The Huntington Library

There was so much more to the Huntington, but of course the only pictures I have to show for it are of my sister and niece. They completely stole the show, the latter more than the former. So I don't have a picture of the Corpse Flower bud, just a week or so shy of blooming. I can't say seeing it was the realization of a lifelong dream, but it's been a good 6 or 7 years of curiosity and fascination made tangible. Sara described it best when she said "Feed me, Seymour!"

Nor do I have a picture of the "cloud garden" full of tillandsia, high altitude air plants that get their moisture straight from the clouds. Or the expansive cactus and succulent garden, Chinese garden, Japanese garden, herb garden, rose garden, or something called the Shakespeare Garden.

It's true that the place was dripping with Industrialist excess, but I couldn't help loving it. Not only did it give me my first glimpse at a Corpse Flower, but it also gave me my first face to face encounter with Joseph Cornell, actually 3 Joseph Cornell's. Lovely.

There was whole room filled with anatomical, zoological and botanical drawings from the last 600 years, with a few stunning examples of fantastical creatures, and, I kid you not folks, a whole room filled with the history of light bulbs! I could've died. I almost did, and it would've been a happy way to go.LIGHT BULBS!