BVM – Ruth E. Hendricks Photography

Full of Grace

Graceful. The Weekly Photo Challenge

mother-mary-in-the-spring

If you’ve followed me you might recognize this image from a 2011 blog post of almost six years ago. Mother Mary- Springtime NYC

Mother Mary- Springtime NYC

Someone placed a bouquet in the crook of her arm. Today’s post remembers friend and poet Christina Murdock who passed one year ago today, a week short of her thirtieth birthday.

from Let it Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
Let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 by Ruth Categories: Photography, Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: art, BVM, Christina Murdock, friendship, grace, graceful, Greenwich Village, Hail Mary Full of Grace, love, Mother Mary, New York City, photography, postaday, sculpture, statue, the Beatles, urban madonna 15 Comments

Theme for my week- Serenity

Once you start looking for photographs in your archives that say “serenity”

-you think of more and you’re seeking the ones that make you feel calm and peaceful inside, just to look at them.

So you just go with it, like a raft on a gentle ocean wave.

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: baby, baby doll, BVM, chocolate, cousins, family, Kennywood, mother and child, photography, postaday, serenity, St. Olga, vacation 4 Comments

Our Lady of the RV Sales Lot

Last Spring my sister and I went with Erika’s parents, Donald and Marlene as they were shopping around for a camper or trailer for their retirement.

Here is what we found at one of the RV Sales Lots.

I can’t add it to my “Urban Madonna” collection as it is just north of Columbus, Ohio so more like
“Country or Rural Madonna”

Safe journeys.

August 31, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: BVM, camper, Columbus OH, madonna, Mary statue, photography, postaday, religious statues, retirement, RV sales lot, trailer, travel 9 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Selfie

2013 Word of the Year- Selfie. WordPress’ Cheri Lucas Rowlands posted the challenge with the example of herself reflected in an art work/sculpture.

Selfies are the thing for high schoolers. It’s really their favorite subject to shoot. Themselves!

And I have a few of myself on file. Here is an article written by Dan Zak in the Washington Post about Selfies

Just Ducky Tour Reflection in Side View Mirror

Having lunch alone at Sunseri’s in the Strip District. Tuna Balsamic with onion on baguette ad a ginger ale.

Me in my lawn ball in the snow

me at work (school) in sweater Erika gave me

My hand knit socks( by self) on my big feet.

February 7, 2014February 8, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: BVM, Dan Zak, gazing ball, Just Ducky Tour Pittsburgh, lawn ball, madonna, mirror, photography, postaday, reflection, snow scene, Washington Post, weekly photo challenge: selfie 39 Comments

Mother Mary in the Snow – Before the Puppeteer Painted Her

A few years ago this Mary statue was a curbside alert through the neighborhood listserve so I walked up to Winterton St. to save her from the trash.

She was peeling paint and looking a bit worn. Somehow it didn’t seem right to have her picked up by the garbage truck. So I put her in my side “garden” and called her Our Lady of the Weeds (due to my lack of gardening effort)

About the same time I hired a friend of a friend to come and do some master gardening, get rid of the weeds, plant something decent. And the skilled gardener took the Mary statue home with her and she was gone a couple of months. The gardener is an excellent puppeteer and brightened up the statue with new paint. In fact, when she was returned it took awhile to get used to her brightness and revitalization.

Then my neighbor restored the bird bath bowl my father gave me when I bought the house.

One day I came home and the Mary statue was perched in the now repaired bird bath.

It’s been a team effort to get me spiffed up around here.

Before

This Spring I’ll take a new photo with the plantings and green surrounding her.

January 21, 2014 by Ruth Categories: Garden, In the snow, PhotographyTags: bird bath, Blessed Mother Statue, BVM, family, garden, home, lawn ball, lawn ornament, Mary, neighbor, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, puppeteer, snow, weather 12 Comments

Unexpected Gallery Two

Working on a different computer today- I saw a few more unexpected themed photographs although I already posted for the weekly photo challenge. If I dipped into the hard drives I could go all week I am sure.

I skipped the “couch on the front lawn” shots. Those are almost expected these days.

Some deja vu for longtime followers, thanks for looking again.

Stuffed Fox on a Roof

Maura and her reflection

Bras on the Hot Metal Bridge for Breast Cancer Awareness

Book bench on High Street Clintonville, Ohio

American Girl Hair Salon Fifth Avenue New York City- my sister was showing it to me- no kids or dolls with us.

Museum of Modern Art Courtyard New York City

Mona Lisa mural in Columbus

Juxtaposition

November 24, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Photography, Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: books, Breast Cancer Awareness, BVM, Columbus OH, family, Hot Metal Bridge, Mona Lisa, New York City, photography, Pittsburgh PA, postaday, taxidermy, travel, Unexpected, weekly photo challenge 26 Comments

Urban Madonna, North Side- Middle and Suismon Streets

Looks like a tear has rolled down her left cheek.

You might remember a winter post of another Urban Madonna from January 2011 (complete with Beatles lyrics0

Our Lady Queen of Peace– not sure if the church building is occupied as they have combined parishes due to population decline.

(I’m sure a Pittsburgher who reads this can straighten this out and I will edit the post. Bill? )

Taken Tuesday late afternoon after a Gallery Walk at the Mattress Factory- Art Teacher Professional Development.

Directly across from Max’s Allegheny Tavern where we discussed the Gallery Walk.

October 8, 2013 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: BVM, Mary, neighborhood, North Side Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Photography, postaday, Queen of Peace, religious statue, urban madonna 9 Comments

Pizza Chef Again in E.Rossi & Co. Windows- Grand and Mulberry Streets

Taken the week before Easter, on Spring Break vacation in New York City. Found the second window picture with the nativity scenes tonight and the pizza man reappearing which I’d missed the first time.

The little girls’ mom is pointing out the Mary riding on the donkey with a hand on her expectant figure.

April 18, 2013April 18, 2013 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: BVM, E. Rossi, Italian gifts, Little Italy, Mulberry St., music, Nativity Scene, New York City, photography, Pizza Man, postaday, religious statues, store windows, travel, youtube video 4 Comments

Garden of Marys

I was driving to Columbus OH from Conneaut Lake one August and took some back roads. I wish I could remember how I came to be on the other side of this outdoor statuary which was for sale. Perhaps a stop at a gas station. You might remember the story of how I retrieved a Mary statue standing out on the curb in our neighborhood. It just didn’t seem right for the trash. Then a nice woman who was doing some gardening for me, took the Mary statue home to her house to paint her since she was so weathered. The master gardener also a puppeteer had the urge to restore her since she was so beat up looking. Turns out she was plastic and hard to paint but she is in my side garden now, looking bright and renewed. I actually hope she weathers a bit. I did call her Our Lady of the Weeds but my sister is here and made the side garden really lovely so I will have to rename her. I am intrigued by private grottos and garden statuary. You may remember Mary in the Springtime or Mary in the Snow. Sometimes the placement of Mary statues in Pittsburgh is a real juxtaposition. Stuck in odd spots. No matter where I see the Mary statues, they look peaceful to me.

September 29, 2011September 28, 2011 by Ruth Categories: From the Archives, Garden, PhotographyTags: BVM, garden, garden sculpture, lawn art, Mary statue, postaday2011 8 Comments

Mother Mary- Springtime NYC

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