The Spirit Of Things

Nov. 20, 2020

Streptocarpus delights

Ever since I was a young botanist I have always been attracted to the genus Streptocarpus. I first encountered it in the mist belt forests of KwaZulu-Natal in…

by sevendipity

Sept. 05, 2020

Graffiti dialogue ...

On my walk last week I noticed overnight that someone had adorned the hoardings of the Pegasus retirement complex building site hoarding on the Bath and Bristol…

by sevendipity

June 04, 2020

Diep en Deur

The Witteberg Mountains are a little-visited part of South Africa that is off the beaten track and is less often visited by tourists and biologists but which…

by sevendipity

June 03, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath, Part 7

This week I walked around a different part of Bath mainly along Walcott Street, Milsom Street and the top end of Bath. Again I found lots of empty shops,…

by sevendipity

June 03, 2020

City pavement gardens

A striking feature of many cities and towns is the spontaneous aggregation of escaped garden plants which decorate the margins of pavements. These pavement…

by sevendipity

June 03, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath, Part 6

One of the things about a city one lives in its silent moments or the times that it slumbers gently, often quietest just before or at dawn. This is the time I…

by sevendipity

May 18, 2020

The cities are starting to move again ..

by sevendipity

May 17, 2020

Locked in and dreaming of mountain scapes

Once on my travels botanizing in the Hex River mountains in the Western Cape in South Africa I was in the right place at the right time. It was dusk and I was…

by sevendipity

May 17, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath, Part 5

I love it when one sees things in one's neighbourhood that have always been there but one has never seen them before. They seem to catch one unawares yet are no…

by sevendipity

May 17, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath, Part 4

Today I got up at 5.30 am and did a 2 hour walk across Bath and apart from an empty bus, two refuse lorries and one car saw no one. Seems Sunday is still a…

by sevendipity

May 15, 2020

From Angels to birds

Perhaps the most resonant piece of art at the Matara Centre in Gloucestershire for me is a quiet, almost unobtrusive, sculpture of a man holding a bird. There…

by sevendipity

May 15, 2020

Angel Magic

The Matara Centre is a unique Gloucestershire wedding and events venue in the Cotswolds ( https://matara.co.uk/). It is owned by my friend, visionary and life…

by sevendipity

May 13, 2020

Remembering the little 'gatherings' one can see at markets

In Bath, we have a number of regular street and indoor markets. One of our family's favourite Saturday pastimes before the Covid-19 lockdown was to explore…

by sevendipity

May 12, 2020

Doorway Gardens

I am delighted in seeing a new trend in Bath where people in flats are beginning to populate, where they can, the entrance doorways of their buildings. It is a…

by sevendipity

May 12, 2020

Adria Bellflower

One of the free floral delights in the streets of Bath City in the UK is the Adria Bellfower (Campanula postenschlagiana) which adorns many of Bath's sandstone…

by sevendipity

May 11, 2020

Lower Common East allotments, Bath

On an early walk earlier this week near my house I popped in to visit the Lower Common East allotments in Bath, which is situated just up the road from where I…

by sevendipity

May 10, 2020

Plants ignore the lockdown

One is struck as one walks through Covid-19 Lock down Bath just how quickly weeds start to take over a city given the chance. Here are a few examples.

by sevendipity

May 10, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath, Part 3

Big global events like Covid-19 create their own physical debris and ephemera. In this posting I decided to document some of the many signs that businesses and…

by sevendipity

May 10, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath UK, Part 2

Many shops have closed in Bath over the last few months and in my walk around the city I noticed some had closed for good. This has been a worrying trend over…

by sevendipity

May 10, 2020

Silent City: Covid-19 in Bath UK, Part 1

This morning I went for a very early morning stroll through my city having been inside for nearly 9 weeks. It is Sunday morning and a Bank Holiday. If it had…

by sevendipity