Happy Saint George’s day everyone!

Today is England's national day, a day in which we celebrate St. George (our countries patron saint) by wearing red roses in our lapels and fly the Cross of St. George.

Alas, this is a sad fact to mention, but if truth be told, not all Brits celebrate today. I can't quiet put my finger on the main reason for this (I do have some theories, but that's another conversation entirely) .. however, I can say, by enlarge, most of us are terribly patriotic (including myself) and do celebrate today.

So for those of you out there who are likeminded .. "Happy St. Georges Day!"

PS: Incidentally, today's date is also reputed to be the day on which Shakespeare was born, and also sadly died.

A quick catch up

Gosh, please forgive me, it's been absolutely ages since I've had the chance to post anything. It's been a rather hectic month (mainly due to work if truth be told), however, we have had the chance to visit a few places which we've been wanting to visit for absolutely ages...

We finally got around to making the pilgrimage to Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon & Ann Hathaway's Cottage (childhood home of Shakespeare's wife) .. both of which were absolutely marvelous and definitely well worth the trip! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any interior photographs as it wasn't permitted, however, the above photograph is of Ann Hathaway's gorgeous chocolate box thatched cottage.

Earlier on in the month we attended the fine arts & antiques show held at Hatfield House .. needless to say, we spent a small fortune on a couple of pieces, one of which was a Jacobean period (c.1613) painting done in oil on a single oak panel .. (I hope to write more about this once it's back from the appraisers/restorers as it's absolutely charming and was a present from my darling hubby to help remind me of my beloved homeland whilst I'm away).

My Aunt also came down for a visit last week and we had a truly lovely time moseying around the city together. One place I'd been wanting to visit for absolutely ages but never gotten around to it was the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace. Aside from the main art collection, they have a wonderful exhibition on at the moment entitled Amazing & Rare Things which brings together the amazing works of ~ Leonardo da Vinci, Cassiano dal Pozzo, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sibylla Merian & Mark Catesby. Each diverse figures in their own right with a shared passion and fascination of the beautiful and bizarre in nature ~ exhibition runs until 28 September 2008.

We also visited The Royal Academy of Arts to see the first major exhibition in Britain devoted to Lucas Cranach the Elder (c.1472-1553) .. I must admit, I'm a little biased on this referral as Cranach is one of my most favorite artists, but I have to say, this exhibition is truly fantastic and well worth a visit! It comprises of 70 of his most important paintings & woodcuts ~ exhibition runs until 8 June 2008.

My goodness, I've just looked at the time .. eek, I best pop off to bed.

I hope everyone’s been doing well and that you've all had a lovely weekend!

Cheerio until next time,
Justine