Christmas Trees

When I was growing up we always had a real tree as a Christmas tree, the smell of the pine needles, picking them up from the carpet at the end of the year.

When my parents moved to a smaller house they got a fake tree that sat on a table; we missed the smell but not the mess or the disposal at Twelfth Night.

My husband and I have never had a real tree. We have a rather lovely fibre-optic tree that changes colour. It's now sharing its fifteenth Christmas with us.

Growing up we had dozens of ornaments (many that my brother and I had made) which had to go on the tree. It wasn't until the smaller fake trees that my mother got close to her ideal of a colour co-ordinated tree. Our fibre-optic tree doesn't have ornaments hung on it at all, so they have to sit around the room (and not fall off shelves).

I do have a little tree in the hall, and it only has birds on it; with a little set of battery operated lights.

My MiL (Mother-in-Law) has a full sized fake tree in the front room (the room that, if we were Victorians, would be the parlour). This is a beautiful piece of artwork in gold; there are other colours in the ornaments, but it is mostly gold. It is stunning.

We sometimes have a tree at work (if anyone remembers to put it up); we sometimes have one in the building reception (again if anyone remembers to put it up). The one in our office is fake and lives in the basement between years, the one in downstairs reception is real and ends up pathetically in a bin come January.

Real trees, fake trees - it is about the tradition of the ornaments (or not) and the joy of decorating them.

The photos below include our home trees, the office tree, outdoor trees and trees with cat playing in!

Trees An album by TheMrsNatG » You can also view all 38 items as a slideshow

Tower of London Poppies

At the Tower of London 888,246 ceramic poppies are slowly filling the moat - since August until Remembrance Day (11th November). This is part of the 100 year remembrance of the start of World War I.

Two weeks left to visit; but time your visit well as this sunny afternoon in half term saw the place absolutely mobbed!

Tower Poppies An album by TheMrsNatG poppies.hrp.org.uk/ » You can also view all 74 items as a slideshow

Sherlock Holmes

When we found out earlier this year that the Museum of London were putting on a Sherlock Holmes exhibition in October there was never any doubt that we would be attending. Husband is an enormous fan of both books and movies, and his enthusiasm has led to me reading the books and watching the the recent films with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law and the TV adaptations 'Elementary' and 'Sherlock'.

The Museum of London always puts on excellent exhibitions, although the previous exhibitions we have attended have both been at the Museum of London Docklands.

The Museum of London itself is free; although the special exhibitions usually have an entry fee (given that we spent an hour and a half wandering through the exhibit was a bargain at £10).

The exhibit ranged over topics as diverse as the depiction of Conan Doyle's characters in TV and film to Victorian/Edwardian London (photographs, paintings and maps) to Conan Doyle himself; all of this and more put together in a fantastic (very atmospheric) setting. The exhibition did not allow photography but the accompanying book (£5 off with an exhibition ticket) has all you want and more; and the gift shop was full of tempting items, including the beautiful anthology of stories with copies of original illustrations from the magazine in which they were published.

The exhibition runs until April 2015.

Sherlock @ MoL

An album by TheMrsNatG

Sherlock Holmes Exhibition at the Museum of London

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