John: My mother and I had some time to kill Tuesday morning while Pat visited with her family in Whittier, so we took the chance to tour the Huntington Library and Gardens, which is located about 10 minutes south of her place. I remember going to the Huntington as a child and as an adult---I am not sure what that makes me on this visit...a geezer?---and I have wonderful memories of it. It is a ˜200-acre oasis in the midst of an estate area on the border between Pasadena and San Marino (map). The day of our visit was very hot, so we made our way slowly and did not go far. However, even our brief tour was rewarded by the chance to see some wonderful things.

We spent our time primarily on three features:

• A recently opened building,
• The precious manuscripts, and
• The gardens between them.

Although we did not make it to some of the many other gardens, especially the cactus garden and the Japanese gardens, we were able to see several of the very pretty spots near the main entrance and along the path we took. Of course, one of the reknowned gardens is the lawn near the orginal main house (mansion?), and this garden resembles an enormous hall lined with statues and there are probably thousands of photos of it in shoeboxes, albums, and Internet sites. I skipped the default tourist photo in which one has friends or family (or both) pose at the far end of the long lawn, making them barely visible in the distance. I opted for a slightly off center view that is linked to the individual statue shown here.

The library contains an extraordinary collection that is used for research. Although many of the documents used by scholars are not immediately available to the rest of us, there are several examples on display in the darkened public rooms, organized as a history tracing the origins of publishing. There cases with illuminated manuscripts, an orignial from the Canterbury Tales, a Guttenberg Bible, a folio of a Shakespeare play, and myriad other documents. My mother and I spent a little while marveling at an early map of Virginia showing locations for the aboriginal groups living there 400 years ago. The map is drawn with west at the top, so it was a little disorienting for us as we followed the James River ("upstream!"), looking for the Rivanna to branch off and then for the place where Cunningham Creek joins the Rivanna. We did not find either confluence. However, right next to this map hung a Peele painting of Thomas Jefferson; that was worth a few minutes of marvel.

One of the reasons I wanted to visit the library was to see the original J. J. Audubon volume, The Birds of North America, that is housed there. Painting the images for the book took him more than 10 years and, though I spent only a few minutes looking at it, I was not disappointed. It is enormous (estimate: 60-x-90 centimeters) and gorgeously illustrated. I imagine that turning a page would be a challenge; this book is not something that one can "thumb through." Appropriate for 2005 events in ornithology, the volume was open to the entry for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, showing the birds at life size.

My mother, who is a member of the Huntington, was eager to see a new building during our tour, and it was worth the visit, too. The design by Frederick Fisher contrasts with the style of other buildings around the Huntington, but it integrates into the existing architecture. In houses the Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery of American Art. The image at the right shows the entrance and is linked to a larger picture. Of course, it contains many famous objects.

It was wonderful to see the widely known works at the Huntington ("Blue Boy," "Pinky," and "Diana"), but I especially enjoyed the smaller scupltures. The 50-90 centimeter pieces by Houdon and others are magnificent, right down to the toenails. Had I greater facility with my new camera, I would insert images here.