Wordless Wednesday - "The Bike"

Odd Shots on Monday - "An Indoor Surprise"

Check out the modern convenience in the photo above of a stained glass window.

Do you see what I see?

Look in the upper right hand corner, just above the heads.

Let me know if you see it.

Travels with Em - "The Stained Glass Window"

I am always moved to wonder at the beauty of stained glass in our churches. Light dances through the colored glass so painstakingly placed in the windows. Inside, the sun streams in to cast fragments of color on calm, sedate rows of pews filled, or waiting to be filled, by worshippers. Outside, a warm glow beckons to us with the promise of hope within.
Most of the windows depict Biblical scenes or saints, but this one in Christ Church Cathedral is a little different. In deference to Oxford's relationship to Lewis Carroll, characters from his books grace the stained glass window. They are found in the corners of the individual panes.

Christ Church is a unique institution, one of the largest colleges in the University of Oxford and, at the same time, the Cathedral Church for the Diocese of Oxford.

Travels with Em - "The Jabberwocky Tree"

JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll (from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Our ElderHostel tour to Oxford focused on literature, including the works of Lewis Carroll. It is said that his poem about the Jabberwocky was inspired by this tree. Such imagination, to turn a twisted tree into a twisted poem. The poem has been called "the greatest nonsensical poem in English." This site gives some insite into the meanings of the poem.

"The Eyes" - An Explanation

"The Eyes"

"The Eyes" were originally painted in 1928, during the time of Charles, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, and his 2nd wife, American-born Gladys Deacon. She pronounced her name "Glade - us."

There are 6 eyes, three blue and three brown. Each one fills a section of the panel in the roof of the portico at Blenheim Palace in England. Gladys' eyes are represented by the blue ones and the Dukes' are thought to be the brown ones. An analysis of a painting of the Duke in the Palace, reveals the Duke's left eye was brown and his right was brown with flecks of green and blue. It is said that the Duchess climbed the scaffold with a blue scarf the color of her eyes, for the painter to work from. No explanation is given of why the eyes were painted.

Over time, the gilded eyes were damaged by exposure and a leak in the portico roof. A restoration project was begun in December 2007, with a team of highly skilled builders and painter-decorators working almost 5 months until completion in April 2008.

Wordless Wednesday - "More Eyes"

Travels with Em - "Through Alice's Door in Wonderland"

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden.

This is the small door in the Master gardens of Christ Church College which inspired the one in "Alice in Wonderland." Alice peeks through and sees bright flowers and fountains soon after she arrives in Wonderland. She believes it is the most beautiful garden imaginable. The garden is part of the realm of the King and Queen of Hearts.