Tag Archives: Grace Cathedral

Sunlit and InSPIREd

San Francisco '16 011

When Dear and I arrived in San Francisco January 20th we checked into our hotel and then braved the walk uphill to the Mark Hopkins hotel on Nob Hill. On the way we passed Grace Cathedral. Grace Cathedral is a beautiful church that I’ve posted about before when I did a more thorough visit in 2008. I’ll leave a link to my full posts at the end of this one. We continued on to the “Top of the Mark” for some small bites and a drink. This next photo shows a view of Grace Cathedral from above.

San Francisco '16 021

On our way back to our hotel (all downhill this time) we stopped in at the Cathedral for a quick view of the inside and then I took some photos from the outside during sunset.

San Francisco '16 030

San Francisco '16 029

San Francisco '16 045

To see more from the inside and outside and to read some history of Grace Cathedral click here and here.

Later today I’ll link up with Sunlit Sunday hosted by Karen at My Little Home and Garden and InSPIREd Sunday hosted by Beth and Sally.

I’m having a carefree Saturday with just a little shopping excursion planned to pick up a few last minute items for our Lunar/Chinese New Year Super Bowl party tomorrow. Dear vacuumed for me yesterday and I dusted and sorted out a lot of junk piles so our house looks crisp, neat and ready for fun. While I prepare this post I’m enjoying some Barclay’s Premier League Soccer on the telly. Yes, I’m a fan of soccer. Dear and our son-in-law are off to our near son’s home to do some hard labor with a jackhammer! I suppose I better have a hardy meal ready for dinner for the workers! Hope you have a good weekend.

Five

Whether they are Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne or Five on Friday with Amy here are my favorites I’m sharing this week. Some are  illustrated with some photos from our time in San Francisco last week.

San Francisco '16 042

  1. A quiet week after time away with time to read and pray. (photo from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco)

2016-01-24 sat morn S3

2. Some fun adventures finding things to decorate a Chinese New Year table in February. I bought some items in San Francisco but when returning home I realized I needed more things to pull the table together. (above photos from Chinatown San Francisco) While shopping at Goodwill I spotted…

12654374_10208648224711322_4889782849383810898_n

…this! Back in 1973 when I was in England I started my china Hope Chest purchases with a tea set from England. Were you in the Hope Chest era? The pattern is Moss Rose by Royal Albert. After I was married Dear and I completed my set with a dinner service for 12 that we drove into Canada to buy. When I saw this smaller teapot and trivet at my local Goodwill I grabbed it fast. With my senior discount these pretties cost me $10!

12650883_10208640199910707_2326536698853718671_n

3. Happy find while I was out and about was a Persian Bakery and a Persian restaurant in a strip mall close to our home! Just look at that fresh Barbari bread above! I grew up enjoying Persian cuisine. My parents’ families escaped out of Russia into Iran in the early 30’s. My parents spent their teen and early adult years in Persia and learned to enjoy Persian food and to cook it. My father even learned Farsi while he lived there. I’m looking forward to eating at the restaurant soon.

skillet enchiladas 158

4. One pot meals! Tomorrow on Mennonite Girls Can Cook I’m sharing the one pot meal I made from these ingredients. Earlier in the week I made Susan’s (My Mother’s Apron Strings) Skillet Lasagna and it was delicious.

Walk About the Fox 019

5. Since Dear has been working from home we are walking together most days of the week. It rained all night and all day yesterday so we skipped but we are determined to get out on most days and do our loop. Our walk starts on a gradual uphill before we hit the steepest part of the walk and we get our hearts pumping. Then we have another flat spell before we head downhill home. This photo is not from our neighborhood but from a lovely walk we had in England on a trip in 2014. I’m always ready to go back to scenery like this!

Here we are heading into the last weekend of January. Nothing major going on which is nice. Maybe I’ll get around to dusting! What’s up in your neck of the woods?

Postcard from San Francisco…

Hello from San Francisco. This photo was taken from Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins San Francisco. I’ll share more detail from our time here when we get back home. Uploading photos takes soooo long at the hotel!

San Francisco '16 027

We put in lots of steps today to walk up to Nob Hill from our hotel. The weather was good today for us. Dear will be busy at a conference the next couple of days and I’ll be checking out the city with a friend and on my own. Hope all is well in your part of the world.

InSPIREd Sunday

I’m re-posting these photos from my visit to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in December of 2008. I’m anticipating another visit to San Francisco at the end of January for a cancer symposium. Dear is the one who will be at the cancer symposium and I will be a tourist in San Francisco again.

 

Grace Cathedral is descended from the historic Grace Church, built in the Gold Rush year of 1849, and the imposing structure on the corner of California and Stockton streets that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. San Francisco’s Crocker family gave their Nob Hill porperty, destroyed by the fire, for the building of a new cathedral.

