The snow gates are closed…

The Wall – concept art for George R R Martin’s The Game of Thrones…

It’s that time of year when the first snows fall in the United Kingdom, especially in the Highlands of Scotland or the high Pennines of northern England. And I listen out for those portentous words, “the snow gates are closed”…

In reality, the news refers to something like

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Words: Damask roses and damascene swords…

A romantic painting of old Damascus by Frederic, Lord Leighton, 1874

The city of Damascus is in the news for all the wrong reasons in 2012 as the awful bloodshed goes on in Syria. Forgive me if, for a moment, I sidestep the political and humanitarian issues and instead look at the glories that have been. For Damascus once meant luxury and craftsmanship for us, here in the west of Europe.

Damascus, whose name comes from roots meaning “a well-watered place”, is the capital of Syria and its second-largest city. It is in the south-west of the country and is sometimes

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A neglected mosaic in green and gold…

Cardiff Central railway station mosaics, in Welsh and English

On most days I pass these two small green and gold mosaics on a concrete wall alongside Cardiff Central Railway Station. I feel sure that most people don’t notice them, as they are in such a grotty, neglected corner. But they catch my eye.

The railway station is

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Top posts of 2011 remembered…

It’s that time to draw a line under 2011 and announce my top posts for the past year (figures kindly crunched for me by WordPress) – and three out of five were posts I had published in 2010…

I seem to have the BBC’s Frozen Planet to thank for my top two posts this last year, as again penguins seem to have been the big attraction for search engines.

Penguin of Arabia by Ursula Vernon

1. Designer birds: Penguin

From paperback books to chocolate biscuits and much more besides, penguins are iconic birds. Here are some others I have chosen in 2011:

Designer birds: Peacock

Designer birds: Owl

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2. English words from Celtic roots…

English words from Celtic roots were top post in 2010...

This year’s runner-up was last year’s winner – and again it’s all because I used a picture of penguins. The word penguin comes from either the Welsh or Breton
Pen-Gwyn (meaning “head-white”).

I have also posted several other items on the origins of the English language:

The ungothroughsomeness of stuff…

Latin for today

English words from Scandinavian roots

English words from Indian roots

English words from Spanish roots…

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White tiger at Singapore Zoo by David George

3. The sadness of white tigers

This one was new for 2011 and is a memory of the white tigers of Bristol Zoo and some information on other threatened big cats of the world.

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4. Carousel horses – an illusion of freedom

Horse head from the Riverfront Carousel in Salem, Oregon, by Crossmark

This was a wonderful excuse to collect together some beautiful images of carousel horses, unicorns and even zebras and this post was fourth in my top five for the second year in a row.

Another collection of art went with my post
Fairytale bedding: the Princess and the Pea…

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Some 1970s 'sci-fi' fonts from the 1970s

5. Design icons: Letraset

Design and nostalgia combined to make this a popular post. The same elements appeared in
Every poster tells a story

There’s more art and design here
and more nostalgia here

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Figures in a Monmouthshire landscape

The Circle of Legends in Tintern, Monmouthshire

Back in the summer I was totally smitten by this circle of six ancient wood-carved figures in a forest clearing in Tintern, Monmouthshire.

The figures themselves, sculpted from oak (or in one case sweet chestnut), are not ancient, but the people they represent are historical and mythical characters at the heart of this part of the country.

They were

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St David’s Cathedral, Pembrokeshire

View of St David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, from the gatehouse

In August we visited St David’s in the far west of Pembrokeshire and here are my pictures of the wonderful cathedral.

It is believed that it was built on the site of the monastery of St David, Abbot of Menevia, who died in the year 589.

Construction of the cathedral started in 1181, although it has been altered a lot since then, and in the early 14th century Bishop Gower built the nearby bishop’s palace, now a picturesque ruin.

Ruins of the 14th century bishop's palace, St David's, Pembrokeshire

You can

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Designer birds: Penguin

Penguin of Arabia by Ursula Vernon...

Penguins are beautiful. Although they are birds, they fly through water like fish. In our human imaginations they are slick, smart and intrepid. They are humorous, they are cute. But they are also edgy and can play sinister when required. Their sleek outline makes for excellent logos (think books and biscuits). In short, they are iconic.

