure I did this time. Good thing too or I wouldn’t have been able to snap this beautiful maple around the corner from where I live.

We headed towards east London, which is like another city to me. I really don’t know that part of London well, which is great, as it really feels like traveling elsewhere when I do go. The view of this church made us think that we were in Oxford or Cambridge, as there was no traffic and people were either on foot or on bikes.

We cycled through De Beauvoir Square where these kind of Dutch style houses were a happy discovery. I sent a little film to my pal Z in Amsterdam and wrote: “Not quite Amsterdam, not quite London.” Maybe I’ve discovered a new city… Amsterdon? Londam?

A few minutes later into our drive you could tell we were no longer in north London. I’d love to know if the interior is as colourful.

We did a pit stop in London Fields to have a break on a bench and eat our packed lunches. I’ve only eaten lunch out twice since March; I now always bring a packed lunch (and a cup of tea in a thermos!) if I’m out in the day. Weirdly I kind of prefer it as it just less hassle. No decisions over what to eat or eating something meh. And tea is never as nice out as it is at home!

It’s hard to take pictures while you’re cycling. The framing is trickier and as I always shoot manual the exposure can leave much to be desired. This one came out ok though.

This street had a couple of artist’s studios in it with people working in them, which was great to see, as art should always be part of life, regardless of whatever else is going on.

I’ve never cycled along Regents Canal on the east side, and I really want to, but it’ll have to be on a weekday and maybe when we’re not in lockdown, as it was crazy busy. We’d arrived at Victoria Park at this point, which was so rammed with people on the paths it almost felt like we’d arrived at a festival. It did not feel like the last lockdown at all, and how sitting down on a blanket with friends and a bottle of wine qualify as exercise is beyond me.

Oh well, at least in some parts of the park you can pretend you’re somewhere else.

Or go somewhere else - within the covers of a book.

We planning on cycling to the City next time, as it’s bound to be deserted. Looking forward to it.

And finally a last looking up, on the way home, before it got too dark. Must remember to bring bike lights next time.

A little bit of the last few weeks

October 26th, 4.12pm
I‘ve been outdoors every day for the past few weeks, either swimming, running or going for walks, and this and the following two pictures are from a walk on Hampstead Heath. We met up with my father-in-law and my step mother-in-law and it was nice to check in on each other, as it was only the second time we’ve seen them since the beginning of the year. England has since gone into a four week lockdown, but it’s not quite as strict as the last one (it definitely has a very different feel). You are now allowed to meet one other person from another household outdoors “to exercise”, but sadly the Ladies Pond (although now Covid secure) closed on Thursday, even though outdoor swimming is regarded as low risk. It is what it is, and hopefully the lockdown won’t go on for much longer past the 2nd of December. I’ll make sure I go out daily though, regardless of the weather, and have longer cold showers so the cold water in the Pond won’t be too much of a shock with such a long break from it.

4.14pm
Anywaaaaaaay, back to the Heath walk. This fallen tree looked like a sculpture lying on its side like that. It was HUGE and reminded me of the shadow monster in Stranger Things.

4.31pm
Loved how neatly the leaves had fallen off the trees near Kenwood House.

October 28th, 10.42am
As it was half term that week we ventured into town to see the Arctic exhibition at the British Museum en famille (pics from there coming up in another post), and while we were there I spotted this guy on the roof of the Great Court. He’s not scared.

12.18pm

Outside the museum I found the pots of plants on the house on the left quite sweet. It looked like someone had tentatively just started gardening.

October 31st, 1.28pm

Halloween… without the trick or treating, because, yeah, you know. Still got a pumpkin that Mr Famapa carved to perfection though. He called him… Charlie Frown.

5.28-5.33pm
So what to do when you can’t go out trick or treating?! Hide sweets and let Oomoo loose with a head torch with all the lights off, that’s what.

“Warm, warmer… HOT!”

One room was reeeeeeeally scary!

Mr Famapa had hidden sweets on top of picture frames, door handles and in plant pots.

It was impossible to focus the camera in the dark. Maybe this is what a flash is for?! Don’t have one innit :D

November 6th, 8.23am
And finally, the sky yesterday morning. The clouds stayed that way for nearly the whole day. I love it when Mother Nature shows off, she da boss! That’s it for today. Have as great a weekend as you can have, while we wait for good news from across the Atlantic.