Since then many more have opened across the country. Study the maps and graphs to find out more. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/1719/

Finally, this week the daffodils in my garden have produced their buds and hopefully should be ready to open soon! They seem a lot shorter than in previous years. We will study the records to see if this is a trend this year.

Many thanks

Professor Plant

The Chancel of St Teilo's Church, as it looks today.

Angels, shown playing the Crwth and Harp. Painted by Fleur Kelly.

Verdigris pigment, used to make green paint in St Teilo's Church

If you feel inspired after seeing those, why not hop over to the events page to book a place on our Tudor Guided Walk. The walk, lasting around an hour, will take place next weekend, the 20th of March. As well as a tour of our Tudor buildings, you'll get a chance to handle replica objects, and explore Tudor smells - good and bad! Places are limited, so booking is essential.

I hope to see you there!]]>http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog?entry=256Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000Well, the iPad now has a release date for the US - early April, not mid-March as first expected. It will probably arrive in the UK late April. In the meantime we seem to have exhausted ourselves trying to decide whether or not it's a good thing - let alone a necessary thing. But then not being needed didn't make the iPod or iPhone any less desirable.

Apple's marketing for the iPad has taken a turn for the interesting, as their key words are "revolutionary" - possibly true - and "magical" - what?! Of course it's slick, sexy, a thing of beauty; there might well be something revolutionary about it; but - magical? Now using that concept to describe a piece of digital equipment, that's revolutionary! It's a piece of kit that lets us use our email and the web, look at our pics and videos and play with all our digital toys (150,000 of them apparently). Eventually we'll be able to use it to read e-books.

Previously Apple were promoting the iPad's similarity with the iPhone in terms of functionality, so that we'd all feel at home right away. Now, however, the iPad is revolutionary, magical and value for money. It sounds as though somewhere in the flurry of attention since its announcement, Apple have abandoned the "third category" concept that so many people questionned, and instead are positioning the iPad as a gem of a product, something lovely and affordable and just so much fun. A must-have accessory, perhaps. In which case, where does that leave the e-reading function? It was never primarily an e-book reader, more for all-round media consumption, but publishers were desperately looking forward to the healthy, straightforward supply deal offered by Apple, and any further delay in launching iBook in the UK is surely going to be a major cause for concern.

Taking these patterns as inspriation everyone created fantastic artwork using collage and print (potato prints, monoprints and stencils) and some of the pictures that were made are shown below.

Detail from a 1950s dress from our handling collection which was used as inspiration for the workshops

Monoprint based on the flowered pattern

Drawing developed from flowered pattern and the monoprint

Images from nature were often used in 1950s designs, so we made a leaf potato print which looks fantastic in this picure!

This picture is beautiful. I love the use of collage, stencil and monoprinting here and the colours are great too.

We also looked at the artists Rex Ray who is a contemporary artist influenced by 1950s design. This fantastic collage was based on one of Ray's paingtings.

More pictures to come!

In Pentrepoeth Junior School, Swansea. Pupils were very excited to find crocus, daffodil and mystery bulbs peeping through the soil. They were surprised how some of their shoots varied in size and love recording the temperature and rainfall.

On the really Welsh farm, in Bridgend. Farmers have finally started picking daffodils and sending them out across South Wales. They report: 'Still not huge volumes really, we are extremely disappointed at how slow the daffodils are growing this year. We are about 5 weeks behind for the earliest varieties and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have plenty of daffodils for St.Davids Day'.

• Win a trip to a really Welsh farm
• Daffodil Drawing Competition
• Newsletter
• Investigation ideas

Professor Plant's bulb blog:

20/02/10 My crocus opened today! First the flower bud appeared, then when the sun came out at lunch time - the flower popped open. The colours were amazing, bright purple petals and bright orange anthers & stigma.  It's so nice to finally have some colour in the garden. Later in the afternoon, when the sunshine disappeared the flower closed again. I'll upload my pictures tomorrow. Does your crocus do this? Why not try out some of my investigation ideas. See link below.

