99 / 100 Completed of the BBC Big Read

After an elapsed time of seven years, I have completed one of the versions (there are multiple) of the BBC’s Big Read except for one book.  I. Just. Could. Not. Finish. “Ulysses”. I tried and tried. I started with just the regular reading process I used on the other books. I used an audio book version for a while but became discouraged with the astronomical amount of time it would take to listen to the entire book.  (Although I did enjoy hearing it with the speaker’s Irish brogue). In desperation, I reviewed some on-line Spark Notes. What I most appreciated about the Spark Notes were the comments left by other struggling readers.

“Ulysses” is a long book but it is not the longest book on the list.  I think “Les Miserables” was the longest book on the list. I did not object to “Ulysses”‘ length, except for the scope of the book is one day.  Yes, all those pages for just one day! It does follow several characters throughout the day so it is not restricted to one person’s stream of consciousness and actions throughout the day; however, the multiple characters sometimes caused confusion as well.  Sometimes I was unable to decide who exactly was speaking at a given time. I also became frustrated with the extreme detail describing rather trivial matters, like deciding into which pocket an item should be placed.  After all, how much can really happen in one day with a group of people?  The answer: not much.  There is not much of a plot. There is a great deal of wandering around; but, one of the characters does go to a funeral and there is an interesting discussion about Hamlet.

Even its word cloud seems rather boring to me.

Since I selected this BBC Big Read List in 2010, I have become aware that there are multiple versions of the list.  I would love to find one that excludes “Ulysses”.  I could be persuaded to read any books I am missing from that list just for the privilege of completing the list without “Ulysses”.  In fact, I would even rather re-read “Les Miserables”, this time in the original French language, than finish “Ulysses”.

I expect that really serious, professional literary critics would find my comments unenlightened but that is okay with me.  At least I tried.

 

Best Picture Oscar Nominees

This week I almost completed a long-term goal. For several years, my husband and I have diligently watched the Best Picture Oscar nominees. At this time, there are 520 Oscar Best Picture nominees. Of these 520 nominees, 87 actually won Best Picture for their respective years. Here is the complete list with the winners highlighted in yellow. Several years ago, we completed the goal of watching all the Best Picture winners. The nominee list was much larger; and, some of the films were much more difficult to find.

We managed to watch every nominee, except two of them.  The first one, a silent film from 1928, “The Patriot” is not available at all. The original source has been lost.  A several minute trailer is available.  We watched it and counted it as complete.  The other film we have not watched yet is “The White Parade” from 1934.  The UCLA Film Library has the only copy of this film.  One day, I will ask to view it there.

In the last several years, we have watched most of the recent Best Picture nominees at the theatre.  We rented many of the other films from either Netflix, Amazon Prime, cafedvd, Greensboro Public Library (free), Forsyth County Library (free), High Point Library (free) or Z. Smith Reynolds Library of Wake Forest University (free for me as an alumna).  We also managed to see a few of them on TCM. Near the end of the process, after exhausting all other available resources, we had to buy some of the films as DVDs and in one case, a VHS, so that we could see them.  Then we donated most of them back to one of the libraries so others could enjoy them.

My favorite film from the short list of the 1920s is “Wings“. This silent film is the very first Best Picture winner and has amazing air combat, given the lack of experience with special effects at that time. Any fans of the history of film should see this one.

The following are some of my favorites from the 1930s: “Lady for a Day“, “Little Women“, “It Happened One Night“, “The Thin Man“, “Alice Adams“, “Ruggles of Red Gap“, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and “Ninotchka“.

Although I definitely watched some films that I did not find very entertaining or enlightening, overall, I am glad I invested the time to see these films.  I will try to continue to see future nominees as well.

 

Gratitude – Part 2

My puppy girls: Pepper and Jewelie, I hope we meet again on the Rainbow Bridge (not soon, I hope)

Libraries: I have been a user and great fan of libraries for most of my life. I love to read. A library is the only place you can borrow things for free repeatedly without making a nuisance of yourself. I get a little rush when I first step into a library.

Computers: Ultimately, they have been the source of most of my lifetime earnings. Special recognition for DEC minicomputers and Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, the founders of the personal computer revolution. I’m still fascinated.

Internet: Future generations will never know the frustration of not remembering a fact correctly or not knowing where to find the answer to a question. The knowledge of the world is at our fingertips. I would give Al Gore special recognition if I bought into the notion that he created the “information super highway” but, alas, I’m not a believer.

Music: I like many genres of music. Songs and fragments of songs help me trigger memories; and, music (both religious and secular) has comforted me in difficult times. I cannot imagine that I have had many days when I did not sing at least once.

