Racomitrium lanuginosum

I have been working my way through some old collections of mosses and came to a packet containing a mixture of species from a dry stone wall on Dartmoor. 

I am thrilled with Racomitrium lanuginosum: such a beautiful moss! When dry, there are distinct white hairpoints to the leaves, though these become more or less transparent as the leaves hydrate, but the hair point is coarsely toothed, which is a diagnostic feature for this moss. 

I managed to produce this composite image of one of its large leaves at x40

And then some details at higher magnifications

 And then some details at higher magnifications. 

Here is the toothed margin of the leaf tip at x100

I still have some way to go in getting to grips with the build-in cameras on my microscopes - but I am pleased at the least to capture something of what I see. In the same session I also managed to get this x400 image of Dicranum scoparium. I particularly like the way this image captures the granular nature of the cell contents, the vacuoles and the plasmodemata.

Potatoes

Our first potatoes are in - Maris Peer. Another second early and a main crop to follow when I've got two more beds ready ... time for some more digging!

Escape

So finally the "stay at home" order is lifted and we have been able to escape the town at last! T and I didn't go far, only about 10 miles to Wisley Common, which was quite quiet (in contrast to RHS Wisley across the road, where a very large number of car windscreens were glittering in the sunshine).

The only sad thing was that a lot of other people have suddenly started driving on the roads again. I think that possibly some have not been driving at all for the last three months, and have forgotten key parts of the rules, like not driving in the middle lane when the inside lane is clear 😡. 

2020 Reading

My target was 65 books for 2020 and I managed 62, which given the intense periods of work I had in remote teaching mode during the first UK lockdown is better than I had anticipated.

Here's a photo of most of them collected together.

Most enjoyed (fiction) Terry Pratchett Lords and Ladies. For too long I was put off by the covers of the Terry Pratchett books (I know, don't judge a book ...) but having been introduced to them by M I am really pleased with them. 

Most enjoyed (non-fiction): Anthony Trewavas Plant Behaviour and Intelligence. This is an eye-opening evaluation of what it means to be intelligent and just how much intelligence is shown by plants. My only disappointment was that it was focused on angiosperms, but I really enjoyed learning about many different ideas in plant sciences. 

Best re-read(s): John Buchan The 39 Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast, The Three Hostages, The Island of Sheep. Buchan's "shockers" as he called them are all fast-paced, well-plotted and the scenery is evocatively described, whether that be grimy London, Scottish deer forest, Norwegian Fjord or WW1 trenches . It is without doubt literature from the age of British Imperialism, and many would consider some of the language and themes unacceptable today, but it is literature of its time and to delete it would be to lose something of the richness of the development of the English suspense novel. 

Hardest going: JRR Tolkein - The Silmarillion. I was really proud of myself for making it all the way through and (mainly) keeping track of who everyone was. I read this in the summer, mainly at afternoon tea, sitting in my garden in the shade of next-door's apple tree and I think I will always associate this with the novel. Next up The Hobbit but T is not quite old enough yet. I think the thing that makes The Silmarillion hard-going compared to the other books is that the narrative is all at long-distance. It tells of great and terrible deeds, but the dialogue is limited and you never really "know" the characters. 

Least enjoyed: Robert Harris The Second Sleep. I just didn't "click" with this novel. There seemed to be too many unanswered questions and it felt quite bleak. I am usually a massive fan of his work, so I was surprised. 

I am going to stick with the 65 target for 2021, hoping for a 

Finally ... our Christmas tree is decorated.

We bought our Christmas tree a week ago, but it's been under a dust sheet while we've have some minor building work done. Finally, it's decorated 😀

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, even in Tier 4.

 

Here we go again ...

London is back in lockdown. I can cope without shops, pubs and cinemas. I can cope without socialising, dining out or holding dinner parties. But what I really hate is being shut up in the city, barred from driving 10-12 miles to get into the Surrey countryside and breathe clean air. I'm also longing to see the sea again and really missing the North Norfolk coast and the beaches of Branscombe and Sidmouth. Perhaps, eventually in 2021 we will be able to go again.  

On Monday, before we went into Tier 3 (a week is a long time in the coronavirus pandemic) , I took my son to RHS Wisley and we roamed around enjoying the fresh air and the drizzle and the breeze. I don't mean that ironically - I stood on top of the sprial-pathed mound on the south side of the site and really enjoyed feeling the wind and rain on my face. Being close to the M25/A3 junction it's not really a peaceful spot, but it felt a whole lot less closed in than being in semi-detatched suburbia. Who knows when we'll be aloud back there or onto the North Downs again?

However, on a brighter note, I've bought M one of these for her birthday:

https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/velvetiser-hot-chocolate-machine.htm

and it's a BIG hit, making really good hot chocolate. It's quick (2.5 mins) and above all easy to clean. The organic chemist in me is also pleased by the fact that it's basically a magnetic stirrer hotplate under the hood. 

One of my favourite Christmas-time pieces of music - Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride - played by Cameron Carpenter with considerable flair and style on a theatre-style organ in a New York church. Look out for impressive pedal work in playing the main theme. Organ purists are not always impressed by Carpenter's technique, but there is no doubt that this is a very effective rendition of this piece.