photographs of abandoned places #16a (apse)

The parish of the Nativity of Mary Cleveland existed from 1903 to 1993. They had a beautiful church built in 1925, it was sold, and has been abandoned and vandalised and parts of it are in collapse. Here is a foto taken two days ago. The apse (half dome) above the sanctuary of the Nativity of the BVM has deteriorated. This formalised scene of our family in heaven has had many variations as a group portrait. I used a flash, but that light was insufficient, and i was there at high noon on an overcast winter day. On the far right, we have some canvas (or decal) falling; next to that there are St. Jean Vianney, and the then newly recognised St. Pius X (canonised 1954). I wonder who the artist(s) was. Romeo Celleghin did much work in the area, exactly in line on the next street there was St. Joseph Greek Catholic 1933 had some similar work. Holy Trinity Lorain Celleghin did work, and the angels in the choir loft look very similar to those here, as does the apse.

Here is the apse from Holy Trinity Lorain. Both were Slovak parishes with churches having laid cornerstones in 1925. This picture i took before the church's closing (and the parish's eviction) eight years ago. [click] This was Romeo Celleghin's best work. I do not know the dates* of the paintings.
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*postscriptum 24 January 2018:  I have been informed, the mural at Nativity BVM was painted during a remodeling in 1958, and the apse mural was painted over an existing mural, which would explain the ghost images of heads and nimbuses.

photographs of abandoned places #16

  Nativity BVM twenty five years later

Nativity of Mary was a Slovak parish in Cleveland from 1903 to 1993. The buildings were sold (to what i surmise was an independent congregation that wanted a real church building and did not have one). Sometime, thereafter it was abandoned, and the scrappers have made off with everything they could get cash for quick. Parts of the church have collapsed.  Here is a picture of the church on 6 June 2015, whether it was active then i do not know. 

To-day. If  you notice there are no door handles. A thorough mining of all copper and brass has been conducted. I did not know the church was open for urban exploration, until a few days ago. Thanks, a tip of the chapeau, to Glenn Petranek. Coming into the ruins of the church was saddening. This was a beautiful church. It is within the realm of possibility that this building will collapse soon, or be demolished. Here is a bene nota, within 25 years of a Catholic church being sold to a storefront, start up congregation, do not be surprised for the property value to be zero.  

Here is the tub for the electrical panel. The breakers and wire are gone. To the right you can see a mural.  Saints Cyril and Methodius the Holy Brothers of Thessalonika, the Apostles to the Slavs, the bringers of Christianity and literacy to half the nations in Europe. A number of Slovak churches especially remember these two saints. 

 Our Lady of Fatima 1917, one of several Marian images on the ceiling

 Saint Elizabeth, cousin to the Virgin Mary

Book on floor, opened to this page. Mostly hymnals on the floor, none in the pews.

  stuffed Mickey Mouse on a ledge

 metal on the cupola missing

I found so many images worth saving. It was 17 degrees Fahrenheit and overcast. The first few fotos were taken in the cloud of my frozen breath. I would like to go back for more shots. These ruins were created in a few years. The near by churches of St. Joseph, and St. Catharine are empty lots. The nearby church of St. Lawrence has been sold by Lennon, the former bishop. The last time i drove by there, the outside appearance had also deteriorated. Of the many churches recently sold, i see more ruins.

rip and read

Y'no, Johnny Carson used to begin his show joking about the news of the day. On several programmes he would remark on how easy it was. There used to be teletype machines in newsrooms, which would constantly print out incoming messages. Johnny would say, "sometimes it's just just rip and read". The jokes did not need to be framed, crafted, thought about, or anything; it was just "rip and read". He also would call some things "comedy gold".

 Don the Con just carries on.

Community Christmas Carol Sing

from E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Center University of Akron, the 38th annual Akron Tuba Christmas conducted by Tucker Jolly, with many tubas not seen on the left and right beyond

2017 Miscellany #12

During a City Music concert at St. Stanislaus, they played Corigliano work, the composer was in attendance. It was fascinating observing the tubist muting and unmuting his horn.

 Brecksville Metropark, a redcoat on a tent. Welsh Fusileer officer re-enactor.

Presidential Quotes

Last July in Cleveland, the quadrennial Republican National Convention descended upon Cleveland. A fenced off vacant property between the West Side Market, and the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge had quotes of several presidents and M.L. King Jr. printed on banners. They have returned, with two of an additional one.

 George Washington also had a greyhound, his name was Cornwallis.

Truman also supposedly said, but it first appeared in a stage play,“If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”.

2017 Miscellany #11

Great Blue Heron, east branch Rocky River O.

8.30 am Sunday morning, 3 December Wallace Lake Berea O.

 

 in small reading garden, Lee Road Branch Cleveland Heights Library

 black ice cream with charcoal

2017 Miscellany #10

pulpit Saint Colman Cleveland

after vespers Saint Stanislaus Cleveland

homophone strikes again

 

Brookside Metropark, 24th November 2017

phragmites, an invasive (successful) species in soggy ground, Brookside Metropark

vegan billboard Cleveland (1 of 8 variants)

new mural on East 105

Gary Williams has painted his second mural on E. 105th in Glenville Cleveland. His first was Our Lives Matter [click].  (from left to right are portrayed:  Maya Angelou, President Barack Obama,  boy reading book, Tupac Shakur)

I am not sure whether the final paint strokes have been made. It is especially good to see a portrait of President Obama, considering what America has now.