They are

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Great space illustrators: David A Hardy

Forward to the past - interstellar communication visualised by David A Hardy in 1972

This is a sudden posting, prompted merely by reading that Saturn is in opposition throughout the next few weeks, making it at its brightest to the naked eye.

So it’s a good time to recall the small telescope I owned in my childhood and to retrieve from my shelves a book called Challenge of the Stars (published by Mitchell Beazley in 1972 – although mine was a cheaper edition from Book Club Associates).

Challenge of the Stars by Patrick Moore and David A Hardy (1972)

The book is by Patrick Moore and illustrated by David A Hardy, whose images deserve some plaudits, I reckon, as I now realise they are the pictures I still have in my mind’s eye when I visualise the planets of our solar system. More about Hardy later…

Those were the days when a great Planetary Grand Tour of the outer solar system was still on the cards, in a decade when the gas giants were in a conveniently close alignment and could be used as gravitational slingshots to help a probe on its way after taking close-up pictures.

Patrick Moore enthused

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Fairytale bedding: The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea illustrated by Edmund Dulac in 1911 - a real princess would feel the hard pea through 20 mattresses and eiderdowns...

I have been thinking of the fairy tale of the Princess and the Pea this week, as my husband couldn’t sleep – just because we had put the duvet cover on sideways.

And then what should I see on TV but an ad for Sky Broadband featuring the same traditional storyline of the super-sensitive princess. When the pea has been “deployed” all night and the picky prince goes to check on her, she has had a bad night because she can’t get high-speed broadband.

The demanding princess in the Sky Broadband ad from 76 Ltd - click on the image to see the video...

The imagery also takes me back to my childhood, when I craved the idea of bunk beds but at the same time had nightmares of falling off the top. Precarious!

The Princess and the Pea by Ashley Smith

In the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, first published in Denmark in 1835, a prince is looking for a bride but doesn’t know how to prove the credentials of a REAL princess. Then, when someone claiming to be a Princess turns up bedraggled in a thunderstorm, his mother comes up with the idea of putting a pea under the mattress to test her. A hard, dried pea, no doubt. In no way could it be a mushy pea.

A REAL princess could sense it, of course. Even elevated on dozens of mattresses the real princess destined to be the bride cannot sleep because of the lumpiness of the pea beneath.

The Princess and the Pea by Mortimer

According to Iona and Peter Opie

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Top posts of 2010 remembered…

It’s that time to draw a line under 2010 and announce my top posts for the past year (figures kindly crunched for me by WordPress).

Although Twitter set me off blogging, it’s search engines that have made the following posts my biggest hits in 2010…

Penguins...

1. English words from Celtic roots…

An interesting winner, this one – and it’s all because I used a picture of penguins. The word penguin comes from either the Welsh or Breton Pen-Gwyn (meaning “head-white”). Penguins seem to be very popular in Google searches – maybe I should do a post about them…

Meanwhile I posted several other items on the language:

Latin for today
English words from Scandinavian roots
English words from Indian roots

A hare from Masquerade by Kit Williams

2. From mad March hare to golden hare…

This one combines nature and a little bit of the story of Kit Williams’ famous treasure hunt book, Masquerade.

There’s more treasure here
Remembering The Treasures of Tutankhamun

and a lot more nature here

- including my Wildlife Through the Year nature diaries

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Fancy fonts from Letraset

3. Design icons: Letraset

Design and nostalgia combined to make this a popular post. The same elements appeared in
Every poster tells a story

There’s more art and design here
and more nostalgia here
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Carousel horse by Judy Watt

4. Carousel horses – an illusion of freedom

This was a wonderful excuse to collect together some beautiful images of carousel horses, unicorns and even zebras…

Another collection of art went with my post
Looking on the bright side of umbrellas

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Atlantis by Frank Frazetta

5. Great SFF illustrators: Frank Frazetta

This was my tribute to Frank Frazetta, who died on May 10, 2010.

Other Science Fiction/Fantasy illustrators I featured in 2010 are:

Frank Kelly Freas

Patrick Woodroffe

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