St. Andrews, the town

 We spent another day wandering around this charming, ancient town. There was a beautiful view around every corner.  I didn't take any photos of the stately Georgian buildings near the water and golf course, because it was raining too hard when we were exploring in that direction.  But take my word for it...that part of the town is lovely too.

You can just get a glimpse of the sea at the end of the lane.

St. Andrews, Scotland

We went to St. Andrews to look at the university not to golf.  Although there were a few hearty souls out on the links even in the freezing, blowing rain. It rained continuously the whole time we were there.  I guess if my son likes it in the rain, he will like it even better when the sun is shining.  Which the locals assured us was much more frequent then other parts of Scotland.  Anyway, it was beautiful there...even if it was dreich the whole time we were there.  We learned this new word, dreich, meaning  miserable, cold, and wet, and that it was. 

The photos above are of the medieval cathedral ruins...located on a hilltop overlooking the ocean.

These are some of the beautiful and ancient university buildings.  Having spent time around the collegiate Gothic buildings at Yale University, I was a bit in awe of this place with it's actual Gothic buildings.

A quick stop at The British Museum

I'm on a visit to the UK with my son to look at St. Andrews University in Scotland, but our first stop was London.  We had a few hours to kill before our train left Kings Cross station, so we saw a bit of Bloomsbury including the fabulous British Museum.  We spent most of our time in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman rooms.

 The museum has the sculptures from the Parthenon mounted at eye level so that you can really appreciate the 3-dimensionality, and the sophisticated composition of the sculptures.  When I saw the museum twenty something years ago I don't remember them being so visually accessible.

Some amazing Roman sculptures and busts.  I love this place!

My son in front of the museum.  I think he liked it too.

To Be Planted...

Digitalis

I get emails several times a week from a plant wholesaler that I have made many purchases from.  It's a love/hate thing for me.  I love getting the emails because they have great photos of the plants, and I very much enjoy looking at them and imagining them in my garden.   But I hate getting them because I am always tempted to spend way too much money.  Because they are wholesalers, they have great prices, however there is a minimum purchase amount of $50. 

To satisfy my plant love without spending any money, I'm creating a virtual plant list...We have a deer problem, to say the least, so most of these plants are deer resistant...the ones that aren't will have to be planted behing my virtual fence.  I like gardens that stay within a particular color family.  For me it's pinks, purples and white. 

 Double Peony

Double Peony

 Siberian Iris

 Dahlia (not deer resistant)

  Dahlia (not deer resistant)

 Dahlia (not deer resistant)

Lily of the Valley

Clematis

 Astilbe

Astilbe 

Astilbe

Asiatic Lily (not deer resistant)

Russian Sage

All of the photos above are from Van Bourgondien