The Fayrest Quene

A few of you know that I play descant and tenor recorder. One of you has played with me in the school orchestra and informally. I haven't played in ages, but I really love recorder music. Tonight, quite unexpectedly, I heard the most beautiful recorder music in Exeter College chapel. It was part of Charivari Agreable's "Early Music by Candlelight" Summer Festival - The Fayrest Quene, The life and times of Queen Elizabeth I revealed through the sonnets of William Shakespeare. Just three musicians and two hours of listening pleasure. They're on I-tunes - look them up. You won't be disappointed.

The morning found us in the Botanic Garden. What a wonderful way to kill time while the Scout changed the bed linens and flicked a duster around the hobbit house. It's main purpose is to grow specimens for the University's Botany department, so although it's full of all kinds of plant life, it's not as pretty as some Botanical Gardens are. Still, the Lily house was fun, with this young man wading around cleaning the giant lily pads up.

And this is labelled in the Botanic Garden brochure as being J.R.R. Tolkien's favorite tree. Looks somewhat Ent-like, don't you think?

Of course, there was the ubiquitous herbaceous border - and quite spectacular too. The color combinations were very exciting. I intend to go back with my watercolors and capture some of this.
I had more fun withe macro feature on my new camera too. The plants are arranged by taxonomy and this was in the carrot family bed.

Granny Rose has left to continue her Tour of the South. Tomorrow, I am catching a train to Wolverhampton to meet my brother, and he is driving me to Derbyshire to our parent's home. I'll be there for a week. It's very different to Oxford - you'll see...