National Cathedral Visit

I know I've posted other pictures of the cathedral in the past but I've been there twice on this visit (once with Sophia) and the second visit was probably around 5 or 5:30 p.m. and the light was just so beautiful on the front of the cathedral that I took more.

Plus which, the computer that I'm posting from is my brand new 11" I-Mac Air and I think I'm really going to like it.  I always said I would never switch because it would be so much to learn but with Chris's help and then doing an in-store comparison between it and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 with keyboard, I just decided it was the better choice for me and they'd both have learning curves.

So I edited these photos with the program that's already in the Air and I think it's going to be fine.  I've never done fancy editing anyway - my photos aren't really worth investing in and learning a complex program.  What's nice is to see them on this new screen.  Both my old laptop and my netbook seemed to have darker screens so I was probably lightening a lot of my photos more than was necessary.

Anyway, I've had a nice visit with January and Maggie with a delicious(!) sushi dinner.  We all were stuffed when we left the restaurant but oh, boy it was good!  I've quit getting sushi as a solo diner cause part of the enjoyment with sushi is to have a variety of rolls.  Then I imposed a little longer on Chris's hospitality because of the computer study and purchase and now today, I'm going to be leaving shortly to go to Heather's for a quick overnight visit so I can see her new workshop, gift shop, any baby alpacas that might be around, and help Sophia finish the pillow she worked on at my house.

And I just found another thing I need to ask Chris about - as I was typing I reached the bottom of the screen and when it went to the next line, it didn't scroll to let me see that line.  Hopefully there's something to fix that.

Now, here's my pictures - old camera, new computer.

 The sunlight on the front of the building just made it glow...you can see in the upper right corner a bit of the scaffolding being used during the repair of the 2011 earthquake damage which I learned on this visit has an estimated cost of $26,000,000 and will take, I think they said, 11 or 12 years!

The next one is of a really large fungus(?) that was growing on the stump of a tree that had recently been cut down.  Kind of one of those "so ugly it's beautiful" type things.

 The very rotten inside stump - good they cut it down probably.

This enclosure has some of the pieces that fell off the building during the quake.

This was a little later with the sun down a little further.  It is truly a beautiful building and if you're anywhere near DC or go for a visit sometime, you might want to visit it - it's pretty much a national treasure as it is filled with gorgeous ironwork, beautiful stained glass windows, lots of carved wood - all done by artisans from around the country.

Christmas, Part II - Viginia and Maryland

After our somewhat harrowing trip from Huntington to Virginia - January's windshield washer wasn't working and the road conditions for a good part of the journey were wet and salty - we arrived in good shape and with me giving January firm instructions to call the next day and find a place that could repair her washers!

I got to spend a nice amount of time with January before she and Maggie left for North Carolina to spend New Year's Eve with their friends there and, of course, I always enjoy staying at Chris's apartment and spending time with him too.  We all (January, Maggie, Chris and I) spent Wednesday evening together with a nice Chinese dinner first and then back to the apartment to exchange presents with Chris.

Chris, being the nice son he is, took me out for a very nice New Year's Eve dinner at the Carlyle Restaurant, a really nice restaurant that Chris has been going to for lots of years and when I'm here, I lots of time get treated to their goodies.  Managed to stay up til midnight and then Saturday I asked Chris if the idea of him giving me a behind-the-scenes tour at the National Cathedral (he's a docent) appealed to him and it turned out he had been thinking he wanted to maybe go there to take some pictures with his new wide-angle lens, so we spent a good part of the day there and it was great!!  I took so many pictures it was like being on one of my travels again - well, not "like" ...  I was on a travel!  I tried to really winnow down the pictures and they're not real great cause it's me taking them for one thing and for another thing, I didn't think to take my camera so took them all with my I-phone.  So, first of all, here we are outside - a cloudy day, but a beautiful cathedral.

And this is just a beautiful passageway:

Chris took me into various attics, outside to stand on the gutter(!) and behind all kinds of locked doors. 

And we went up into the bell tower.  Only went to the carillon level because since it was New Year's Day, the top level of bells were being continuously rung by actual bell ringers so we couldn't go up there.  They get to take short breaks but basically they ring for 6 hours!

And I took this one while standing out on the gutter - it's actually a cement walkway so wasn't at all as unsafe as it sounds.  Wonderful to be up that close to all the sculpted bits and pieces though.  And here's another one from up there:

And I liked this shot of the two front towers from one of the upper level windows:

This one I took from a sort of second level gallery that looks all the way down the nave to the altar.  This is really grainy cause I took it in a fairly dark place and then tried to lighten it up enough to show all the arches.  I love arches. :)

While up there, I noticed that every massive pillar on our side had a little carved decoration - each one different.  This was the closest one to me:

And here are two more from up in the gallery:

And since I took pictures of the incredible mosaics in Italy, I thought it was only fair to take a picture of at least one of the mosaics here.  They're not quite as much to my taste - I seem to like the ancient more than the modern, but they're pretty fantastic anyway.  This was from a chapel (I think that's what it was) in the crypt (basement).

And this last picture just really tickles me.  Apparently, when the cathedral was being built, there was, of course, a stonecarvers' "shed" where they could work during bad weather and such.  And every year on New Year's Eve,  any carvers who were there that day would open a bottle of wine, date it and drink it.  These are all those bottles tucked away on shelves over a door in one of the "attics" and there's one for every year from 1959 to probably around 1995 or 1996 (they started building in 1907).