Crucifix Among the Fall Leaves

I decided to attend a Christmas bazaar that was held at a local Catholic church known as St. Hugh of Grenoble Church in Greenbelt, Maryland. I’ve been by that building numerous times but I recently noticed something I hadn’t noticed before: A giant crucifix. That crucifix is surrounded by tree leaves in their total autumn splendor.

Here’s a shot of the church basement where the bazaar was held. There was a Christmas-themed setup on the stage.

When I walked outside again I noticed the fall leaves on the ground, which provided a variety of colors.

Inktober Day 1

This year I’m giving this Inktober thing a try. The idea is to do a new drawing every single day from October 1-31. I don’t know if I’m going to stick with it or not. I tried something similar last year when I made a New Year’s resolution to do one drawing a day then upload that drawing online to my various social media accounts. I even purchased a small sketchbook for the occasion because that one is pretty portable. Except I found the process too arduous to do on a daily basis so I tried cutting back to one new drawing a week. Then it was one new drawing a month. Then it was one new drawing whenever I was in the mood to do so, but those moods became fewer and far between.

So I decided to give it a try again for Inktober, especially since I saw the drawings that people did online last year and I found myself wishing I had done them. Well, I need to stop wishing and start drawing. One of the challenges of drawing every day is coming up with an idea of what to draw. The good news is that the person behind Inktober has put up a list of prompts for each day that people can use for inspiration. I decided that I’ll use the prompts only if I’m stumped as to what to draw that day. Otherwise, I’m going to rely on my own inspiration and draw whatever the hell I want.

Since the first day of Inktober falls on a Sunday this year, I decided to do a drawing that breaks the traditional taboo against mixing religion with politics. I was inspired by Donald Trump’s ongoing feud against Senator John McCain, which started last year when Trump ridiculed McCain’s past as a POW during the Vietnam War. More recently he has been mocking the disabilities that Senator McCain received as a result of being held captive in the notorious Hanoi Hilton. (At least McCain actually served in a war and didn’t try to get out of serving by claiming he had bone spurs in his feet, unlike a certain real estate tycoon-turned-White House occupant.) I began to imagine what would happen had Donald Trump met Jesus in real life.

The Franciscan Monastery, May 17, 2014

Last fall at my church’s annual auction, I purchased a tour of the Franciscan Monastery that was given by a fellow member who was once a seminary student at that monastery because he once had an ambition to become a Franciscan monk. But he eventually quit his studies then later he switched his faith from Roman Catholic to Unitarian Universalism. He offered the tour from a onetime insider’s perspective. I bid a modest amount and I found myself on this tour, which took place a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve been to the Franciscan Monastery before. The first time was when I was around seven or eight or nine when I was being raised in the Roman Catholic church and my CCD class took a special Sunday trip to the Franciscan Monastery where we attended Mass in the monastery (which I wasn’t thrilled with) followed by a guided tour through the monastery’s replica of its catacombs (which I thought was really awesome and way more memorable than that Mass I attended).

Years later I tried to upgrade my professional skills by taking a series of professional level classes that were offered through George Washington University where I ultimately got a certificate in Desktop Publishing. My assignment for one of my classes was to create a newsletter that included writing and pictures. I decided to do a newsletter that focused on touring the more macabre places in the Washington, DC area, which included the grave site of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and other such places that featured death. I revisited the Franciscan Monastery as part of my research for that project, even though I had since left my childhood Catholic faith behind and joined a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

It has been a number of years since I last visited the Franciscan Monastery so it was a real treat for me to tour the place with other people from my UU congregation. I had long forgotten how stepping into that place is literally like stepping into another world. Looking at the pictures I took, you’d have a hard time believing that this place is located just a few miles away from the White House and the Capitol Hill. Here’s what it looks like on the outside.

I even found a relief of a unicorn near the main entrance to the monastery.

There were numerous mosaics everywhere, such as the one in the photo below.

The next photo shows a close-up of one of the decorative pillars on the grounds.

The inside of the monastery is just as impressive as the outside. There’s eye candy everywhere you look from the ceiling to the walls to the floors.

The high point of the Franciscan Monastery is a guided tour through the bottom level of the building, which includes replicas of ancient catacombs and various places in the Holy Land.