15/02/10 Both my daffodil and crocus shoots have started to come through. They are no taller than 2cms which is quiet small for this time of year. In 2008, when the winter was mild my crocus flowers had already opened and the daffodils were 11cms tall!

Which shoot is which? The daffodil shoots have smooth curved, light green tips. They are much broader than the crocus tips. The crocus shoots have narrow pointed shoots that normally appear in clusters of five. They have dark green edges - making them look slightly stripey. 

Crocus - 13/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

25/01/10 Pentrepoeth Junior School, Morriston, Swansea.

Crocus - 10/02/10

We've been making amazing prints and collages throughout the week. I'll put up all the rest of the work next monday and tuesday! Thank you to everyone who came to the workshops and I hope you enjoyed them!

Still used in many churches, temples and shrines across the world, incense can play a very important role in a worshipper's experience of a sacred place. Smell, we are often reminded, is a short-circuit to our memories. The mixture of Frankinsence, Myrrh, and citrus oils usually favoured by the Catholic Church - though perhaps not as evocative as mothballs or freshly-baked bread - is a heavy mix which can transport you to some quite fantastical places. Some of these smells have been used in ceremonies and perfumes since the age of the ancient Egyptians and beyond. It is no surprise, then, that one's imagination can wander quite far off its leash when this stuff is burning.

Now, before i get too Herbal Essences, I should probably 'fess up - i'm an incense fiend. Not just any incense either. I'll snobbishly breeze past the day-glo, wood based tendrils and cones, and go straight for the resin. Usually made from sap collected from trees, each kind has its own history and associations. Frankinsence comes in rounded, amber-coloured blobs. Myrrh looks a bit more like the discarded pupae of a creepy-crawly. Damar looks like pear drops, and smells like a delicate, citrussy nectar...

Anyway, back to the thurible. Ours is replica, to be used in St Teilo's Church. Past experiments (using a thurible kindly loaned from St David's College) have yielded mixed results. Some enjoyed the experience, saying it gave an air of religious calm to the building. Others took two huffs and turned on their heels, coughing. Some just felt uncomfortable, perhaps due to their own religious instruction or beliefs about worship. We propose to use the thurible during re-enactments at first (more on those later...), along with period music and liturgy, to see whether we can really re-create the atmosphere of a Mass in 1500.

Only problem is that the Curator who commissioned the replica is on holiday. The parcel sits tantalisingly intact in the strong room. I'm trying my best not to take a peek - though, it would take considerable effort, seeing as I don't have the keys. We will have to wait, then, until Monday, when we'll have a very different unboxing video to show you!]]>http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog?entry=250Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000 Tudor Pack in English (.pdf file)

A colourful detail from the reconstructed Tudor church at St Fagans: National History Museum

These resources were designed with teachers and school groups in mind, but contain some lovely illustrations and ideas suitable for families as well.

We've put them together for use during, and after, visits to the site's Tudor buildings.

Through the Learning Department's training days for primary teachers, we've been able to get a fair bit of feedback regarding the contents - but we're always happy to hear more. What kinds of resources for learners, of all shapes and sizes, would you like to see at St Fagans: National History Museum?

I was up at St Teilo's Church this morning with Darren the photographer, taking pictures of our Tudor handling objects for use in a post-visit picture book for children. I'm excited to see what the designers will make of the photos, and how the finished product will turn out. I'll keep you posted!

For those of you wondering what other opportunities we currently offer primary schools and teachers, here's a handy guide: Opportunities for Schools (.pdf file)]]>http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog?entry=248Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000Macmillan have now ended their stand-off with Amazon, and come to an agreement over the terms of sale of their ebooks. When Macmillan initially demanded new terms, all their books became unavailable on Amazon.

Now, even Rupert Murdoch says that Amazon's terms "devalues books", and he looks like renegotiating HarperCollins terms.