Chocolate: The most effective and best tasting OTC anti-depressant. Need I say more? Probably not, but I can! It prevents heart disease, diabetes, reduces coughing, sunburn and stress and increases alertness. Seriously, I read all that! Do you think we could end the fighting in the Middle East if we just pelted everyone with Hershey Kisses?

Nature: Oceans, beaches, forests, rivers, streams, lakes, mountains, wind, rain, warm sunshine, snow, flowers, plants (especially homegrown tomatoes and corn) and animals. What a wonderful world!

Sports: As they used to say on Wide World of Sports – “the human drama of athletic competition”. Highlights are playing high school volleyball, watching my daughter play volleyball, watching my son play basketball, watching my brothers and cousins and their friends play baseball, New Brighton football, any Pittsburgh team, Coach Terry Francona, dodgeball and kickball intramurals, and last, but definitely not least, backyard wiffle ball.

Health and Fitness: I am grateful for my current level of health and fitness, even though I will probably never lose all the weight I gained with my breast cancer adventures.

Financial Security: Persistent, long-term saving, cost cutting, negotiating, general tightwad behavior, careful investing and some good fortune have provided me with a little more flexibility than I expected to have at this age, which has reduced my stress level.

Yoga: Although, I have only been doing yoga for 2 1/2 years and still consider myself a beginner, it has improved my flexibility and balance and, probably, more importantly, given me a way to help calm myself.

Swimming Pools: I have spent many hours in the pool exercising and deriving peace of mind.

Color: I love colors and feel fortunate that I got to learn about color technology and work on software applications that use it. I also taught my favorite child (yes I was only 12 or 13 myself so I had a favorite) at McGuire Home her colors. The excitement and pride of us both when she grasped it must have been just precious. I wish I had a video of that experience. It is one of the dearest moments of my life that did not involve a family member.

Films: I was not able to go to the movies much while growing up. It was a very special treat. It still feels like a special treat now even though I watch them at the theatre and rent them regularly. My husband and I have watched all the Oscar winners and are working our way through the Oscar nominees. My all-time favorite movie is probably “Chariots of Fire” but my family has more fun watching me while I watch “The Money Pit”. It is no award winner, but for some reason, I find it hilarious.

Cooking: It’s fun. I don’t consider it a chore. I appreciate that I can do it now because I know all too well that I may get to an age when this is no longer a safe activity.

Travel: Enjoyed the travel I have done. I want more, more, more before I am too old to enjoy it.

Gratitude – Part 1

My children: Without a doubt the greatest blessings of my life! More rewarding and fun than I could possibly have imagined! Thank you for your childhoods and all the rest (except for those few teenage incidents – you both KNOW what I am talking about )

My family of origin: As my mother once said, “We were just an ordinary family”. In 1964 we started on a very difficult journey that featured an unusual variety of crises and tragedies. The journey has had a few respite years; however, it will continue as long as one of us lives. Six ordinary people, who, to mix metaphors, played the cards they were dealt and picked up their crosses and carried them, never to understand why this was their fate. I would never say life was better for all of these difficulties; my life would definitely have been better had it been more “ordinary”.  And yet, given the chance, I wouldn’t choose to have lived in another family, just to avoid the suffering. Our lives have been nothing, if not meaningful.

My husband’s patient endurance of all the events he witnessed with no life experience to guide him in dealing with the actual events or the anxiety and utter despair they inevitably induced in me.

My extended family who provided support of various kinds to my family over the years, including now. Also very special memories of all of you from my childhood.

My in-law family who provided me with much needed happy times and pleasant memories.

Special friends of the family: You know who you are. You have been there for many of the difficulties my family encountered over the years to provide the support and the acceptance we so desperately needed.

Children of McGuire Home: In 7th and 8th grade, I volunteered at McGuire Home, a facility for developmentally disabled children (just before the mass deinstitutionalization process). Besides my own children, my siblings and nieces and nephews, these are the most important children in my life. I learned about unconditional love and celebrating small accomplishments from them.

Catholic Church: It is a human institution and therefore quite flawed. Nevertheless, I could never separate its threads from the fabric of my life without losing a part of myself.

NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. Besides the Catholic Church, the most important organization of my life. Thanks to their education and support, I was able to move forward with hope after my brother Terry’s death. Many of the members were older than me and have since died or curtailed their activities. I will remember their courage and commitment forever. I expect to be a member of this organization for the rest of my life.

My teachers: From the Sisters of Saint Joseph in grade school to my current yoga teachers and everyone in between. Thank you for enriching my life.