The monk in the photo below was our tour guide for the first part of the tour where he gave an overview of the Franciscan Monastery. Once the tour continued down the steps, a younger monk took over as the tour guide. The man with the monk in the photo is named John Gaffney and he’s the person in my Unitarian Universalist congregation who organized this trip for the annual auction and he is the one who’s a former seminary student at the Franciscan Monastery.

Here’s another shot of the monk who did the first part of the tour.

The next photo shows the beginning of the basement part of the tour. This is a relief of the Virgin Mary receiving a visit from the Angel Gabriel who told her that she would be pregnant with God’s child.

The next photo is one of the hallways that was designed as a replica of the ancient Roman catacombs.

This next photo shows a box that contains the 500-year-old remains of an actual saint (whose name I’ve since forgotten).

This next photo shows a female saint (whose name I have since forgotten) who was punished by the Roman authorities for being a Christian and was thrown to some hungry beasts only to have the beasts lay at her feet.

The next few photos show some wall paintings and interesting patterns that I found eye-catching.

The statue in the next photo is a replica of the body of St. Cecelia, whom I remember quite well since she’s one of the more popular Catholic saints. (My mother chose her Confirmation name after St. Cecelia.) There’s a mark on her neck which indicates how she was struck three times on the neck with a sword but her executioner wasn’t able to behead her. She lived for three days after that failed execution attempt until she died. Her body was later found to be incorrupt (meaning that it had never decomposed).

There was an actual incorrupt body at the monastery. It’s of a six-year-old boy who’s known only as “Innocente” and he was declared a martyr for the Roman Catholic faith at such an early age. The boy was executed alongside his parents when his family refused to recant their Christian faith. The boy’s body has a mask over his face but you can still see his hands and feet.

Sometimes I wonder how a scientist would have a rational theory on why some bodies become incorrupt long after death. Or if it’s just one of those things that can’t be easily studied scientifically. The next photo I took is a replica of the Infant Jesus of Prague.

The tour ended with a replica of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was built over the stable where Jesus was born.

After the tour we visited the gift shop, where there were all kinds of fascinating items on sale, such as these figurines resembling the current pope, Pope Francis, and the late Pope John Paul II.

I liked this statue that was on sale in the gift shop. Too bad it was out of my price range because I would’ve felt tempted to buy it on impulse otherwise.

I saw these large rosaries that were on sale for children. They were even color-coordinated for boys and girls.

I purchased a couple of items from the gift shop. One is this chocolate candy bar that had images of the Franciscan Monastery on the wrapper. There were even embossed images on the chocolate itself but I had purchased this candy bar on a warm sunny day and the bar was partially melted by the time I arrived back home.

The other item I purchased because of the pure kitsch value. This is a plastic crucifix that actually glows in the dark. Yes, it sounds pretty hilarious. I’m definitely going to brandish this about during Halloween.

We also did an extensive tour of the gardens outside. A lot of flowers were in bloom, which made for a lovely sight everywhere we turned.

The next few photos are of a replica of the Grotto of Gethsemane, where Jesus and his disciples held their Last Supper just a few days before Jesus was crucified.

The next few pictures are of the replica of the Grotto of Lourdes where a young girl named Bernadette Soubirous received a total of 18 visions from the Virgin Mary.

Below is one of the Stations of the Cross that were placed throughout the gardens.

The tour ended with a visit to a place where few visitors go. Like I wrote earlier, John Gaffney, the guy who hosted this tour was once a seminary student at the Franciscan Monastery. During his student days he stayed in this dormitory that was located next door to the monastery grounds. Since his time, the monastery has sold the dormitory to Howard University’s School of Divinity.

Since this building is used as a dormitory, we were only allowed to go to the chapel on one of the upper floors where the seminary students in John’s day spent a lot of time in prayer. The chapel was named for Howard Thurman after the building was sold to Howard University.

There used to be the Stations of the Cross in this chapel. Since the building was sold to Howard University, the Stations of the Cross were replaced with African-themed art.

Our brief tour of the dormitory ended with this splendid view of the road leading to the dorm.

