Photo Essay: Cathedrals of St. Louis, Part 2

The Old Cathedral (which was replaced by the Basilica upon its completion) of St. Louis is located near the famous Gateway Arch. Its exterior and interior stand in complete contrast to the Basilica. It is still a functioning Catholic church whose beauty lies in its simplicity. I love to eavesdrop on guided tours – I […]

Photo Essay: Cathedrals of St. Louis, Part 1: The Basilica

My husband and I took a 3-day trip to St. Louis, Missouri this week. While there, we saw three cathedrals which were quite awe-inspiring. We first visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, a Roman Catholic church. The construction of the cathedral was begun in 1907. The architecture of the exterior is Romanesque, with granite […]

WPC: Half-Light

The Weekly Photo Challenge is “Half-light”. I have seen “half-light” occur at dawn, at dusk, when there is a full moon, or when there is a storm. At daybreak, the light emerges slowly as we see through a sort of haze. At dusk we can still make out objects and the sunset may produce brilliant […]

Word of the Week: reredos

This week’s word is reredos. (And no, it doesn’t mean to do the redo over again!) Earlier this week, my husband and I took a short trip to St. Louis, which is only about 4 hours drive from Chicago (without stops). We visited some lovely churches there, and I will post pictures of them later. […]

Photo Essay: An artist’s Gallery in the Sun

While we were in Tucson in December, we visited the studio and gallery of Ted deGrazia, an artist I have always known about, because when my grandmother lived in Tucson, she met Mrs. deGrazia and they became friends. She of course introduced my grandmother to her husband, and since then, his whimsical paintings of children […]

Word of the Week: Xanthochroid

When I was a kid, my family used to love to play board games. These games were not only fun, but many were meant to be learning experiences. My father was particularly fond of playing games with his children. One of the games we played sometimes was Anagrams. In Anagrams, a player thinks of a […]