The problem is Amazon's selling model, in which they act as a straightforward reseller. They can sell the ebooks at any price they choose, even lossleading on some if they want to. Apple, on the other hand, have taken a completely different model with US publishers, who are welcoming it with open arms. Apple will be buying ebooks from publishers at a price set by the publishers, with Apple effectively taking a commission.

There's still no indication that Apple has started negotiating with UK publishers, so when the first iPads ship to the UK at the end of March ebooks might not be available through iBooks. If not, however, it won't be trhough lack of enthusiasm on the part of publishers. This is one American trend I don't think we'll mind following.

For those of you wondering which particular kind of festivity to bestow on to this day, know this: St Teilo is the patron saint of apples and horses. Adjust your schedules accordingly.

See his life story depicted in an intricate, technicolour carving at the St Teilo minisite.

Master Carver Emyr Hughes with his oak carving of St Teilo

Italian Memories in Wales, Our new exhibition in Oriel 1, St Fagans:National History Museum opened on Saturday January 30 and will run until May. It's a lovely exhibition so please come and visit!

As part of the exhibition we have been collecting feedback about people's thoughts on the exhibtion as well as their stories of leaving a country. Here are some that we have had so far:

Tina and Angela Minoli wrote:

'My father Giuseppo Minoli came to the Welsh valleys from Brugnoli in the Bardi region of Emilia-Romagna when he was 5 years old in 1914.'

Paulo Nuzzo wrote:

'My father left Italy in 1956 to work in the steel works of S.Wales - lovely to see what he had to go through to stay in S.Wales.'

Paulo also commented on the exhibition, saying it was: 'Very interesting and moving.'

Roberto Pastore wrote:

'My mother and father left Italy in the early 70s after getting married. They came to the UK and had my brother and me, and found work as a boutique owner and hairdresser, respectively.'

He also commented on the exhibition: 'Some beautiful images and such distinctive expressions + faces of Italy.'

Angelina Cooper wrote:

'My Grandmother and mother left Bardi 59 years ago - we visited Bardi for the first time in Sept 09. Fantastic!!'

If you would like to comment on the exhibtion please do so below or fill in one of the postcards in Oriel 1.]]>http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog?entry=244Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000
Even though there's been plenty of coming and going over the last few months, it has been work done behind the scenes: securing thatch, digging trenches, conserving and installing objects. The site seems to have been reclaimed, by now, by the general public. A trip down to Cosmeston lakes over the weekend confirmed that half of the south east had finally emerged from hibernation, as there were more people about than mallards.

In St Teilo's church, artist Fleur Kelly has been back again to work on some painted panels in the chancel. Since this part of the church was - and still is in some cases - considered as the most sacred, the decoration relfects the taste and preoccupations of sixteenth century Clergy, rather than Laity. The wall-paintings depict the Archbishop Thomas Beckett, and the chaste, pious St George (for those of you wondering why St George appears in a Welsh church, there'll be a post on that soon!). We have chosen musical angels, playing instruments sourced from 1500-30, and linenfold motifs for the wooden panels on the parclose screens.

I took the Learning Department's new camera up to the building in the hope of getting some footage of Fleur at work, to share with you on the blog. Scorsese I am not, and so I present you with some stills from my otherwise wobbly film debut. Fleur will be back in a few weeks' time to put the finishing touches on the paintings. Traditional pigment paint dries very slowly indeed - hopefully by then I will have had a chance to practice with the camera and can bring you a little film that's more 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' and a bit less 'Pollock'...

Line drawings, or 'cartoons' of musical angels used in St Teilo's Church

Artist Fleur Kelly working on a parclose screen at St Teilo's Church

Disappointing, but understandable I guess. They're both American companies, based in the USA so it makes sense that they sort their domestic market out first. Also, as I've commented before, the iBook isn't being promoted as the iPad's primary feature anyway. It's just that, for some of us, that was what we've been waiting for! There's no way ereading will move towards the mainstream until we have a decent colour multi-touchscreen, multifunctionality and an intuitive UI. At the moment the devices on the market work for fiction (no images, minimum functionality needed) and the academic market (especially with the specialist Kindle Tablet for students). I'm looking forward to being able to browse my reading material in the way we now 'browse' the web.

