Back There and Over Here

My Dad downloaded the trail camera photos for the month of June.
He emailed me four and I thought I'd share them.


Here's Mama and her two babies.  This is dated the 3rd of June at 7:45am.

On the 21st of June at 11:51am this handsome fellow strolled by. 

Mr. Bob-Cat is out and about early.  He appeared at 6:10am on the 22nd.

Let's hope he does not meet up with the new fawns.

Yesterday Mom and I tootled over to the Tate Britain.

The main galleries are arranged chronologically, beginning with Elizabethan paintings.  I'm very partial to this period - love the clothing and the jewellery. There are interesting themes about women in this period.  The woman on the upper left is happily pregnant.  On the bottom row the two women pictured with babies are sisters who were born on the same day, married on the same day, and gave birth on the same day.  The painting to the right shows a gentlemen with his children and his two wives.  The one in the bed is the deceased mother of the two older children, while the current wife holds a baby in her arms.

 

This painting by William Beechly 1793 "Portrait of Sir Francis Ford's Children Giving a Coin to a Beggar Boy" had me stop and stare and think and think. First I wondered how the painter 'sold' this idea to Sir Francis - "I want to paint your kids with a dirty scruffy boy."  There is so much more to it than that - I think it is a very moral painting contrasting the rich and the poor.  All three children are innocent I think - look at the expression of the boy in red - what is he thinking?  The differences in clothing and health of the children - what are we to make of it?  How will one coin make any difference?

This group is interesting too.  The upper right is an English family in India.  Note the age of the Ayah pictured with them.  Love the three brothers climbing the tree, acting like little boys do. 

Then there are the romantic painters...

and the realists of the early 20th century.  The Sargeant painting on the lower left is interesting - it is all about the woman - even her couch is more important than her children who are mostly hidden behind it.   

We took a London Walk today - the theme Sir Christopher Wren. We got lots of background about Wren.  He was a professor at Oxford by the age of 25 and consider brilliant.  Not an architect per say, he was enamoured of order and geometry. He lived through the English Civil War, and the Commonwealth, the Restoration, the Plague of 1665, and the Great Fire of 1666.

The walk began at Tower Hill and ended near Bank.  I collected oodles of very cool street signs. Would you like to live on Seething Lane?

This church is not one of Wren's.  It is St. Olav, one of the few churches to survive the Great Fire.  Samuel Pepys worshipped here.

A few days after the Great Fire, Wren went to the King with a plan to totally change the footprint of London.  He wanted broad boulevards and straight grid streets - order.  The King vetoed his plan saying London would keep its narrow, winding medieval streets and lanes as it must be rebuilt as soon as possible.  Far more Londoners died as refuges from the fire than during the fire.  And there was talk of moving London's financial district to Oxford.  The King wanted his people housed as quickly as possible and London to remain the financial center.  He told Wren he could build churches instead. 

So Wren built over 50 of them, including the pretty St Margaret Pattens.

He also worked on St Dunstan in the East and St Mary at Hill.  St. Stephens Walbrook was his first attempt at a dome (top row 2nd from left).  He did not like the look of it, but used the lessons learned to refine the dome he created for St. Pauls (top row far left). Wren also designed the Monument, and a pub (the 2 small photos) for the St Paul construction workers.  He had a room upstairs he used during construction. We ended the tour at St Mary Le Bow and the bells rang while we were there!  

 

A very good walk - the tour leader was well informed without being officious.  He did a great job entertaining and education.  I think we'll go on some other walks based in this experience.