Taking a picture of Robert Dudley...

These pictures are not mine. These pictures are by gillo, who kindly uploaded them last night and said I could use them. (How did I acquire, among my friends, these people who have been so wonderful in showing me their local sights? and so knowledgeable about them? and so deft and knowledgeable at explaining them? Good karma? Random luck?)

In case anyone fears I have not been taking photos, I have picture proof. Here, courtesy of gillo, is a picture of me trying to get a picture of the effigy of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who was Elizabeth I's dear friend and might have been her husband or lover. Quite the tomb, isn't it? The person beside Robert is his wife Lettys, who had her effigy set a little higher than Robert so people could actually see her, too.

And this is pretty much the picture I was trying to take when gillo took the picture of me taking the picture: Robert's face. He was 56 when he died. Here is a longer view of the same chapel which also has tombs of the Earls of Warwick (including one found in Shakespeare, and the one who was Robert Dudley's brother), and a beautiful but sad effigy of Robert's young son.

And there is this wonderful painting: no, not wonderful in an artistic sense, but in a conceptual sense. It covers much of a higher wall is the same chapel, and was meant to be done in the same style as the Sistine Chapel. Yes, the Renaissance really did come to Warwickshire. But sadly, they didn't have Michelangelo on their team.

This is all in St. Mary's Church, which burned down in 1695 (don't quote me on that date) and was rebuilt so often, it's hard to tell by looking what style it's in. There are Norman bits (my favourite part), Victorian bits, and everything in between and since.

It also has this magnificent ceiling in the chancel, with flying ribs.

St. Mary's Collegiate Church, Warwick. A fascinating place.

Buffy: season four...

I have now installed wallpaper on my new Aspire, a sort of baptismal rite I hadn't got around to yet. The subject? A beautiful portrait of Spike.

So I should make a few comments on my reactions to Buffy the Vampire Slayer season four, while it's still fresh in my mind. Ahh, ( the joys of season four... )

Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon: As You LIke It...

Castle of the day: I have a few choices. Well, I could say "The Virgins and Castle", which is the pub (est. 1777) where we had supper. Delicious roast duck with mashed potatoes, fresh peas and carrots, and a green salad with tomatoes and cucumber.

Or I could cite the castle in Sunnydale California that I saw in the Buffy episode "Buffy vs. Dracula".

Or I could pretend that we actually saw a castle in the beginning of As You Like It, which I saw in Stratford-on-Avon at the Courtyard Theatre. And enjoyed very much indeed. And will have things to say about.

Watched quite a bit of Buffy today: "Buffy vs Dracula", "Real Me", "The Replacement", and "Out of My Mind". Loved the Spike scenes - do I sound like a broken record there yet? Loved the way Giles seems to have metamorphosed from librarian-teach-watcher to a sensei or guru. In the first episode there, I thought Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy was showing the body language and look of Eliza Dushku, but seemed more like herself later on. And Spike and Harmony make a very funny combination.