• a web browser
• email
• and lastly an ereader, featuring, inevitably, iBook.

Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and S&S have signed on provide content through iBook. Apple has offered a more attractive deal than Amazon by agreeing to link the ebook price to the print price. They'll split the sale 30/70. Initially publishers will still earn less from the iPad, but the agreement gives longer-term control and helps still fears that Amazon are driving prices even lower over time - and gives publishers some leverage.

Of course there are other features, and the larger touchscreen makes this a much better tool for enjoying your images in iPhoto and the most feasible device yet for downloading and watching films.

Perhaps one reason why Apple avoided positioning the iPad directly into the ereader market is the size. Although the 25cm multitouch colour screen is clearly easier to read from, ereaders have so far been promoted for their convenience, which includes being highly portable - more so than a pile of books. The iPad is nearer the size of a netbook, although at 1.25cm much slimmer (and prettier!). Another reason will be the price: although initial guesses at the cost were around 1,000$, at 499$ for the basic model the iPad is still a wee bit pricier than other ereaders, and the 3G 64GB model will be 849$.

Industry comments so far have questioned whether consumers actually want a "third category" device, especially at those prices. Publishers, however, seem to breathing a sigh of relief: at last, an attractive device and a publishing model that protects our profits. And as Jobs says, the 75m people who've bought iPods and iPhones already know how to use an iPad. The questions are, can they afford to, and do they want to?

The art cart was busy on Saturday and we made some beautiful cards! Here are just a few.

First, there were the usual 'death of the book' noises, which have been emerging every now and then ever since the invention of newspapers (or probably since the invention of moveable type itself). Curiously, the fact that this premise has been discredited several times doesn't stop it re-emerging. In reality books align themsleves fairly quickly and eventually benefit from whatever was meant to sound the death-knell (remember how after VHS videos came out, cinema attendance rose?). The content crosses the platforms, whatever the medium or the technology. Newspapers publish books. Films and tv programmes have tie-ins. And publishers are exploring ways of spreading their content across online, broadcast and print. The online content adds value to the book experience, it's not yet replacing it.

Booksellers now have to find a way to maximize on these opportunities, as selling coffee and DVDs isn't the answer (just ask Borders UK – oh, you can't). Some publishers are already blurring the lines, or even eradicating the traditional route to market – booksellers – entirely. Amazon, playing cuckoo in the nest, is simply gobbling up other people's content and selling it packaged as an Amazon product. It buys rights to content and publishes ebooks that can only be read by the ebook reader Kindle – produced by Amazon. The same will be true of the forthcoming Kindle 2. And when you download your book you don't actually own it, you just sort of licence it – if it's deleted or withdrawn you lose access to the content. Imagine buying a new book from Blackwell's only for a bookshop assistant to turn up at your house some time later and take it back! (Actually that wouldn't happen if only because they don't get paid enough to make house calls. Booksellers are among the best qualified, best-informed and worst paid employees anywhere.)

The Kindle and other ebook readers are probably the reason ebook reading is still marginal to the market. The reading experience isn't great, as on the whole the screens are smallish and black and white. As pieces of kit they're expensive (average £250-£400) and limited in what they do (no video, for example). In fact most ebook users (53%) are using their laptop instead. Another common complaint is the lack of quality and range of books available. There are only 250,000 titles available for Kindle in the UK (350,000 in the USA, none in Canada); that might sound a lot but over 100,000 new titles are published every year in the UK.

For publishers, the pricing is the major issue. We can't for the life of us decide what ebooks should cost. Most existing and potential readers – over 80% - believe ebooks should be cheaper than print books. But, cheaper compared to what? Paperback? Hardback? Book club edition? And should it be available before or after the paperback release? Publishers have already seen supermarkets loss-leading on trade titles, should the value­ (not price) of their product, brand or author be even further undermined? And then there's the debate over author royalties, which the Society of Authors believe should be higher than the current 15%-20%, given the larger margins available to the publishers.

