The Huntington Library

March 19, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

After several trips to the gardens, about which I have already blogged, and one to the two art galleries, earlier this week I went with Faith Mowoe to The Huntington Library. The photos are somewhat self explanatory.

It is possible for scholars to see some of the many documents not on display.

The second floor is full of books and documents, but regular visitors are only allowed on the first floor.

Cicero works copied in the mid 1400s see above.

Newton was interested in astrology–this surprised me.

I learned that Newton was quite interested in astrology. Hence the photo previous to this one.

A little known play by Shakespeare as it was published during his lifetime.

The above two photos are original copies and drafts of Joyce’s most famous work.

This book is extremely large and contains original Audubon pictures.

Octavia Butler was a California native. I am a big fan of her work and am currently in the middle of her Patternist series. Last year I taught one of her short stories about a pandemic.

The library is also full of old maps from all over the world. They compare maps to novels and how the plot of a novel is a map in words. Here is an example of a map from Don Quixote. Many modern fantasy novels have maps of the locations of places in the novel.

A Letter for International Women’s Day

March 9, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Dear Fellow Females:

Celebrate yourselves today,

tomorrow, every day!

Stand strong, be brave, promote persistence, purpose.

Without you, your will, your abilities, your strength

humanity cannot continue to exist.

I salute you!

The Huntington Gardens–Part Two

March 2, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

In the last six weeks I have travelled to these gardens five times, two alone and three with house guests. Amid all the turmoil in the world today this is a place where nature continues its grand display, instilling a sense of peace and quiet.

My son headed to the Chinese and Japanese gardens.

Earlier photos were the walk to arrive here at the Japanese Gardens.

Depending on how you walk through the gardens, you walk to Japanese first, then Chinese, then back to the Japanese Gardens. This and the following few photos are the Chinese Gardens.

The Chinese Garden is filled with various sizes of limestone that looks like sculptures but is natural. The next time I go, I am going to learn what is written on many of the pieces of limestone.

In many places you can see the San Gabriel Mountains which are not far away.

I sat on a bench and stared at this for a long time, wondering how they do this without messing any of it up. There are doze

And finally something European as we headed toward the parking area.

After five times, I have seen most of the gardens–next post will be some photos of the Australian area–and the two art galleries. Never made it to the library yet.