 

Work began on this structure in 1928. Designed in the French Gothic style by Lewis Hobart, it was completed in 1964.

 

 

Famed for its Ghiberti doors, labyrinths, stained glass, the cathedral has become an internationally-known place of pilgrimage.

 

The Doors of Paradise are considered by many to be the first and greatest masterpiece of Italian Renaissance. The magnum opus of Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), the doors were made for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral (the Duomo) and told the story of the Old and New Testaments. Grace Cathedral’s doors were made from the same molds – which were later destroyed – used for the originals.

 

 

 

I was also impressed with several of the other doors into the cathedral and wanted to show you them, too.

 

 

 

One of my special treats the day I visited the Cathedral was a small orchestra practicing for a Christmas concert. It was just so beautiful to walk around the inside of the cathedral being serenaded with beautiful music that inspired me to praise God for all the wonder available to us…

 

So much wonder this time of year. I’m taking time to adore my savior.

Friday night we are going to have a small Raclette party at our house. Maybe I’ll take photos to share later. A dear friend of ours was the Realtor we used to buy this old house. She has not been back since 1998 to see the improvements we’ve made. I don’t know how that happened but finally she and her hubby are coming for dinner and we’ll give her a tour of the improved version of this old house. Since we will be busy with preparations for our time together I’m posting this early because I won’t be on the computer until who knows when. Hope you all are enjoying the wonders of the Christmas season!

I’ll be linking up with Beth and Sally for InSPIREd Sunday! I’ll probably be missing in action next week.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

ABC Wednesday ~ X is for…

X is for Χριστός

 

Chi Rho (☧) are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ ( Greek : “Χριστός” ), and so have come to be used for a number of Christian-related usages.

The Chi Rho is one of the earliest cruciform symbols used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters of the word “Christ” in Greek, chi = ch and rho = r. Although not technically a cross, the Chi Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ. There is early evidence of the Chi Rho symbol on Christian Rings of the third century (200’s). There is also importantly Constantine’s use of it on the labarum, the imperial standard, in the early 4th century. Lactantius, a 4th century Christian apologist, reports that on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, Constantine had a vision of God in which he was commanded to mark his men’s shields with the Chi Rho symbol. After Constantine’s success at the Milvian bridge, the Chi Rho became the official imperial insignia. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence demonstrating that the Chi Rho was emblazoned on the helmet and shield of Constantine as well as those of all of his soldiers. Coins and medallions minted during Constantine’s reign also bore the Chi Rho. By the year 350, the Chi Rho began to be used on Christian sarcophagi and frescoes.

I took these photos of these murals inside the historic Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. The Cathedral was amazing and I have a full post about it with more photos of the inside and outside here and here. If you ever get the chance to visit San Francisco make sure and put this Cathedral on your must see list!

 

When walking in the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco I spotted the symbol again above this door. This building probably use to be connected with a church but it appears to have been converted to a home now. Here’s another view of this amazing building.

For more ABC Wednesday visit the ABC Blog  hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

San Francisco ~ Inside Grace Cathedral

The pipes to the Aeolian-Skinner Organ, the only one of it’s kind west of Chicago, heard in over 400 services and concerts each year.

Chapel of Grace, the oldest part of the cathedral features Connick windows, a 14th century Flemish altarpiece, and Lewis Hobart design.

 

The church is lined with different murals painted by renowned artists such as Antonio Sotomayor and John de Rosen. “Centennial Mural” shows the 1906 earthquake and the fire that destroyed the city, including Grace Church.

 

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.

 

San Francisco ~ Grace Cathedral

 

Today I’m sharing my outside shots of Grace Cathedral. I will show my inside shots later.

Grace Cathedral is descended from the historic Grace Church, built in the Gold Rush year of 1849, and the imposing structure on the corner of California and Stockton streets that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. San Francisco’s Crocker family gave their Nob Hill porperty, destroyed by the fire, for the building of a new cathedral.

Work began on this structure in 1928. Designed in the French Gothic style by Lewis Hobart, it was completed in 1964.

Famed for its Ghiberti doors, labyrinths, stained glass, the cathedral has become an internationally-known place of pilgrimage.

The Doors of Paradise are considered by many to be the first and greatest masterpiece of Italian Renaissance. The magnum opus of Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), the doors were made for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral (the Duomo) and told the story of the Old and New Testaments. Grace Cathedral’s doors were made from the same molds – which were later destroyed – used for the originals.

 

I was also impressed with several of the other doors into the cathedral and wanted to show you them, too.

 

One of my special treats the day I visited the Cathedral was a small orchestra practicing for a Christmas concert. It was just so beautiful to walk around the inside of the cathedral being serenaded with beautiful music that inspired me to praise God for all the wonder available to us…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.