Soon, however (March, actually), a new ereader enters the market. We're going to get the long-awaited 'iPod moment'. Apple are making a press announcement on 27 January, which is expected to end much speculation and say that in March they launch their own ereader. An ereader is already available as one of the thousands of Apps for the iPhone, and it will probably be the kind of multifunctionality and style we expect from Apple that will change the ebook reader landscape, for the better, if more expensive – the Apple version is expected to retail at about admin:edit_field,000. By doing more and doing it better, Apple will bring the 'added value' to the experience that other ereaders haven't. Apple don't launch products until Steve Jobs believes they've got something special. Some years ago he said he wasn't interested in the ereader market – but, a long time ago, he said that about mobile phones… At least one very major publisher, HarperCollins, is already in talks about making ebooks available for the Apple hardware (iSlate?), possibly via iTunes.

Of course, there are still the whines of "you can't read an ebook in the bath" and so on; hey - only 6% of us say that the bath is our favourite place to read, so there goes that argument. Sustainability is a more valid concern: I wonder how much carbon we'll using as we charge up our ebook readers, what nasty materials they're made out of and what happens to them all when we thrown them away.

Once we get to know and, undoubtedly, love the iSlate, answers will emerge for some of these issues, and publishers can continue their experimenting with multiple, complimentary formats, while hopefully maintaining the true value of creative, high-quality content.

Since then, temperatures have dropped and snow has fallen all over the country! Most schools have been closed and our young scientists have had the chance to play in the snow. For schools that have been open, it’s been difficult to record, with many reports of ‘frozen thermometers’ or bulbs deep below the snow.

So what does all this cold weather mean for our bulbs, farmers and global warming?

For the bulbs: If your bulb started to grow before Christmas, it will probably still be the same height today. In other words, it will have stopped growing – until it gets warmer again. Some plants may be damaged by the frost and as a result may not flower – but most should be ok.

Farmers from the Really Welsh farm reported: ‘We should have started picking the earliest variety of Daffodils already and they are normally out in the supermarkets by now. If you look at the picture taken on the farm – you will see that they are nowhere near ready for picking. 

The daffodils that were a week or two ahead at the end of November have not grown at all since before Christmas. This is because Daffodils need temperatures of above 6 degrees in order to grow. If this weather continues we will not have any daffodils for a few weeks.’

Is global warming still happening? You could be forgiven for questioning if our planet is warming when it’s so cold outside, but sadly the overall temperature of our planet is still set to rise as carbon dioxide levels continue to increase.  Global warming is about the overall temperature of the planet rising. There will always be some colder winters and hotter summers – that’s a natural variation. But when we look at the average temperature of the planet over the last century it is definitely rising and scientists are in no doubt it will continue to rise.

For Wales, global warming doesn’t mean more sunshine, but warmer and wetter summers and more erratic weather like flash floods and gales.

Daffodils from Taiwan. Here is a picture sent to us from Chao-mei an environmental teacher based in Taiwan. She says: Hello, Professor Plant, Do you know the daffodils have bloomed in Taiwan? It reminds me of the beautiful UK spring. I have shown children in Taiwan how to keep a nature diary by looking at your blog. It’s very helpful. I teach children at the Cheng-long Wetland Education Centre and this is our blog page, it’s only in Chinese sorry.

Feed the birds. Visit our woodland blog to see pictures of St.Fagans wildlife in the snow. Plus find out how to help your garden birds to survive this winter or take part in the Big Schools' Birdwatch.

