Flowers, Books and Films

Back Again, With Plants
I'm now back from my visit to England to see my mother, kids and friends. Everything went well; and daffodils everywhere, in profusion..........very Wordsworthian.

I came back with a suitcase full of plants, mostly bought at 99p to fill holes in my terrace wall, but also a Guinée rose and a clematis bought at Wisley. I find the Guinée rose difficult; I'd had it in Reading but with only modest success. However, the specimen I found looks strong and so I shall try again here; it's worth it for its exquisite perfume. I feared for the clematis which, despite being a late-flowering variety, had put on considerable growth and had to be doubled up in my suitcase, cushioned by dirty shirts. But it survived the journey and is now planted on my terrace at the back.

Meanwhile, Mana had acquired some plants which she called Hépatiques Trilobés, from a bank of wildflowers near here. A dictionary search identified these as Liverwort, a very English name, but I'd never seen anything like them in England and they are wild flowers supposed to grow just about anywhere in Europe. They are very short and have a blue anemone-like flower. Interestingly, Keeble Martin doesn't include them in his book but the RHS encyclopedia I have identifies three varieties as Hepatica(for which the Trilobés doesn't help much since they are all Trilobés), but a search in a French wildflower book I have suggests they are Hépatiques Nobles. The name Liverwort suggests they have had some medicinal use in England in the past but I'm puzzled by their absence from Keeble-Martin's book and by my never having encountered them in England. Anyway, I acquired some too and they are duly planted in the back garden.

Films and Books
Daniel had kindly invited me to eat with him on my return so that I wouldn't have to cook that evening. Over the meal, I mentioned having seen Slumdog Millionaire and Mana's reaction to it and we got into a discussion of books and films thereof. I initially took the stance that you can't compare books and the film of the book because they are different media: what you can do in a book you can't necessarily do in a film and vice-versa. Daniel took a different tack; he reckoned it could be very interesting to compare the two, not to assess similarities but to ask questions about why any differences have been introduced. Some may be for banal reasons of what is possible in one medium or the other but others may give much more cause for thought. I think he's right and it's a point that hadn't occurred to me.