Jesus in Stained Glass

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I’ve been wanting to get a good shot of this amazing stained glass window (at
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Danville, Virginia) for a long time now, but usually there’s so much light that the entire image just washes away to white.

This day, though, I must’ve been there at the right time.

Even though the color’s still a little off and some detail is gone, especially at this size and DPI, at least you can see what it’s a picture of: Jesus with his Sacred Heart, surrounded by angels.

When I was about ten, I made a little mushroom sun catcher. It looks like stained glass, but is really plastic chips that melted in the oven. (I still have it in my “specials” box. :P)

Well, since then, I’ve been fascinated by stained glass. I hope one day I’ll get to learn how to do it for real.

And the P’s Win It!

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I enjoy unpacking and organizing our music collection so much better after it’s already done. I mean, the unpacked, organized state is so nice; the process, not so much.

So, anyway, this time, I enlisted Lucas’ help a little bit. I didn’t insist, but he was pretty good at it while he lasted as helper. And even when he wasn’t there, his version of the ABC song, resonating in my head from countless renditions, kept me smiling.

To be completely upfront, this particular job only got half done at our last house. The CD’s and company made it onto shelves but never in any order. It’s extra-nice to have them back where we can find and listen easily.

So now they’re in order. Ahhh…

And the P’s won by quite a few CD’s, thanks to Kevin’s virtually-every-Pink-Floyd-recording collection … and that’s just the stacks, not even counting the huge “Shine On” box set. 😛

The Hill from You-Know-Where

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This may look like an ordinary residential street in a fairly quiet neighborhood, but don’t let it fool you.

Even 15 years ago (when I was in 150 times better shape), this hill could kick my butt.

Whew! (Imagine it in a slow rasp, and that’s my lungs talking afterward.)

Husk

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It caught my eye as we were walking the other day.

A husk.

Kevin kicked it.

It was empty and brittle.

Yeah, I was a little grossed out.

It was pretty big, bigger than a quarter. A bug…

A shed skin.

Something crawled out of there.

And it made me think…

How often have I felt like that?

A shell of myself.

Numb.

All the color drained from my world.

It’s been a while,

but I have been a husk of myself before.

And most people probably didn’t even know.

Because I was smiling. And laughing. And singing.

As usual.

I was a great faker, the real me shrunk up so small inside.

So weak. So scared.

Maybe I needed to be there in order to get here.

Maybe I needed to experience the husk to appreciate the whole.

The Two Who Stayed

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In the end, there were only two, his mother Mary and his apostle John.

Is it any wonder that Mary was assumed into Heaven and that John was the only apostle whose life didn’t end in tragedy?

All the other 12 apostles — with the exception of Judas, who committed suicide — were martyred for the faith.

[Taken today at Sacred Heart’s chapel. One of the 12 stations of the cross, it was handmade years ago and was in the old church building up on West Main Street.]

Hymnal Symbol

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Since 2008, when we first went to a Mass at Sacred Heart, I’ve been puzzled by the symbol on the cover of these hymnals.

The embossed cross, I can see. But the gilt-embossed circle and gumdrop-looking flower-ish design? And that one gumdrop thingy that’s not gold?

Well, it took me until today, but I finally figured out the meaning.

See, I had a little more time than usual to unfocus during this morning’s Mass.

I know that sounds bad, but we went to Spanish Mass today, and I am not a Spanish speaker.

Usually, I can follow pretty well with the translation bulletin; it has the Spanish and English side-by-side on each page.

But today was my first Spanish Mass with our new priest, Father Tony. Instead of reading the message on the front cover of the translation bulletin like our former priest, Father Charles, who wasn’t perfectly fluent in Spanish, Father Tony, who is, gave his own homily, no translation.

I could pick out some words here and there, but not enough to string together anything coherent, so my mind just wandered a bit…

And it hit me.

There’s one circle in the center of the cross that represents Jesus.

And there are 12 embossed gumdrop shapes around the circle that represent the 12 apostles that Jesus chose.

And there’s one gumdrop shape which is not gilt that represents Judas, the one apostle who turned away from Jesus completely.

I’m not sure if there’s any meaning in the shapes…

Swirls & Spirals

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Taken at Luray Caverns, July 31, 2009, using a camera technique I call “swirling.” 😛

All year long, through illness and swamped-from-work-ness, I have persevered in posting a picture each day as I vowed to do starting January 1st.

At least a few times, I just barely made it, sliding in at 11:58 p.m.. But I posted.

Until yesterday.

Excuses, I have many … we just moved … boxes still everywhere … ordered furniture hasn’t arrived … my nemesis TMJ reared its demonic head after months of ease … that time of the month …

I could certainly go on and on, but I’d prefer to focus on how I felt this morning when I realized I hadn’t posted a picture yesterday.

Well, there was an initial panic. Like a second.

And then there was calm.

All is fine.

Perfect.

Translucency

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Yes, this morning, I actually got a picture of one of our resident hummingbirds!!!

The main male and female were fighting over the feeder.

I kept seeing them blur by the windows, and when I paid closer attention, I saw the male sitting on a tree branch watching while the female came to the feeder, hovered around a bit and then started to sip. Then, the male flew down very close and fast, chasing the female off.

They did this over and over, the chase swirling through the sky into the neighbor’s backyard and back.

I went over to the window and stood, phone in hand with the camera app open, and when the female came to hover, I snapped as fast as I could.

I got two pretty good pictures, but they’re not nearly as clear and focused as I would like…

Look at her wings, though! They’re flapping so fast, they look almost see-through, strikingly translucent.

Awesome!!