Many Thanks

Professor Plant

It has been a privilege to serve as Director General of Amgueddfa Cymru. During this time, I have truly come to appreciate how integral culture is to Wales's national psyche and how we should never lose sight of its importance in underpinning Welsh society and shaping the nation’s future. Our recent work regarding the positive contribution our museums make to Wales highlighted this fact, and we are committed as an organisation to working with other cultural organisations in Wales to take this research forward. Wales has strong cultural assets, and there is a job to be done in turning these into a more distinct brand and marketing them more effectively, both within Wales and beyond. There is a real danger, particularly during recession, of thinking that it’s not worth worrying about culture but it is incredibly important to our country and our economy.

I am excited about the challenges and different perspectives that I will face in this new role, but undoubtedly my approach will be shaped by my experiences here in Wales and Northern Ireland. Museums can't shy away from telling national stories, no matter how intricate or controversial they may be, and Te Papa is world famous for its innovative approach to demonstrating how culture and community memory has moulded the history and identity of New Zealand's communities.

I won't be leaving immediately. Over the next six months, I will continue to update this blog and look forward to remaining involved with a variety of projects including St Fagans and the redevelopment of the West Wing.

There’s no denying that this kind of weather can be tough, but it’s even harder for your average resident of the hedgerow, who must eat as much as possible every day in order to avoid freezing to death every night! Of course we humans can help by throwing out food for the birds and beasts, those of you with a surplus of kitchen scraps may find this article on feeding garden birds helpful.

In fact, with food being harder to find and the wild creatures needing to stock up for the night this is a great time to go wildlife watching in your local area. The pressure really is on for the animals to find their food and so they are much less likely to worry about being shy around people – they simply can’t afford to stop looking! This means you may find it easier to get close to wildlife that is normally elusive. The other great thing about snow is that it makes an excellent canvas for animal footprints. If you need some assistance telling a hare from a housecat have a look here and here for some handy guides.

Coming up this month we’ve got the Big Garden Birdwatch all day on Sunday January the 24th in Tŷ Gwyrdd. Come along and take part in the world's largest bird survey and get stuck into some birdie activities.In the meatime why not brush up on your birds by visiting the webcam? See you all soon! ]]>http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog?entry=236Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000The St Fagans site isn’t usually this quiet: even on blustery November afternoons, determined (but soggy) visitors can be found walking the site, exploring the galleries and the historic buildings. This week, however, the only surge in visitors has been the amazing array of birds we’ve seen reclaiming the hedgerows and, out of necessity, brazenly venturing near the offices and mess rooms in search of food. Only last Friday I was kept company by a pair of Lapwings, who were enjoying the last of the afternoon sun outside the museum's main entrance.

The only human traffic on our pathways has been a small army of Museum Assistants, Craftspeople and Agriculturers, busy clearing snow and gritting. The textures, colours and smells of our Christmas Nights event* are now long-gone; tipp-exed out and muted. The site is eerily empty - though it is incredibly beautiful, it has not been safe enough to let visitors in on several occasions during the last week or so.

In the snow, St Teilo's Church does not look as dazzling as last year: as is the custom with traditional buildings, the bright limewash covering the outer wall has taken the brunt of the season's weather, and will be re-applied next spring when it is milder. The interior, as ever, is still as vibrant as it was when the reconstruction was officially opened in 2007, and, we hope, as it would have looked in 1500-1530.

The wall painting scheme is now finished, bar a few Latin inscriptions, which are proving harder to decipher than previously thought. The north chapel design, including figures of Saints Dewi and Teilo, as well as what is thought to be male and female portraits of local patrons, were composed by copying fragments plaster from the church in its original location. Where the plaster had deteriorated, or the pigment faded, we looked at better preserved mural sequences in Wales in order to come up with appropriate evidence for the missing parts.

While the north chapel is not directly accessible to the visiting public (partly because the east end of the church houses some of the oldest furniture in our collection), these murals are visible through the carved screens in the church. These, too, have had a new lease of life, through the work of Fleur Kelly, who has worked with our own in-house painters on several aspects of the church’s painted carvings.

