Month: March 2014

Morning, Noon & Almost Night

Timothy Price11 Comments

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Are you finding yourself well rested, and full of energy after waking up to a clock showing the time an hour later than normal? I’m not.  The photos in the series today were taken at 9:31 am, a little before noon (11:48 am) and at 7:09 pm.

When I noticed the contrails casting shadows on the clouds above them, I had to do a drive-by photo. The effect was so weird because I was heading east, the sun is still pretty far south, yet the shadows were cast on both sides of the contrails as if there were two light sources: the sun from the south and another light source from the northwest. Furthermore, for the contrails to cast shadows at all, it’s as if the sun were below the clouds. This is when things STOP making sense, you reach a DEAD END, the sun goes down, and you’re still confused.

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Gigi gets her Freedom

Timothy Price5 Comments

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A few of the young people in our lives are as tattered and torn as old maps cracked and crumbling on the edges. Fortunately, Gigi was able to throw off a few of those ragged edges yesterday, as we helped he move out of her own, giving her much-needed freedom.

Since we got our 1982 Ford F100 back in service, it’s been quite useful the last couple weekends hauling off junk and moving Gigi. Does anyone recognize the useful feature on our truck in the last photo? They have have not been available on cars and trucks for many years.

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Thérèse of Lisieux

Timothy Price17 Comments

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We went to A Lenten Penitential Prayer Concert. A Dedication to Our Lady of Sorrows presented by the Albuquerque All City Women’s Catholic Liturgical Choir at St. Thérèse and the Infant Jesus Catholic Church last night. The concert included a service with the Stations of the Cross — the first time I’ve attended a service with the stations of the the cross. After the concert I was talking to Father Vincent who gave me the history of the church. Built in 1954, St. Thérèse and the Infant Jesus Catholic Church just happens to be one of four shrines in the world for Thérèse of Lisieux. The full name of the of the church is the Shrine of the Little Flower, St. Thérèse and the Infant Jesus Catholic Church. 

I learned that they have some of the bones of St. Thérèse in the marble under the statue in the first photo, in marble at the main alter, and a bone fragment in a small gold reliquary the priest takes out of its nook to venerate St. Thérèse. They also have rare statues of her, and various other relics such as her choir robe. One of the first priests at the church was French and he designed the stained glass and statuary  — he had the stained glass made in France and the statues carved by craftsmen in the Italian Alps. Father Vincent said the Church cost over $3 million dollars to build in 1954, and he was estimating it would cost about $18 million to build today. I looked around at the quality of the construction, the marble, stained glass and statuary, and told him that from my experience with construction costs, I thought it would cost around $30 million to build church like it today.

St. Thérèse was a French Carmelite nun who died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 in 1897. known as “The Little Flower”, Roman Catholics love her for what’s considered the simplicity and practicality of her approach to a spiritual life. St. Thérèse was beatified in 1923, and canonized in 1925. She was named co-patron of France with Joan of Arc in 1944, and Pope John Paul II made her the 33rd Doctor of the Church in 1997. A collection of her autobiographical manuscripts called “The Story of a Soul” became very popular in the early 1900’s, which ended up making her one of the most popular saints in the 20th century.

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Cattywampus

Timothy Price7 Comments

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Roscrantz was laying between my legs about 3:30 am when Diné attacked him, and a cattywampus ensued as they fought, tumbled  and wamped each other on my legs before Diné jumped off the bed with Rosencrantz in hot pursuit. A few minutes later Diné returned to triumphantly claim the spot between my legs where Rosencrantz had been before their cattywampus. Rosencrantz made his rounds, came back in, walked up on my chest and gave me a security report before he snuggled inbetween Laurie and me. I got up early, so Diné and Rosencrantz, still worn out from their early morning tussle, dragged themselves to my spot and continued to snooze.  Guildenstern seemed a little mystified  that I was getting up after all that ruckus in the wee hours of the morning. Meanwhile Mama Manx caught the first rays of the sunrise in the catio.

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The Last Picture! Oh?

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These photos of Beaker are the last pictures I’ll ever take…

…with my first digital camera, that is — an old Olympus C-5050. I was testing the telephoto attachment to make sure it was still sharp before I put the camera and accessories on the auction block. The last photo shows the camera with all the accessories I used with it. The Olympus C-5050 was my only camera from 2003 to 2009. I sold all my film cameras soon after buying the C-5050 in 2003, then 6 years later, I bought a Lumix L10 body with a 28-100mm zoom lens in October 2009. The Olympus C-5050 served me well for all those years, but I hadn’t touched it for over 5 years, until today when I got it out and tested it to see if it was still working. It worked great, and will soon have a new home.

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