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July 13, 2014

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A Florence diary, Diana Athill

In 1947 Diana Athill travelled to Florence in Italy. She was leaving an England behind that was still recovering from the war. Of course there had also been war in Italy, but somehow the sun and the art and the wonders of a foreign country made this all seem a little less bleak. In those days there was no airplane, but you had to take the boat to France, and then several trains to finally arrive in Florence. Diana Athill travelled with her cousin Pen and together they spend two weeks in this beautiful city. They made excursions in and around Florence, climbed to San Miniato al Monte and admired the architecture, while they tried to keep to their budget, try out all the different dishes Italy had to offer, and meet some helpful men. Diana went into the San Lorenzo thinking it would not be much, only to discover the Medici chapel and falling in love with it. To make sure she would be able to tell her mother all about the trip, she kept a diary and this has recently been discove...

The waters of eternal youth, Donna Leon

As always I was very happy when the new book by Donna Leon was translated into Dutch last month. In The waters of eternal youth Brunetti is asked by an old friend of his mother in law to look into the accident when her granddaughter almost drowned, fifteen years ago. The young woman suffered brain damage and has the mental capacity of a seven year old and she cannot answer questions about what happened. Brunetti takes up the case but does not expect to find anything. Only when he wants to interview an eyewitness of the event, the witness gets murdered. And this alerts Brunetti that there must have been more to the accident than he first thought. The commissario Brunetti series by Donna Leon is one of my favorites. I love the atmosphere of Venice in these books, the way Guido Brunetti ponders life and the future of Venice and the way food plays a role. Are there a few cliches here and there? Yes, there are, but not in such a way it bothers you while you read it. You...

The botanical gardens in Florence, Italy

Whenever I am on holiday I usually visit a city. And in those cities I love to walk around in parks and gardens. These are a great source of shade (not unimportant in a hot Italian city during the Summermonths), and of course plenty of benches to sit on and get some rest (not unimportant when you mostly walk everywhere). When I was in Florence in 2015, I visited the botanical gardens. These were set up in 1545 and originally provided the plants for the pharmacists to make medicines. Nowadays the gardens are part of the university of Florence. You can visit them and it is a lovely place to walk around. When I looked at the photographs (I do that sometimes, especially when the weather is cold and grey and I need a fix of 'Sun, warmth and Italy') I notice that of course the botanical gardens do not just grown plants in the garden, but also have greenhouses and have a job to preserve plants and to study rare plants. So here are a few photographs of the greenhouse in ...

1 plant, 3 settings, UJB June 2016

Yes, it is time for the Urban Jungle Bloggers again! This month the theme was: 1 plant in 3 settings. When I first read this, I never thought I would be able to come up with an idea. But somehow when you let it stew, ideas come up and I managed to get three different settings. The one plant I used in all three is one of my favorites, but I am afraid I have no idea what it is called in English.:-) So here are my three settings: Aristic Jungle Art and plants are always a good combination. Minimalism Sometimes all you need is one plant. Coffeetable Need I say more? Urban Jungle Bloggers (here) is an initiative from Judith (here) and Igor (here) , who show their love for plants in every way they can!

What have I been doing?

In the past months I have been reading a lot. I am busy with two little reading projects, reading all the Agatha Christie detectives and reading Bronte. I am making really nice progress in both projects. I have already read more than 12 Agatha Christies and I now I am reading them in chronological order I see how she developed as a writer. I love reading all the Bronte books. I am almost finished with all the novels. I did read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights , but I never read the other novels, until now. I love the novels by Anne Bronte, both Agnes Grey and The tenant of Wildfell Hall . I also loved many parts of Shirley by Charlotte Bronte and now I am reading Vilette . This is not an easy read (and since there is no Dutch translation of this book, I have to read it in English), but I do love it. I also have The professor and Emma Browne still on my shelves, and also many non-fiction books and books based on their lives and novels. In short, I am completely emerg...

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