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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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. 
Garden of Marys
Northern Ohio
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.
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