something to do while doing the laundry

The Ashmolean Museum is literally round the corner from the hobbit house, and so between loads of washing, Julie and I nipped in to see some of the delights it owns. Julie likes pottery, particularly Delft ware, so we had a good look at their collections, and found this charming pair.
An invigilator ( their term not mine) approached us as we were admiring this John Singer Sargent, and at first we thought he was asking us to step back a bit, but he launched into a long spiel and then asked us if we could see the "Brigitte Bardot" figure in it. Click on the picture and see if you can ....

The Egyptian collection is always pretty cool, no matter which museum you happen to be in. The Ashmolean is no exception. Here is an appeal to the oracle from some Ancient Egyptian, asking about the man he wants his daughter to marry.

And here the artist was struggling with how to paint a palm tree, something I can relate to as I do the same thing on Ossabaw Island. I like his representation a lot.

And here is the Jewel in the Ancient English collection - King Alfred's jewel. It bears the inscription "Aelfred mec heht gewyrcan", "Alfred ordered me to be made"and dates from the reign of King Alfred the Great who ruled from 871 - 899. It's very small and very golden. And very, very old.

The weather has turned into summer, and it's glorious. Maybe about 80 degrees. Tonight, we're driving to Julie's home in Lincolnshire to spend a few days there. A weekend in the country.