Marymount campus

On the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi, 11 August, we went to walk about a part of the extended campus of Marymount in Garfield Heights.  The extended campus has a hospital begun in 1949 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, it is now a new bigger building of Cleveland Clinic. There is a medical building.  Trinity High School founded by the same sisters. Those parts of the campus, we did not visit. There is a nursing/rehabilitation building, assisted living apartments, a Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, a church and convent building. 

About the statue:  usually the  iconography has a monstrance, or a pyx, or a staff, or stalk of lilies, or a candle; here a scroll, and bread.

Now, Joseph & Jesus were carpenters.  This is a close up of a statue holding an ancient level. When the bob is at 90 degrees, it reads as true.  By the time, i got in the trades, it was all spirit levels.  I snapped this on Marymount campus. The statue was either Jesus or Joseph, i am thinking Jesus.   His hands would be near the position of holding His Sacred Heart.

Joseph & Infant Jesus on the church/convent 

deferred maintenance

Yearstone for the convent & church of the Sisters of St. Joseph, 1925. In good shape for a century, but now closed & unoccupied.

Here the rope broke. St. Francis was looking at the moon and the stars. Francis was overcome. He saw God's love, so he went to the village to ring the bell, so he could preach about God's love.

the shrine from 1939

When the gate is opened, Mass can be said to an outdoor crowd.

There is a Way of the Cross in front of the shrine. Here is the first station, Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate.

around West 53

For some years, the old  Joseph Feiss clothes factory had a large graffito of the words, "Read More Books".  Currently, the water tower is being painted with those words.

The crew took a Saturday morning stroll between the railroad & Lorain on West 53 Cleveland.

Behind the old factory there is the railroad. This would allow material to go in, and product to go out. The train had to go slow here.

Painted on a building on the west side of West 53rd.

Painted on a low wall on the east side of West 53rd.

Seen from the sidewalk on the west side of West 53rd.

"Dog bark, sorry", written on sidewalk on the east side of West 53rd.

Bird mural on the backside of a building on West 53rd & Lorain. 

2026 Miscellany #11

St. Catharine between two buildings near Lincoln Park Cleveland.

A trinket box in the remembrance of a deceased friend. Take an object, leave an object. First i encountered, the woman who put it up was tidying it up. Some people put trash inside.

I think to-morrow is the last day grocery will be open at Cleveland Trust Rotunda.  I snapped fotos to-day of the glass dome.  For years people said it was Tiffany, but Karl Brunjes found the receipts, it was D'Ascenzo Studio of Philadelphia. Reminds me of a roulette wheel.

spray painted stencil near Lincoln Park Cleveland

A tree grows from Carnegie West Branch Cleveland Library.

A few years ago, a bad bishop came to Cleveland to extinguish parishes. The present bishop prefers to change the status of churches, usually from a parish to an oratory (chapel). Malachi & Patrick were Irish parishes in Ohio City (Cleveland). They now share a common pastor, and they have merged administratively. 

thoughts from a lapsed Catholic

Patty Griffin is a singer, and songwriter.  I have not listened to her several albums to be familiar enough with her. Some of her songs have been covered by more popular female artists.  And those songs i am not very familiar with.  A handful of her songs are rooted in Catholic images, and largely they are not performed by others.  Griffin has called herself a lapsed Catholic. A lapsed Catholic is still a Catholic. I have not seen that adjective often paired with any other noun, except in a jesting manner. The lapsed Catholic does not reject God as much as he distances himself in some ways from God, or moreso organised practice of the faith, and the community of the faith; and often times he is pushed away by them.

Some years ago, i once heard on folk radio Mother of God. It haunted me immediately, it still does. [click] Griffin's œuvre  is filled with sad songs. Sometimes her singing voice is not clear and distinct, and her voice is not strong; but in this one it is clear.  The song is disjointed, and does not flow directly, the thought wanders, but so do minds. 

Several decades pass; first she is a subadult who protects her siblings from their mother. As soon as she becomes an adult she leaves. Much time passes. She is retired and old from attending to other old people. There is sadness, and melancholic longing. Solace and company is always with the Mother of God.

When I was little I'd stare at her picture
And talk to the mother of God
I swear sometimes I'd see her lips move
Like she was trying to say something to me ... 
... And I'm getting older and odd
I get up every morning with a black cup of coffee
And I talk to the mother of God

In Mary you're covered in roses she is with her Son Jesus, and she sees his Ascension/Departure. And Griffin sees Mary as as the universal Mother, who sees her other sons come, and then depart.

lyric from Moses:

I need Moses
To cross this sea of loneliness
Part this Red River of pain

The song that is hardest to decipher is Wild Old Dog.  [This sentenced replaced an earlier one, i used another search engine, and found a version easier to hear than the album's. (click)]

God is a wild, old dog
Someone left out on the highway

Abandonment, but who is it that abandons? and who is abandoned?  Why would a hound be called God?  Is the dog God?  There are more questions than answers here.

