Sunday, May 10, 2009
Net-facts
Remain puzzled about the tigers. Why would anyone bother to transpose the story from Thailand about tigers to California. OK so it has been simplified a bit and the simplified version is more cuddly, but still, why bother?
Remain puzzled also about the shocking pink house in Capri. Further investigations revealed that there are at least two famous houses in Capri. One the San Michele which started me off, and the other the Casa Malaparte. The latter was the house of one Curzio Malaparte, a very odd cove, even for an Italian, a book of whose I have indeed read in the last year or so. And his house was a shocking pink. But I don't think this could be the cause of the TLS article which started me on the Munthe hunt. Where is the connection? So I must have conflated my memories of the pink house with San Michele.
I also learn from Amazon that there was a book about Munthe published last year, which might well have been the subject of the TLS article. Except that the TLS archive says nothing about it. But having now decided, contrary to my earlier opinion, that a book about Munthe might be more interesting than Munthe on himself, have now ordered it. Despite the fact that it is being heavily discounted by Amazon - which, by the by, now sees fit to include lots of Caprivan advertisements when I visit.
Yesterday to Loseley Park, the home of the much loved ice cream from Dorking Halls. It turns out that the ice cream has been enjoyed at least since the time of at least Elizabeth I, who once stayed in the adjacent Loseley Hall. Unable to get into the hall on this occasion but we see see some impressive lead down pipes from the gutters - maybe five inches in diameter - and we did see what looked like a couple of elderly loft extensions. Presumably put in well before we had rules about non-tampering with listed buildings.
Excellent garden, mostly designed by one Ms Jekyll, a scion, it seems, of an eminent Victorian family and a familiar of Mr Lutyens. Wonderful composition, mainly of green and yellow at this time of year. Would be rather differant when the roses are out. Formal macro-structure with informal micro-sructure. Lots of interesting and unusual plants. Unusual, that is, at least to me.
Despite the low maintenance design of some of the garden, impressed to learn from the trusty that the garden was looked after by just three gardeners and a flock of trusties. They must be a lot better at it than I was in my allotment days.
The first time I have seen apple trees clipped into a sort of aerial hedge, that is to say the first six feet of the tree trunks were clear.
The small broad bean bed reminded me of the large number of very large broad bean fields we had seen the week before in Cambridgeshire. Given the size of these fields and how easy the things are to grow, hard to see why they were so expensive in Cheam last year.
Large rectangular water lilly pond, complete with carp and ducklings, cunningly hidden behind a bank.
200 year old wisteria in full bloom occupying the whole of a large wall, maybe fifty yards long. Wall also interesting in instead of being flints set in mortar, it was stone or bricks set in mortar, but with the mortar decorated with small flints, so one had the stone or bricks set in lines of said small flints.
Various ornamental varieties of cow parsley, some large.
Various ornamental plants which reminded one of rhubarb, some large.
Not crowded and well equipped with benches on which to sit, doze and admire the garden.
Remain puzzled also about the shocking pink house in Capri. Further investigations revealed that there are at least two famous houses in Capri. One the San Michele which started me off, and the other the Casa Malaparte. The latter was the house of one Curzio Malaparte, a very odd cove, even for an Italian, a book of whose I have indeed read in the last year or so. And his house was a shocking pink. But I don't think this could be the cause of the TLS article which started me on the Munthe hunt. Where is the connection? So I must have conflated my memories of the pink house with San Michele.
I also learn from Amazon that there was a book about Munthe published last year, which might well have been the subject of the TLS article. Except that the TLS archive says nothing about it. But having now decided, contrary to my earlier opinion, that a book about Munthe might be more interesting than Munthe on himself, have now ordered it. Despite the fact that it is being heavily discounted by Amazon - which, by the by, now sees fit to include lots of Caprivan advertisements when I visit.
Yesterday to Loseley Park, the home of the much loved ice cream from Dorking Halls. It turns out that the ice cream has been enjoyed at least since the time of at least Elizabeth I, who once stayed in the adjacent Loseley Hall. Unable to get into the hall on this occasion but we see see some impressive lead down pipes from the gutters - maybe five inches in diameter - and we did see what looked like a couple of elderly loft extensions. Presumably put in well before we had rules about non-tampering with listed buildings.
Excellent garden, mostly designed by one Ms Jekyll, a scion, it seems, of an eminent Victorian family and a familiar of Mr Lutyens. Wonderful composition, mainly of green and yellow at this time of year. Would be rather differant when the roses are out. Formal macro-structure with informal micro-sructure. Lots of interesting and unusual plants. Unusual, that is, at least to me.
Despite the low maintenance design of some of the garden, impressed to learn from the trusty that the garden was looked after by just three gardeners and a flock of trusties. They must be a lot better at it than I was in my allotment days.
The first time I have seen apple trees clipped into a sort of aerial hedge, that is to say the first six feet of the tree trunks were clear.
The small broad bean bed reminded me of the large number of very large broad bean fields we had seen the week before in Cambridgeshire. Given the size of these fields and how easy the things are to grow, hard to see why they were so expensive in Cheam last year.
Large rectangular water lilly pond, complete with carp and ducklings, cunningly hidden behind a bank.
200 year old wisteria in full bloom occupying the whole of a large wall, maybe fifty yards long. Wall also interesting in instead of being flints set in mortar, it was stone or bricks set in mortar, but with the mortar decorated with small flints, so one had the stone or bricks set in lines of said small flints.
Various ornamental varieties of cow parsley, some large.
Various ornamental plants which reminded one of rhubarb, some large.
Not crowded and well equipped with benches on which to sit, doze and admire the garden.
# posted by Jim @ 1:40 AM 