The tour ended after the visit to the dorm. It turned out to be a busy Saturday because after spending a few hours in the morning and early afternoon touring the Franciscan Monastery, I rested for a couple of hours then headed out to a spring picnic that was held in the home of a couple that I know from my church congregation. Yes, I was pretty exhausted when I arrived home that night.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore Trip-Day 8

Yesterday was my last full day in Ocean City, Maryland and I was determined to make the most of it. It was also one of the few days that had no rain in the forecast and it was sunny and hot all day long. That morning I finally was able to do the one thing that I couldn’t do earlier either because of my back problems or the weather or both—go for an early morning stroll along the beach. Aside from a few early-morning swimmers and angler fisherman, the beach was mostly clear, as you can see in this photo below.

After my brief stroll, I returned to the condo for some breakfast. After that my husband, sister-in-law, and I decided to make a last visit to The Bookend Cafe where we had some drinks, browsed the gifts and books sold there, and did some web surfing using the cafe’s free wi-fi. On the way back from the cafe, we stopped off at the same Fenwick Island lighthouse that I took a nighttime photo of just a few days ago. Here is what the lighthouse looks like in daylight.

After lunch we spent some time in the afternoon at the beach where we took a few last dips in the ocean then did some final book reading on the beach. Then we changed out of our swimsuits and headed to the Boardwalk for one final time. Unlike the last time I went to the Boardwalk, the day was much brighter and I was able to do some more walking than I was before since I didn’t have to worry about raindrops. Here’s a photo I took of the landmark Esskay Clock. When I used to go to Ocean City as a child with my extended family (including my cousins), we kids used to be instructed to wait by that clock if we somehow became separated. I remembered when I did just that one crowded night when I got separated by my family and they were all happy that when they found me at the clock.

Next to the Esskay Clock is a newer Boardwalk landmark. This is the Firefighters Memorial and it was erected to honor the firefighters who perished in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

Here’s a different kind of landmark. For many years a sculptor and minister Randy Hofman has been creating these gigantic sand sculptures based on events in the Bible. They are really a sight to behold.

If you want to see more of Randy Hofman’s work, check out his website right here.

The Boardwalk have long been home to would-be artists and musicians who try to ply their trade among the vacation-goers. Sometimes you’ll see someone who is both an artist and a musician, like the guy in the photo below.

After walking around on the Boardwalk, we headed to the Angler restaurant to take advantage of its dinner and sunset cruise. We ate a wonderful dinner in the restaurant then we went out on the dock in the back of the restaurant where we boarded a boat. I took a whole bunch of sunset photos. Here’s one of the sunset over the Route 50 bridge that leads into Ocean City.

Here’s another sunset photo, this one over Assateague Island.

And here’s sunset over West Ocean City, Maryland.

And here are a few sunset photos of the Boardwalk, where you can see the bright lights from far away.

In this photo, you can see the kites that are located right outside The Kite Loft. The kites are flown day and night during the summer.

Towards the end of the boat trip, things took a really dramatic turn. Our boat got word of another boat that had literally run aground and the boat I was on decided to go over to see if it could offer some help. By the time we arrived, the Coast Guard had already arrived to offer aid to the boat. I managed to take a few photos of that ship that ran aground but it was really dark and my camera had a hard time picking up the image so the next two photos are blurry. Here is the white boat that’s stuck among the rocks.

The blue lights in this photo are the ones from the Coast Guard boat.

Overpowered by Junk

Overpowered by Junk
Computer-generated collage
Can be resized up to 8.5 inches x 11 inches
22 cm x 28 cm

I originally did this piece for a Digital Art class I took at a local community college. At the time my school was doing a school-wide reading of the book Fast Food Nation where students were encouraged to read that book and there were even activities related to that book. Reading that book influenced me to create this piece. I had a person being surrounded by junk food logos until that person is screaming. The background is actually a close-up of a candy bar that I scanned. I arranged all those logos surrounding the tormented figure (which I achieved by scanning various wrappers) in such a way that it looks like the outline of a cross. I further made the crucifix connotation by having the figure being tied down by french fries (which I also scanned into the computer).

The title of my piece is kind of a play on the words of a title of a song made famous by The Clash called "Overpowered by Funk".

If you like what you see in this blog, please feel free to check out my Etsy shop or my Zazzle shop, where I am adding new things all the time to both stores.