My favorite employer, Burlington Industries: During my first stint with Burlington Industries, I had numerous very special opportunities. I led a project to develop the first custom pc application for the corporation. I worked on computer graphics applications for computer aided textile design. I attended SIGGRAPH conventions where I saw Pixar animation (the signature lamp) and Next computer before they became public. Also, if I can believe the sales rep (doubtful), I came within minutes of meeting Steve Jobs, which would have been a highlight of my life. I had many trips to the New York office and to plants where I learned much about the textile business. It was all very special and it happened at the most important time, as I struggled to cope with the death of my brother. I am forever grateful to the managers who somehow knew that this is what I needed to survive. I will always be proud to have worked for the company that was known for: ” If it has anything to do with fabric, we do it at Burlington; and, we do more of it than anyone in the world”.

My cancer treatment team: They saved my life not just once, but twice. Special recognition for Dr. Hoxworth, my surgeon, who performed five of my seven cancer related surgeries and Dr. Magrinat, who supervised chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and ten years of medicines. I’m a 16! Year survivor!

Maria Montessori: Her philosophy formed the basis for the parenting and education of my children.

to be continued . . .

My Progress on my New Year’s Resolutions

As I reported early this year, I had 24 New Year’s resolutions.  I thought that since 2/3 of the year was over, this would be a good time to review my progress on those resolutions.  Overall, 8 resolutions are complete; 8 are in progress, 4 have not been started and 4 have been abandoned.  I have included details below on the resolutions related to the topic of lifelong learning.

Reading

I had planned to read Disciplined Dreaming by Josh Linkner,  Virtuous Leadership by Alexandre Havard and Middlemarch by George Eliot.  I have completed all three of those books and have even read an extra work by George Eliot, Adam Bede.  I also planned to try understand poetry better by reading five poems per week but I have abandoned that effort.  Maybe I will add it to my list next year.

Film

Chuck and I planned to watch at least 25 Best Picture nominees this year.  (We watched all Best Picture winners already).  We have completed this goal and are continuing to watch even more.

Travel

I wanted to visit at least one new state or new country this year. I have not accomplished this goal yet; but, my upcoming vacation should more than satisfy it.

Music

I planned to listen to The Great Courses – “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” again.  I have completed 40 of the 48 lectures in this course.

Cooking and Nutrition

I planned to try two new vegetables and two new fruits this year.  I also wanted to learn how to cook several recipes with couscous and quinoa. We have tried two new vegetables (parsnips and bok choy) and two new fruits (star fruit and Asian pear).  I didn’t like the parsnips much but I am willing to experiment with another recipe.  I liked the bok choy but Chuck didn’t think it had much flavor.  The star fruit has a mild pear-like flavor – its name and shape are more exotic than its flavor.  The Asian pear, which is shaped like an apple, is crisp with a definite pear flavor. Also, I have cooked some recipes with quinoa and one with couscous.  I want to cook at least one more recipe with each of them before I consider that goal complete.

Geography

Last year, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to learn all the countries of the world and their locations.  (There are now 196 countries with South Sudan as the newest country).  I managed to meet that goal; however, I believed that I should review them from time to time so that I can remember them.  I have quizzed myself periodically this year and will continue to do so until the end of the year.

Art Museums, the Shakespeare Tavern and Poetry

Last month, we made a trip to the Pittsburgh area for the christening of my newest nephew and niece, John and Maria.  While we were there, we visited the warhol, the museum devoted to pop artist, Andy Warhol.  Warhol grew up Pittsburgh and received his formal art training from Carnegie Institute. He attended college at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University). While Warhol is famous for his Campbell soup can and celebrity paintings; he also produced in other media such as sculpture, photography, film and music video.  He hosted television shows and wrote books.  We saw many examples of all of this media at the museum.  The museum also manages Warhol’s archives, which include a set of 612! time capsules where he stored mementos like invitations, letters, phone messages, etc. for the last thirty years of his life.

Several weeks later, we visited Atlanta to see  “The Merry Wives of Windsor” , one of my favorite Shakespeare comedies, which features the irrepressible Sir John Falstaff, at the New American Shakespeare Tavern.  While in Atlanta, we decided, given our recent tour of the warhol, that it was appropriate for us to take in the High Museum of Art’s “Picasso to Warhol” exhibit. I rented the audio recording that accompanied the exhibit so I could find out more information about the various artists. Of course, this slowed down my progress through the exhibit considerably; so, Chuck was able to see another exhibit, “The Art of Golf”, while I was still making my way through the “Picasso to Warhol” exhibit, which included fourteen different artists from the 20th century.  My favorites were Jackson Pollock and Romare Bearden.  This exhibit also included a huge display of Andy Warhol’s Campbell soup can artwork.   Many of the exhibit’s works were on loan from MoMA (New York’s Museum of Modern Art). You can view this exhibit at the High Museum until April 29, 2012. It is a great opportunity to see a variety of modern art works.

