Gardens were pregnancy tests to see if, as Ruskin and Morris believed, modern society had truly been knocked up by evil, resulting in it being pregnant with doom.
This of course implies that, in Morris's mind at least, socialism was the morning after pill that could save civilization.




Yes, yes, I am a huge dork. Thank you for noticing.
I love art history.

EDIT: There was something else... something involving my elbows being mittens. Or William Morris's elbows being mittens. Or something. Oh dear.

(I uploaded this icon specially for this entry. It was way too appropriate not to.)

This Interview at You Ain't No Picasso basically explains why Doveman are such an excellent band. Contra dance and gamelan and setting Wallace Stevens poems to music. Excellence.

Today I went to the Lake District with my class. It rained. I stared out the bus window, mouth agape, in shock at how wildly beautiful it was. If you ever need to understand the picturesque and the sublime, the Lake District is the place - obviously, that's where a lot of the writers on the picturesque and the sublime got their inspiration.
We went to the most beautiful house, too - an Arts and Crafts masterpiece. Also jaw-droppingly nice. It was all carved wood panelling (done largely in rowan leaf and berry motifs - which made it even better, considering my personal attachment to that plant), simple stained glass, and window seats and Inglenook fireplaces, which I am wildly in love with. Always have been. If I could make my own house, it would be small and furnished almost exclusively with built-in furniture - window seats and Inglenooks, dining table with a banquette, beds set into walls, and book shelves book shelves bookshelves.
Also today, the only church designed by one of the great Arts and Crafts architects, full to the brim with Morris & Co. stained glass designed by Edward Burne-Jones. Impressive, to say the least. And so gorgeous. I love Burne-Jones with a wildly colourful, flowery, mannerist passion. Oh, and one of the angels in the main east window looked quite a lot like Evan Simko-Bednarski (Wes people, you'll know of whom I speck). Which was strange. I took a picture, I'll get it uploaded and share it around, see if other people see the resemblance...
The day ended with us all stood on the edge of Lake Windermere, being dripped on by trees and stared at by swans, drinking wine from plastic cups. It was a nice way to end the class, and it was our last real meeting. Which is too bad in some ways, but good in others. I was getting really, really tired of Gothic revival churches (which was a great thing about today - only one Gothic Revival thing, the rest was Arts and Crafts!), and spending so many hours in the bus with a small group of people was really starting to grate on my nerves.
Oh, and I went to Carlisle today, in passing, which was exciting only because it made me think of Bryan Dick. (yay!)

It was a 7am departure again this morning. I'm tired, but not sleepy - maybe because I just had a huge cup of tea. I've been watching Michael Palin tour about Eastern Europe, and a book quiz which made me feel both intellectual and not well-read.

I did well on my exam last term, I've found out - so that's nice! Hopefully I can get down to work on my paper for this term and do well again.

Hm. Time to turn on something instrumental and get under the covers with my book on William Morris and garden design. It all sounds rather pleasant, which is good, because it's work for my paper.

I dreamt about Vivienne Westwood last night. It was weird.She made me tea.

I made a Doctor Who macro a few nights ago. I personally think it is made of win. It really only makes sense if you've seen the new mid-season trailer, though. I posted it Here at ihasatardis.

I took more than 220 pictures over the course of 7 hours on the trip to Fountains and the churches on Thursday. Not sure how I managed that.

I went into town with some people last night, and it was great fun. It was a nice night out, warmish, and we went to cool bars, and my friends are awesome. I am still making new friends here, which is one of the many reasons it is seriously going to suck to leave.

Did I mention that I saw Mystery Jets on Monday?
Well, I did! They played a gig in York. It was excellence. I love them SO MUCH.
I'd write a full review, but... I'm tired. So I'm just going to give you the review I sent to thisroyalcity.

( I Hear Her Playing the Drums Late at Night )

To do next week: two presentations, one seminar, one paper tutorial, one 13-hour study trip, one 2,500 word paper. Damn.

My thesis topic got approved! That's a huge weight off my shoulders.
My Simon Bookish CD I bought on eBay arrived today! It's AWESOME.
I have hay fever for the first time in ages! It's not very bad, but it bothers my nose...
I know there was some other stuff, but I've forgotten what! Um...

