Cool Campus

     Uncle Jack and Mrs. U.J. have been pretty much holed up in their air-conditioned condo for the past couple of weeks but a change in the weather has allowed them to get out in the early morning for their usual brisk walks through the neighborhood.  Yesterday they hiked through the tree-lined streets of Guilford, the exceedingly upscale residential area just north of their condo, and this morning they returned to the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus across the street, their favorite exercise venue.
     The campus is quiet during the summer break except for the sounds of heavy construction equipment at the site of the new addition to the Eisenhower library and a couple of gangs of workers putting the finishing touches on the renovation of Gilman Hall, the oldest building on campus, which has been underway for the past two years.  They had the wide, brick and marble walkways pretty much to themselves except for the arrival of several busloads of young lacrosse players from area schools who are participating in a summer camp.  Johns Hopkins is a perennial collegiate lacrosse powerhouse and this is no doubt one way to get a look at prospective recruits.
     The highlight of their morning was a visit to the newly renovated interior of Gilman Hall which they have been eagerly awaiting ever since their arrival in Baltimore a year and a half ago. It was not a disappointment as the pictures below suggest.

 Sherwood Gardens in Guilford is as lovely as ever in spite of weeks of extreme heat and drought.  The park has an extensive underground irrigation system that keeps everything pretty

. The new library addition threatens to eclipse the old building next door which is one of the least distinguished buildings on campus  in Uncle Jack's estimation.

  Right now, though, it's just a hole in the ground which keeps getting bigger every day.

The stained glass windows in the Hutzler Reading Room, now completely refurbished, are the pride and joy of Gilman Hall.  Mr. King was a 19th century Baltimore businessman who made a ton of money and then devoted the last 25 years of his life  to the fledgling Johns Hopkins University.

The Gutenberg window,  one of nineteen that provide light and beauty to the reading room (where Uncle Jack plans to spend more than a few of his waking hours henceforth, proudly wearing the Johns Hopkins T-shirt he purchased at a yard sale for fifty cents. (Considerably less than the cost of tuition).

The view from the nineteen windows will not make it easy for scholars to concentrate on their studies.

Eat your heart out Oxbridge.

Lacrosse crossing.