And speaking of those soup cans. . . My sister is a caregiver for three disabled young women.  She enjoying enriching their lives with songs she has composed which relate to their regular routines.  On Saturdays, one of her clients has chicken noodle soup for lunch; so, she composed a song for this menu item.  (She also has a rock opera about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for another client!).  With her permission, I have published the lyrics to her “Soup Can” song below.  You must imagine the “Soup Can” chorus  accompanied by the tapping of the soup can on the counter and elsewhere to truly relive the experience.

Soup Can

by Margo Irwin Jannuzi

What is something that’s good for you?

Tastes delicious

And keeps you warm too

(Chorus)

Soup can (tap tap)

Soup can (tap tap)

Soup can (tap tap)

What’s that tapping on the door?

On the fridge?

And on the floor?

(Repeat chorus)

On the pantry and on the table

On the counter

With a label

(Chorus)

In a cup or in a bowl

But not a container with a hole!

(Chorus)

Andy Warhol made it art

Eat the kind with beans

It will make you fart

(Chorus)

What makes me happy & dance & sing & twirl

It’s Karen & Christy & Shannon-

My girls! And-

Soup can (tap tap)

Soup can (tap tap)

Soup can (tap tap)

Mm mm Campbell’s is good!

New Year’s Resolutions

Did you ever wonder how many New Year’s resolutions people have on average? I have 24. I’m fairly sure that it quite a bit over the average. Many of these resolutions will not take a big effort or a great deal of time but they are resolutions, none the less. You will be pleased to know that I will not list all of them in this blog. Since this blog is about learning, I will only include the resolutions related to the topic of lifelong learning.

Reading

I hope to finish two books that I downloaded to my kindle app on my ipad. They are Disciplined Dreaming by Josh Linkner and Virtuous Leadership by Alexandre Havard. I would also like to develop an appreciation for George Eliot so I will try to read her best work, Middlemarch. Finally, I will attempt to understand poetry better by reading five poems per week.

Film

For the last two years, Chuck and I have tried to watch every film which won the Best Picture Academy Award. We have seen most of them – at least those we could rent from Blockbuster or Netflix. Now, we plan to watch the “also rans”, the other Best Picture nominees. We will watch those films that we have not already seen or ones that we have seen but would like to see again. Our goal for this year is to view 25 of these films.

Travel

I hope to visit at least one new state or new country this year.

Music

I plan to listen to The Great Courses – “How to Listen to and Understand Great Music” again. I have this course on CD; however, I have not listened to it in several years so I will review it.

Cooking and Nutrition

I would like to try two new vegetables and two new fruits this year. I would also like to learn how to cook several recipes with couscous and quinoa.

Geography

Last year, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to learn all the countries of the world and their locations. (There are now 196 countries with South Sudan as the newest country). I managed to meet that goal; however, I believe I must review them from time to time so that I remember them. (By the way, 193 out of 196 countries are members of the United Nations. Can you guess which three are not members? Two of them are not members for political reasons related to other members; one chooses not to be a member. The three non-members are shown below).

Kosovo

Taiwan

Vatican City

And One More Thing – Remembering Steve Jobs

I think the best way to remember Steve Jobs is with his own words.  I don’t think there has ever been a CEO who was so highly quoted and so highly and widely regarded.

• Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.
• But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem.
• [Design is] not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
• A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.
• That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
• What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.
• Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.
•  There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’ And we’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will.
• For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
• I want to put a ding in the universe.
• Each year has been so robust with problems and successes and learning experiences and human experiences that a year is a lifetime at Apple. So this has been ten lifetimes.
• Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
• Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.
• Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
• Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
• No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.
• Stay hungry, stay foolish.

 This quote (an old one) is my personal favorite:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Woo Hoo for Roku!

Several months ago we invested in a Roku, a little black box that connects your Wi-Fi network to your television to allow you to stream video. I didn’t have a great deal of interest in the purchase as I rarely watch TV.  Chuck thought we could view our Oscar-winning films more conveniently if we could stream them from Netflix when we wanted, instead of waiting for the DVDs to arrive in the mail. That sounded okay to me but I didn’t imagine much more use for it.