Oh, oh, last weekend I discovered the pure joy / cheesy awfulness that is Eurovision! It was very exciting. I feel heavily indoctrinated in the ways of Europe now.
My favourite was Bosnia & Herzegovina. Then France, then Spain.
The ONLY good thing about Russia was that I got to see Evgeny Plushenko.

I've just been looking at Imelda App's website. She's Patrick Wolf's mom, and I never realized it was her who did the paintings of him in uniforms. I really like her stuff... especially the stuff linked from the top of the page, of her latest show. It's like a strange and beautiful narrative... a strange narrative featuring Patrick and his huge white cat.

Oooooh something else. In other art news, Ryan McGinley has reappeared in my life yet again. My pseudo-step-brother posted a link to Sigur Ros's new video a few days ago, which I went and looked at... and who should it be "inspired by and in collaboration with" than Mr. McGinley himself? And who should have taken the photograph used on their new album cover, but... yes, him, again. I was thrilled! I love him so much, and I like Sigur Ros, and I'm not terribly surprised that they've collaborated, and... it's just so nice! You can see the video Here, but be warned - there's plenty of nudity, though all very nice and, very McGinley. Nothing like some naked people in the woods! Yay!


It's not hot here, per se, but it's sticky. Very humid. It's been raining. The warmth is nice, but the stickiness is kind of ugh.

Today I went to Fountains Abbey again today, with my class! Hooray for that! We visited two churches near there, and got our admission to the Abbey paid for so we could wander around and have our lunch on the grounds. I wandered off by myself, which was nice - it's so pretty there, and it was nice to just be out on my own. It was a fun trip, generally... mostly because we all got punchy by the end, and we were laughing pretty hard. Oh, exhaustion and too many Gothic-revival churches... I'm so tired now. I really like my seminar group, they're generally fun, friendly people.

That's a lot of update. I'm done now.

Oh! Oh! Also. Yesterday I bought a tea cosy (for my non-existent teapot, which I will own in the future) and a hot water bottle. The hot water bottle came with a sweater... hot water bottle cosy... that has a Union Jack on it. I am officially more English than the English.

I am such a dork.
- Evidence: My current Facebook status quotes the Act for the Rebuilding of the City of London, 1667, in a reference to my good housing pick for next year at Wes. As soon as I read the phrase "houses of the greatest bigness," I was immediately wondering how to incorporate it into something... anything... but especially my status. The housing thing was perfect.)
- Related to that, I am actually sort of enjoying my revision for my upcoming exam, despite the evidence to the contrary (ie complaining, being on LJ, playing the best internet sudoku game ever...)

Birds.
- I saw about 20 mallard ducklings today, all swimming around together with a group of duck-parents.
- AND one of my favourite birds on the lake (the great crested grebe) turned out to be a couple (I never saw them together, so I assumed there was only one), and they have babies, too! 4 of them. They ride on their parents' backs, and they're stripy! I love them. SO CUTE
- The goose and coot outside my window have 6 and 5 eggs, respectively. I cannot wait for coot babies.

Other.
- Somehow, despite the rain and absent-mindedly taking the long way and not being able to figure out how to get into the Royal Mail package centre, I had a really easy, really good trip to town today. Everything I needed to do got done, and much more easily than I was expecting. The worst part was the weird acoustics in the cafe at the University's building for medieval studies et. al.; somehow I could not help but hear every word two women all the way across the (large) room were saying, and I was trying to read! I got more work done on the bus.
- I think I got all my classes for next fall. They will be:
~~ Hazardous Earth (natural disasters taught for non-science people = me getting my last science credit, and being able to apply for honours).
~~ Islamic Art & Architecture (more of Prof. Wagoner? Yes, please.)
~~ Intro to Experimental Music (assuming my schedule adjustments today went through. I've want to take this class for a while, so I'm excited.)
~~ Thesis Tutorial (aka ahhhhhhh omfg I really need to get my shit straight for this, I have to have an advisor and a topic by mid-May.)
- I, like the grebes (but without the babies, or the feathers, or the ability to stay underwater for a really long time, etc.) am also a couple now. Or, rather, part of one. And that's pretty nice, you know?

I'm quite tired, but... back to work! Or a shower. Probably a shower.

EDIT: I wish I was at Wes to see the thing in the CFA tunnels. Mostly because it sounds awesome, but also because... FLOOFY MATT. It belongs to Floofy Matt. Aw, I'm going to miss him.