Further Musings

Tonight I picked up Lords of Finance: the Bankers who Broke the World for some weekend reading.  The first page has only this written on it:

Read no history — nothing but biography, for that is life without theory – Benjamin Disraeli

Tis a pretty interesting thought.

It seems that biography forces writers to deal with topics they would prefer to ignore.  John Adams was full of death and sickness in ways that I would have skirted if I was simply trying to write a compelling tale.

Biographies also always link broader historical themes to concrete events in individual lives.  Much better from my perspective.

I think I’ll start reading more of the genre.

Some photos from the day yesterday. It was our second time out. The inside was interesting but the outside was better. Summer improves the gardens but they are wonderful even in the winter.

Hover over the pictures with your cursor to see the comments.

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And she’s happy about it.

What’s better than Harrods?  The National Geographic store across the street.  Sheer awesomeness for the owner of one National Geographic Global Pursuit Trivia game.

Charity and I spent this very rainy afternoon wandering through the giant conservatories of Kew Gardens.

I never expected there to be so many flowers blooming in the dead of winter but they were there: deep purples, bright pinks and reds, radiant whites.

And so many amazing textures and shapes . . . rough and smooth, spiky and round, patterns of stripes and squares, giant radiating fronds and more.  Trees 60 feet tall (indoors!) or 270 years old.

Pretty much three straight hours of wow.

It’s hard to think of a more impressive display of God’s creation.  Plus it was all surrounded by the amazing Victorian greenhouses.

I could easily spend two days there every season for a year.  What a place.

Wow.

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