If the snow holds back, the advertised guided tours of the Church will go ahead tomorrow and Friday (14-15 Jan); starting at 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00. Those interested in attending are encouraged to telephone us before starting their journey, to ensure that the museum is open and accessible, on (029) 2057 3500. The church is a ten-minute walk from the main entrance on a clear day, so please bear this in mind when choosing your footwear!
Wrap up warm, and hope to see you there!

*That's treacle; fairy lights; brass bands; bay leaves; woodsmoke and wet boots, in case you were wondering...

St Fagans:National History Museum has been closed today due to the poor weather conditions. I went out for a walk to take some photographs and it's very slippery but also so pretty!

On the 30th and 31st of December between 11am and 12.30pm we will be making Calennig gifts(like the one in the picture above!)

At 2pm there will also be a chance for you to sing with the Calennig gift you have created. It's going to be so much fun!

And if you are wondering what the apple on a stick is all about, here's what Trefor M. Owen has to say in his fantastic book 'Welsh Folk Customs':

'The giving of gifts on New Year's Day is an ancient custom once widely observed but more recently displaced by the growing importance of Christmas and Christmas presents. The collecting of calennig (New Year's gift)is a Welsh form of this custom.

[...]the collecting of calennig began early in the day and continued until noon. An account published in 1819 describes the custom in the following words: 'New Year is marked by all the children in the neighbourhood forming themselves in little groups and carrying from house to house their congratulations and good wishes for the health and prosperity during the ensuing year, which are symbolized by each bearing in his hand an apple stuck full of corn, variously coloured and decorated with a sprig of some evergreen, three short skewers serve as supports to the apple when not held in the hand, and a fourth serves to hold it by without destroying its many coloured honours.''

Here are some of the things that I made as examples and then took home!

Happy Christmas and see you all in the New Year!

So many of you have reported sightings of new shoots and it's not even Christmas yet! This week my shoots have appeared too, they are about 2cm tall -see my picture.

This autumn is much warmer than last years. The average temperatures in Wales for October and November are almost 1.5 degrees warmer than they were in 2008. As a result, many daffodils have started growing already. Farmers from the Really welsh farm reported: "We too have lots of daffodil shoots coming through, the warm, wet weather should mean that our daffodils will be ready for the shops in the spring. The flowers may open a few weeks earlier than last year".

If we get a frosty spring next year, this could damage some of the daffodils that have started growing. These Daffodils are very tough though - so they still should produce beautiful flowers. It will be interesting to see if the early shoots grow into early flowers. Watch this space...

Thanks to all of you young scientists who are keeping such accurate weather records - they are really useful to help us understand what is going on with our seasons and nature. Please let us know here if you see any other plants growing early.

Don't forget! This week hundreds of scientists and world leaders are getting together in Copenhagen to make a deal to help save the planet. It's being called one of the most important meetings in the world! See newsround for the latest and let me know what you think.

Next week, is the last week for recording before Christmas - then you all can enjoy your holidays.

Have a fantastic Christmas!

Professor Plant

As usual, the art cart will be in Oriel 1, St Fagans: National History Museum between 11-1 and 2-4.

Despite this brutal de-glamorisation, trees are to be the focus of my activities over the next few weeks as we celebrate National Tree Week. During the last weekend of November we will be looking at the many different types of tree at St Fagans and finding out the best way to identify them by looking at leaf, seed, bark and bud. The RSPB will also be with us, running activities that highlight the importance of trees to our native birds. Incidentally the bird cam at St Fagans is pretty busy at the moment and you can follow the action via my twitter page

And if you’ve ever wanted to be a world record holder why not join us on Saturday the 5th of December for Tree O’Clock? We will be attempting to set a new Guinness world record for planting the most trees in one hour in collaboration with BBC Breathing Places. And if you enjoy getting into the festive spirit why not stay on and make sustainable Christmas decorations from the Hedgerow at Tŷ Gwyrdd?

Sustainable Christmas will also be the theme of my activities at the ever popular Christmas nights on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December. Be sure to bring a torch and warm clothes as it can get pretty cold here at night!