Bible and the People at the Huntington

Today Joanna, Erika and went to the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena to see the new installation The Bible and the People in the Boone Gallery.

This new exhibit traces the evolution of the Bible from the 11th Century through today. The written Word of God started hand-written art only available to a select few. While the pages were beautifully adorned the books, chapters and verses were inaccurate and out of order. The most reliable translation was what was passed down from priest to his congregation through an oral message of memorized passages.

We watch its transformation from an isolated word to one possessed by millions. The invention of the printing press exploded the ability to actually have your own copy. It was now something everyone could own in their home, not just visit on Sunday. Now there are many translations, kinds and it exists in most every language on the planet.

It's a fascinating study of how this one book has transformed and metamorphized to meet the needs of those who read it.

After visiting the exhibit we had tea and wandered through the rest of the gardens visiting the new children's garden , checking out the new conservatory and our favorite, the rose garden.

I highly recommend tea at the Huntington, for about $15 you're treated to three different kinds of tea (China Caemon is delicious), and a tasty buffet of cheese, crackers, little sandwiches and all kinds of desserts.

You'll need the walk around the grounds to work off your tea and the rose garden is the perfect place. One of the great things about all of the unexpected rain we've had lately is the flowers are back in bloom. We noticed some unusual names for roses - like mischief, bridesmaid, and sexy girl. Sounds more like screen names than flowers but hey who am I to judge??

So we decided to name some of the roses as follows:

• Erika named a beautiful orange rose - comquat joy. Just because she likes the sound of it.
• Joanna called a stunning pink rose - Oops, because when you make a mistake you blush that exact shade of pink.
• I named the ever popular red rose - Atonement (most of the time a girl gets a red rose is because some guy messed up).