I was wrong; I am now the primary user of Roku. Not long after the installation, I discovered that there was a variety of documentaries available for streaming on Netflix.  For some reason, I could never bring myself to rent documentaries.  It seemed like I wasn’t getting enough entertainment from them to justify the rental price. Using Roku and Netflix, I can stream as many documentaries as I want for the same monthly fixed cost. I have viewed several documentaries a week since I discovered them.  (That may not seem like much viewing but keep in mind that I only watch several hours of TV per week).

I chose my first documentary because of my interest in hiking, in general, and hiking the Appalachian Trail in particular.  It was a National Geographic program on the Appalachian Trail.  I liked seeing the views of and from the trail at various points and hearing what the hikers had to say about the trail and their reasons for hiking it.

I also watched “Dogs Decoded”, a fascinating program from Nova on how dogs have evolved to become such an ideal human companion. (By the way, PBS will air this episode on October 21.  If you love dogs, you should watch it!)

Several weeks ago, I watched Restrepo, a look at the war in Afghanistan from one isolated outpost understood to be one of the worst locations to serve one’s time.

Food, Inc., an Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary discussed our highly mechanized, highly engineered and highly controlled agriculture system.  Another documentary, Ingredients, provided the solution: the local food movement.  These documentaries have increased my interests in shopping at farmers’ markets and eating “lower on the food chain”.

I enjoyed watching “Video Games: Behind the Fun” and “The Pixar Story” because of my earlier interest and work in computer graphics. (I saw an early (and perhaps the first) animation of the now famous Luxo Lamp at a SIGGRAPH convention in the mid-1980s).

Most recently, I selected two more National Geographics programs,  “World’s Most Dangerous Drug” (methamphetamine) and “China’s Lost Girls”, the sad story of China’s unwanted baby girls and the many Americans who have been so thankful to adopt them.

I expect to spend many more hours using Roku before the year is over.

Sightseeing on the Return to London

Our last full day of vacation arrived.  This is the day we would drive back to London. We had the opportunity to make some stops and see more sights so our disappointment at the end of our vacation was postponed.

Our first event of the day was to drive through Lacock. Lacock is a village owned by the National Trust.  The requirements for maintenance of the buildings there ensure that its historic atmosphere is retained.  Lacock and nearby Lacock Abbey are frequently used as settings for films and television shows, including some of the Harry Potter films and the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

Our next stop was Stonehenge.  We had been cautioned by our travel consultant that many visitors were disappointed in the size of Stonehenge. (Perhaps it is not as big as it is portrayed in National Lampoon’s European Vacation?) Since we had already seen Foamhenge (a foam replica of Stonehenge) in Virginia, we were not at all disappointed.  The admission to Stonehenge provided an audio recording that provided much information about the history of Stonehenge and the speculations about its uses. The location also had a mural that purported to show what Stonehenge would have looked like if all of the parts were still intact. I think the mural was a good addition to the presentation.

Our last stop before London was at lunch time in Chawton where Jane Austen’s last home is located. She, her mother and her sister Cassandra lived there in a cottage on her brother Edward’s property.  Through an unusual set of circumstances, her brother Edward inherited significant wealth from a relative who had no direct descendants.  This wealth allowed him  to rescue his mother and sisters from the increasingly impoverished lives they were leading in Bath.  Chawton is also very near to Steventon, the village where Jane was born.  She was very happy to leave the city and return to rural living.  Her writing, which had been discontinued during the years they lived in Bath, started again.  She reworked some of her existing novels; and, she wrote some new works as well.

We ate lunch at the pub across the street from Jane Austen’s House. After lunch, I went to tour the Jane Austen House, while Chuck and Steve savored their last British beer of the vacation 😦

I was very pleased to be there for one of the formal presentations and to tour the gardens and the house.  I was especially pleased to see Jane’s actual writing desk and a copy of her “History of England”, written while she was a teenager.  In the presentation we learned that Jane spent nearly every morning writing at this desk.  I enjoyed my tour of Jane Austen’s House more than the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.  It had a more authentic feel to it.

We arrived in London and checked into our hotel.  We were within walking distance of a Chinese restaurant and a McDonald’s.  Chuck and I ate at the Chinese restaurant and then we accompanied Steve to McDonald’s.  We had some leisure time that evening and the next morning before the flight.   I used most of the time to work on some of my earlier blog entries.

Lacock Abbey

 

Locks on one of the several Rivers Avon

Stonehenge Rocks!

It's windy at Stonehenge!

More Stonehenge

And More Stonehenge

Garden Outside Jane Austen's House

More Garden Outside Jane Austen's House

Side of Jane Austen's House

Kitchen in Jane Austen's House

Personal Items of Family Members

Jane Austen's Writing Desk!

Jane Austen's History of England, illustrated by her sister Cassandra

Quilt in Jane Austen's House