London 2nd time round!

It has been a while since I wrote last, so this is bit of what we have been up to in that period of time. We went to the David Hockney exhibition in London. I was inspired by his art work and the way he painted trees and flowers. He painted a lot of landscapes around England and he would come back regularly to paint the same picture and see the changes during different seasons. He put many small paintings together to create giant paintings which created a bigger picture which was also the name his show. In his earlier work Hockney did a lot of photography in which he used the same technique, he would take many photos and put them together. David Hockney used a new medium, the iPAD, to paint more landscapes. They were huge and bright and had a nice effect when you stood back.
It was special to visit Kew gardens and see the Palm House. The Lupin Lady from one of my favorite picture books visits the Palm House in the winter when she is no longer able to visit the Tropics any longer. The Palm House looked just as it did in the pictures in the book except for the snow. My favorite part of Kew Gardens though was the Orchid House. Orchids are one of my favorite flowers and remind me of my Grandma. The variety and a displays were amazing. There were ponds on which little floats sat with orchids inside as well as fish. It was very warm in the Orchid House and my glasses fogged up. It was colorful and inspiring. I love flowers and hope to have a big garden and green house full of them when I grow up.
I really enjoy Agatha Christi’s mysteries. It was exciting to see the play Mousetrap at a theatre where it had been showing for 60 years. The theatre itself was very old and beautiful with lots of red velvet. The play was suspenseful and there were many suspicious characters and I was unable to tell who the murderer was.
The Museum of Natural History was a wonderful place to learn about insects. I especially like the display about the termites. I learned that termites have different jobs like growing fungus to eat. They are hard working gardeners with big gardens. The queen termite was giant and her giant abdomen was all white and pulsing. The Queen’s head was so teensy compared to the rest of her body, you could hardly see it. There were many different chambers in the mound and the Queens chamber was right in the centre. Another job that the termites had was being the guards and warriors who protected the queen and other termites from invaders. There were also the nannies who took care of all the Queens babies in the nursery.
I had a fantastic time in London.
Your Green Thumbed Student,
Mia

The far reaching Tancock family tree

Conversations on the huge potential of tidal energy and the creating of the turbines.Check out TidalStream Ltd!

Tenis with Toby

"David Hockney's 'A Bigger Picture' captures the beauty of the changing seasons, growth and his beloved landscapes in Yorkshire."

The kids at St. martin's theater where we saw Mousetrap, a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show (of any type) of the modern era. The play is known for its twist ending. At the end of the performance we were sworn to secrecy and asked never to reveal the murderer.

Lovely lunch with Michael and Sarah

Harry Potter used platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station to get to Hogwarts. You can see a platform sign and a trolley/cart halfway through the wall.

A cape created from golden silk spun by more than a million spiders on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum
It took more than four years to make the items from the silk of 1.2 million female golden orb spiders, native to Madagascar.

We loved the Launchpad demonstrations at the Science Museum where we learned about Newton's Laws of Motion and watched hydrogen filled cans of Pringles chips shoot up to the ceiling!

It has been a while since I have written to you but I want to tell you about London. We went to the Palm House at Kew Gardens it was similar to the biomes we saw at the Eden Project where I discovered my passion for plants. Four plants that I adore are Cacti, carnivorous plants, palm plants and bamboo. I love bamboo for their ability to grow speedily and it’s happy green look. In the palm house we saw bamboo that had grown 2 meters in sixteen days. I love palm plants for reminding me of my love of Mexico and the goods I have had there. One of the palm trees in the palm house was a specimen that was 200 years old it was the same type that existed when dinosaurs where around. I love the cactus plants look and ability to withstand dry climates. The carnivorous plants appeal to me because they have been so smart in their ability to adapt. They grow in soil that is low in nutritional value and therefore they have discovered how to get their food from bugs and even small frogs.
We got to go to go to London’s Science Museum where we learned about Newton’s Laws of Motion as well as dry ice and Hydrogen rockets among other things. Newton’s laws were taught to us in a wonderful demonstration that included shooting cans of Pringles up to the ceiling by filling them with hydrogen.
We visited the Museum of Natural History where we saw really cool insects and learned all about anthropods. In the “leaf factory” we learned about how sunlight and CO2 is turned into energy. I learned about the fascinating ability of a worm and healthy plant to exist in a tightly sealed jar with out any holes. The plant with the help of the sun and the worm keep one another alive by the exchange of co2 and oxygen.
The lobby of the Natural History museum was amazing and in it was a cross section of a humungous giant red wood tree from California that was a around long before the light bulb and even Columbus. Within the museum was a large structure called the Cocoon. The cocoon had three scientists, each with their own area of science who taught us about the museum’s collection and its use by other scientist all over the world. You could look through glass windows and see scientists at work. They had a massive mosquito collection which is used to study the transmission of Malaria.

I don’t usually like musicals but moving sets and songs of Les Miserables were imaginative. We saw our second Agatha Christie play. The Mousetrap has been playing for 60 years and the secret of who the murderer is has been well kept.

I discovered a new interest, tennis. I always knew that I would enjoy whacking a ball around, it was great to have a lesson with my distant cousin Toby. I learned about how to handle the racket and some ownage moves that helped me rule the court.
All in it was a great final week in London!
Your tennis pro student,
Ruben