The Hound of Heaven is a longish poem by Francis Thompson. The Hound is God/Jesus chasing, pursuing the soul of man.  Man may want to flee, hide, escape; but God continues after him. God does this from love, love that does not abandon, does not quit. That love is enduring.

USA 250, Parma 200

Small boy bubbling up the side street by St. Charles.

Parma is celebrating 200 years.

Some time ago, Parma accepted the pink flamingo jokes; it did not come right away. It is now a mascot.

There are two flamingo statues mounted in Parma. They are both the second at their locations, previous ones were stolen, and broken. Here the remainder of one is floating.

Don't have an answer. Looks fun. 

Now what i believe should be in every Independence Day Parade: the three guys from the Spirit of  '76 painting, Statue of Liberty (and her friend Lady Justice), Uncle Sam, marching bands, of course if the weather is amiable — dogs and horses, old cars are neat. The weather has been brutal this week, it was not so bad this morning, but i was feeling it, and left early.  I read that Philadelphia, and DC cancelled their parades, but american nazis paraded through Washington DC, after all their boys are in charge.

Normally, comic book heroes don't show up, but this one should.

Because, Liberty is not well. 

Judith de Leeuw. Roubaix France. 4 July 2025.

It is always great to see dogs. This is Nitro, he is 14% German Shepard. Just coming into adulthood. Nitro is happy, and well behaved.

The little fellow is Dallas.

Guessing 1957 Chevy Bel Air.

Guessing 1954 Chevy Bel Air.

A hospital was in the parade, and they sent one of their life flight copters to go back and forth.

 

new temple

 Cleveland (Independence) Ohio Mormon Temple. 30 November 2026.

27 June 2026 during a public open house viewing

The first Mormon Temple is in neighbouring Lake County, Kirtland [click] and built in the 1830s.  The second was in Nauvoo Illinois, built during the 1840s, destroyed by fire 1848, new building 2002. The third is in St. George Utah, built in the 1870s. All four, and this Cleveland one have cupolas. The first was built in the late federal style, and some elements of that style continued in the other three mentioned, and others.

 

Normally Gentiles (non-Mormons) are not permitted in their temples, nor are Mormons without temple recommends; but currently the building is not dedicated, and there is a period of weeks that there is a viewing open to the general public & Mormon visitors from outside the area.

 

From the first foto, it appears that the product that appears stone like is pre-fabricated and slid into place.  In this project pre-fabricated modules were also used. The Mormons are in a period of temple building world wide. [(click) Construction Status:  61 Under Construction, 8 Under Renovation, 105 Announced] Almost simultaneously with Cleveland, San Diego (La Jolla) is having a public viewing of their renovations; nearer: recently Pittsburgh, and soon one in Cincinnati.

 

We went on a Saturday, and the ample parking lot was nearly full.  Additional parking was available at AAA  across the street.  They had a large slew of Mormon volunteers to guide people throughout.  Everyone was required to wear disposable booties. The place was meant to be immaculate. Over all the rooms were furnished like a quality hotel.

 

I came to see the architecture and art.  Mormon paintings of Jesus were plentiful, and large. They were respectful, but slightly bland, and had a factory production aesthetic.  There was a walk in and down baptistry with twelve cast oxen heads on the exterior.  What stood out in quality was one huge chandelier, and some other good light fixtures. Stained glass windows were also numerous, some had a white trillium, the state wildflower, on top. Whatever studio made them, made them well. I asked a couple of the guides. One did not know, and the other just remembered they were from Orem Utah.

Not quite authentic looking.

Columbus visit

Sullivan is a calm seven year old Great Dane in good health & temperment.

I was walking on North High, and these people wanted me to take a foto. They only gestured, and said nothing. 

Deer statue looking at me in a lot over from Columbus Museum of Art.

I have posed a pic of Thurber's unicorn before [click].

on Long Street, "Be part of the Climate Solution" 

Mandi Caskey. She Moves with Color. Columbus. 2026. 

Brian Clemons had the original sideways Mona Lisa [click] nearby, it has been decided that it can not be saved. I have read it was the first Columbus popular mural that inspired others to take up the brush.

fatalistic license

Catholische St. Marien Schule 1865.  German Village Columbus

2026 Miscellany #10

♩ I hear the train a comin' 
It's rolling round the bend...♩  

First glimpse of Nickel Plate's 765 coming through the trees. This locomotive has made nearly visits to run through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Its home base is Fort Wayne Indiana. Many people come out to see steam locomotives on the go. In Ohio, this summer this appearance was overshadowed by the first Ohio travel of Union Pacific's Big Boy 4014. I saw it in Lorain, and i may see it on its way back west in July.

♩ If you miss the train I'm on
You will know that I am gone
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles...♩ 

1954 Ford Crestline

school on the campus of St. John the Baptist Basilica Canton Ohio

bridge over Interstate 77, Canton

a retaining wall in the flats of Cuyahoga River Cleveland