What a busy day!
22 June 2006 21:41![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enismirdalI've been all round the world today!
Yesterday evening, Abner and I watched our way through Heathers (which is rather cool - a bit like Mean Girls but about 20 times more sinister), Another Day In Paradise (which was interesting - good characters - but dark and gritty, not exactly light watching, but I enjoyed it) and then Broken Flowers (again, interesting, but as Abner will confirm, my brain doesn't deal well with movies that don't have a definite ending and instead sort of leave a hole).
I also got to pose for a photo with his awesome snake. Abner also has an incredibly cool cat, which was amazing and fell asleep on my lap, repeatedly. Hee!
Popped out of bed this morning at the unearthly time of 8:15am (which actually wasn't too bad, since I went to bed early).
We walked back to the station - he lives in a gorgeous area with amazing views - and chatted and stuff, which was nice, and I got a train back into Cambridge. So I was back in my room just after noon, in time to have a big plate of jambalaya for lunch, yay!
Then there was a talk at the Herbarium - wow! We got to see samples that Darwin collected on the HMS Beagle - actual real plants that Darwin actually really handled, and then pressed. They were annotated by Henslow, Darwin's mentor, tutor and the founder of the Botanic Gardens, and the fourth Cambridge Professor of Botany AFAIK. He had pretty copperplate handwriting.
There was this cool cucumber/melon-related thing that Darwin found in the Galapogas Islands or somewhere south of the equator in any case, and added to his collection. It's now gone extinct; aside from this one pressed sample, with its one large leaf, two dried seeds and some other material, there is no existing sample of this plant anywhere on earth. Hopefully when DNA technology gets better, they'll be able to bring it back. I'm hoping it has a big pink juicy fruit on it that is either sweet and juicy, or mashable and tastes good with butter on.
And still the day went on! Met up with some other PlantScis and got taken to Devil's Dyke by the most esteemed and fantastic Professor Peter Grubb. Who knows everything. He identifies grasses - I always feel a bit inferior because I can't identify grasses to save my life. He showed us all the amazing flora of Devil's Dyke: Pyramid Orchids and Lizard Orchids, and various kinds of Vetch, and some little white flowers, as well as Yellow Wort, Wild Thyme, Heliathemum and the last of the Pasque flowers from earlier in the year.
And then we had a picnic on the bank, in which Professor Griffiths (who also came) produced wine and food. It ended up a bit like a PlantSci communion, with wine being sipped and passed on, and bread being broken and passed on. All in all, I was very happy indeed and it was lovely.
I am, however, rather sleepy now! *grins*
Yesterday evening, Abner and I watched our way through Heathers (which is rather cool - a bit like Mean Girls but about 20 times more sinister), Another Day In Paradise (which was interesting - good characters - but dark and gritty, not exactly light watching, but I enjoyed it) and then Broken Flowers (again, interesting, but as Abner will confirm, my brain doesn't deal well with movies that don't have a definite ending and instead sort of leave a hole).
I also got to pose for a photo with his awesome snake. Abner also has an incredibly cool cat, which was amazing and fell asleep on my lap, repeatedly. Hee!
Popped out of bed this morning at the unearthly time of 8:15am (which actually wasn't too bad, since I went to bed early).
We walked back to the station - he lives in a gorgeous area with amazing views - and chatted and stuff, which was nice, and I got a train back into Cambridge. So I was back in my room just after noon, in time to have a big plate of jambalaya for lunch, yay!
Then there was a talk at the Herbarium - wow! We got to see samples that Darwin collected on the HMS Beagle - actual real plants that Darwin actually really handled, and then pressed. They were annotated by Henslow, Darwin's mentor, tutor and the founder of the Botanic Gardens, and the fourth Cambridge Professor of Botany AFAIK. He had pretty copperplate handwriting.
There was this cool cucumber/melon-related thing that Darwin found in the Galapogas Islands or somewhere south of the equator in any case, and added to his collection. It's now gone extinct; aside from this one pressed sample, with its one large leaf, two dried seeds and some other material, there is no existing sample of this plant anywhere on earth. Hopefully when DNA technology gets better, they'll be able to bring it back. I'm hoping it has a big pink juicy fruit on it that is either sweet and juicy, or mashable and tastes good with butter on.
And still the day went on! Met up with some other PlantScis and got taken to Devil's Dyke by the most esteemed and fantastic Professor Peter Grubb. Who knows everything. He identifies grasses - I always feel a bit inferior because I can't identify grasses to save my life. He showed us all the amazing flora of Devil's Dyke: Pyramid Orchids and Lizard Orchids, and various kinds of Vetch, and some little white flowers, as well as Yellow Wort, Wild Thyme, Heliathemum and the last of the Pasque flowers from earlier in the year.
And then we had a picnic on the bank, in which Professor Griffiths (who also came) produced wine and food. It ended up a bit like a PlantSci communion, with wine being sipped and passed on, and bread being broken and passed on. All in all, I was very happy indeed and it was lovely.
I am, however, rather sleepy now! *grins*
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no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2006 21:24 (UTC)BTW, the snake looks awesome.... but why do you have gloves on? Doesn't it like to be handled?
Have a good weekend! :-)
no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2006 21:36 (UTC)I heard they were making a seed bank! That's a really cool idea - 3 million samples! Wow. I bet Darwin would have loved it!
no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2006 23:01 (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 Jun 2006 23:16 (UTC)*grin*