Oxford and Hardwick Hall, 2023

We did a quick visit to Oxford and Hardwick Hall, both places we had visited when we lived in England about ten years ago.

We parked at a Park and Ride south of Oxford. It took us almost directly to Christ Church, one of the famous colleges that make up Oxford University. We were in town the final week of school, so many places were closed for study or events.

Christ Church College

A bit of the actual church at Christ Church

Christ Church's field

We walked from Christ Church up to the High Street in town. We had to go through a tricky gate.

Figuring out the gate

We wandered about and saw some famous sights, like the Radcliffe Camera, part of the Bodleian Library.

Radcliffe Camera

All Souls College next to the library

Brasenose College is on the other side

Some fancy decor on another college

In the center of the library is a statue of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who served as Chancellor for the university.

William Herbert

Down one street is a copy of the Bridge of Sighs from Venice. Students use it to go to classes, so I am sure they sigh a lot on the bridge.

Oxford Bridge of Sighs

More fun architecture 

We walked into the quad of one of the smaller colleges, Saint Edmund Hall.

Hall Quad

Back on the High Street, we saw Magdalen College where C. S. Lewis taught before getting snagged by Cambridge in 1954.

Magdalen College

We tried to visit the Botanical Gardens but a private event was going on.

I bet your garden gate isn't this fancy

We had lunch and headed further north, stopping at Hardwick Hall. The original hall has fallen into ruins that are still on the estate.

Original Hardwick Hall

Another angle on the ruins

Bess of Hardwick (1527-1608) was born into a well-to-do family. After three marriages, she had increased her wealth substantially and built a new hall, with a wall and gardens around it. The locals had a rhyme for it, "Hardwick Hall, More glass than wall."

I bet your front gate isn't this fancy

Front of the hall

Back of the hall

Detail of one of the corners

The initials "ES" seem cryptic at first, but Bess of Hardwick's full first name is Elizabeth and one of her marriages made her Countess of Shrewsbury. 

More intriguing is a statue of Mary, Queen of Scots. Bess and her third husband, George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, became custodians of Mary in the late 1560s.

Mary, Queen of Scots

We wandered around the garden a bit and admired the flowers.

Bright and happy

Soft and sombre

A corner full of color

A mushroom tree?

More of the garden

View from the back of the house

Even though there was no playground, my son had a good time.

A happy tourist

The Hunt Library, North Carolina State University

We visited the Hunt Library at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. It's a high tech wonder.

The Hunt Library, NC State University

The library is named after former Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., who governed from 1977 to 1985 and again from 1993 to 2001.

Portrait of James B. Hunt, Jr.

 The library has stored its books in their bookBot. The machine has 18,000 metal bins with a capacity of 2 million books. Currently it only has 1.5 million, so they have room to grow. A forklift retrieves the correct container when someone requests a book. While it is an amazing technological innovation and does save room, I would miss being able to walk among the books and browse at leisure. Web surfing just isn't the same.

bookBot bins

The lift

Upstairs is an Emerging Issues Commons with some interactive displays and ways to give feedback on issues impacting the university and the state. We did not give feedback but did enjoy the area.

A wacky bench

Touch screens that provide information and make music

Headlines twisting their way upstairs

The savings on shelving are put to good use with lots of open space for reading and study, as well as many lounges, labs, and creative spaces (including a game lab for Game Design students to work on and study video games). 

Reading area

View of same reading area from one floor up

The library's brochure also brags of the eighty some odd different types of chairs in the library, including some very odd ones indeed.

A twisty chair

Another angle on the twist

I'm more impressed with these combinable tables

 The top floor has a green roof to help absorb rain, as well as terraces with views of Lake Raleigh and the academic oval, a green space surrounded by dorms, academic buildings, and the occasional coffee shop.

Green roof

Lake Raleigh (slanted horizon provided by toddler)

Academic oval

Movie Review: Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010) co-written and directed by Eli Craig

Two rednecks, Tucker (Tyler Labine) and Dale (Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame), head out to their vacation home, a cabin in the woods. At the same time, a bunch of college students head out to the same woods for a pot/beer/sex-filled camping weekend. The two groups run across each other at a convenience store and gas station where initial impressions are negative ones. Tucker thinks one of the girls is cute but he gets tongue-tied talking to her, so he comes off as creepy. The college kids come off as stuck-up and better-than-you, none more so than Chad. That night Tucker and Dale go fishing and the college kids go skinny-dipping in the same lake. One of the girls, Allison, accidentally falls and hits her head. Tucker dives in to save her. When he and Dale call out to her friends, the friends all assume they are some sort of hillbilly psychos kidnapping their friend. The kids run away screaming, leaving Tucker and Dale to take Allison to their cabin and nurse her back to health. In the morning, Chad wants to arm up and take her back by force. Things escalate in hilarious and horrible ways from there.

The movie is an amazing blend of horror tropes and comedy. It does a great job of turning expectations on their heads. All of the kills are horrible accidents that are misinterpreted in the worst possible way by the characters in the movie. The college kids think the rednecks are offing them one by one. The rednecks think the college kids have formed some suicide pact. Grim but laugh-out-loud humor permeates the story.

The movie makers could have left this as a blood-soaked comedy of errors but were actually able to add some heart. Tucker and Allison come to an understanding of each other rather quickly as everything else around them spirals out of control. They give the movie some sane, likable characters to root for, something sorely lacking in other horror movies. They actually care about each other and try to fix the situation, though again with comic stumbles that drive the story forward. I found the writing surprisingly intelligent in these situations.

This movie is a surprising hit for me!

Random Bits of St. Augustine, Florida

During our brief stopover in St. Augustine, we saw some things besides the two churches.

We parked near Flagler College which has taken over several buildings from previous businesses (or at least they look like something else to me).

Approaching the college from our car (not sure why they have a smoke stack)

The art building looks like a converted Spanish-style military barracks

A hotel ballroom in the main building?

Uninviting fencing (but I'd really like to have one)

L on an unfenced area

We saw the Plaza de la Constitucion decorated for Christmas. Parking enforcement at the plaza was aggressive.

Christmas plaza

Bringing out the big guns

One church we didn't go into was the Ancient City Baptist Church. It looks nice from the outside.

Ancient City Baptist Church

Many of the homes are small but charming.

I love a wraparound porch

Looks cozy

Wraparound + second-story porch!

A beautiful garden