Venus, Ghosts and Frankenstein

We went to see the Venus Verticordia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti at the Russell Cotes art gallery in Bournemouth today http://russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk. Amazing colours. The twins liked the Victorian decor of the house and the cafe. We found ghosts in the churchyard at St Peter's Church, and saw the grave of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Nearby we also saw Domini's Frankenlion! (http://www.prideinbournemouth.com/lions.php) Now I am looking over the typeset manuscript of Portland Pirates, in its final stages, with a sword and pirates hat by Domini inset as chapter breaks.

Looking for Ancestors

Last week I went to the parish of St Feock in Cornwall to look at a church built by my ancestor William Gerrish, a stonemason born in 1800. The church is set deep in the Cornish countryside, in an area where a lot of my forebears lived, including Penroses as well as the Gerrish family. The only recorded twins in my family tree (until Jade and Jasmine) were William's sons, so I feel a sense of connection to his family. The Saxon church tower set apart from the church building seems oddly familiar too.