Who would rather be a liberal?

To-day is the 22nd of November, on that day 1963, a man with a mail order rifle assassinated John Kennedy in Dallas. Yesterday, Donald Trump said he prefers a sexual predator of teen age girls as senator, over a liberal. This is what John Kennedy wrote:  

“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”  ― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

Does a bird have a chance?

 

Before i entered high school (grade 9), we went to the school to get our summer reading books; which was a good idea, they were to be part of that year's English class. It was a good idea, for to give us an opportunity to get the reading done in the possible leisure of summer, so that we would not be pressed for study time competition with the the other classes during the academic year. One of the books was, To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel was printed in 1960. It won a Pulitzer Prize. In 1962 it became a movie, and Gregory Peck played Atticus Finch (see foto), which won him the best actor Oscar. The book is objected to to-day to be read in schools, mostly in the South. The book makes white southerners "uncomfortable". Atticus is assigned to defend an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman. The man is found guilty.

The story takes place in the early 1930s, a time of economic depression, in Alabama. The story focuses on social injustice based on racial hatred of negroes, and an honorable man (Finch). The character of the character of Atticus Finch is so good, that he is an impetus for people to become lawyers (well a certain type of lawyer).

In 1963, four Ku Klux clansmen dynamited a black church, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama. Four girls were killed, and more than twenty people injured. One killer was tried and convicted in 1977. 

In 1997, Bill Clinton nominated Doug Jones [not the relief pitcher] for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. In 2000 Jones was deputised to be able to try the two living klansmen bombers. They were found guilty.

Doug Jones is the Democratic candidate for United States senator for Alabama. The election is next month. The Republican candidate is former judge Roy Moore. Roy Moore has been twice removed from Alabama's supreme court. Campaigning for senator, Moore pulled out and waived a snub nose revolver. It has come to light, that Moore has had a penchant for under age teen age girls. He had been banned from the Gadsen Mall for such behaviour. Alabama is now an overwhelming Republican state. Very few white people in Alabama vote for Democrats. A majority of these voters claim to be evangelical christians, and Moore has campaigned (and made money) on his stated moral foundations. Recently, more than fifty such clergymen have signed a letter of support for Roy Moore. 

Judas kiss

Well, i continued my sporadic tour of stained glass. It became a sunny afternoon. I have read, Douglas Phillips *1922,1995†, a local artist had designed eight large windows (triple lights of three sections each, and a overlapping header) for Lakewood Presbyterian. The church is security conscious, i was closely supervised. In the bottom right section was this Judas kiss. Other than the Last Supper, there are not many depictions of Judas on glass in the area.

100 years of bolshevism

I have been writing fewer political comments, and more foto celebrations. Part of the reason is the horrible, but simple politics, here—Trump is dangerous moron, and his party is a criminal cult, and those iterations are daily evident; and i can photograph events i enjoy.

To-day, it has been an hundred years since the October [the Russians were still using the Julian calendar] Revolution began. Lenin took St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in a Bolshevik coup. From then till 1991 Revolution Day was celebrated, since then only nostalgic communists celebrated. With Bolshevism, the civil wars began, and as in the United States the political ramifications have not been settled. Bolshevik communism is dead, but its methods of deceit, and heritage of complete social and political power are still appreciated and emulated by others.

St. Emeric

 

The last Cleveland church/parish to have its Homecoming Mass was St. Emeric. That was on the 4th of November 2012. The last Cleveland Mass Mob was at St. Emeric 13th November 2016. To-day, the 5th of November is St. Emeric Day, the patronal feast of the parish. That was celebrated to-day, as was the five years of re-opening.

Day of the Dreich

These four fotos are cropped. I could not isolate the subjects. Other good candidates were in motion, and the shutter speed was too slow with the overcast clouds.

There is a fellow who has a facebook journal of Faces of Lakewood. It turned out the most interesting part of Saturday's festival was the painted faces of people. Good fotos were not easy to get. It was tight quarters (read below), and it was hard to get the clear still shot. I saw this couple leaving heir car, and went toward them, and got one good (cropped) picture. We began talking greyhounds, i had not realised (until my nephew jogged my memory) that we talked last year. They have a brindle greyhound, who came last year.

Well, before the year started, i took a calendar of the coming year and started to write in events. Some of which were photo opportunities. Many of these we went to as a crew, my nephew, our hounds, and me. The hounds travel well, and sometimes are swarmed, and we are pelted with questions. Usually taking pictures comes to a halt. The hounds, especially Captain, hate cacophony, and that usually involves percussion. Gunshots, cannon, and fireworks are a no-no, and stationary drumlines also. The last planned outdoor event was Dia de Muertos at the old Romanian church belonging to Cleveland Public Theater. When it started Saturday, it began with rain. With the cold rain near freezing, and with a little wind it was worse. The day was drab, and dark, even with the drizzle ended it was dreich. It was the first day of the season that the hounds wore coats, and they shivered.

The campus is too compact. The former parish hall, grass yard, church, and connecting cement (now mostly new, with new church steps made walking easier and safer) are cramped for this event. The weather made people stay inside longer. A couple had family and friends in the church renew wedding vows, which was unfortunate (read: stupid) timing.

The parade did not photograph well at all. It was not black and white, it was gray. We were at a spot away from the congestion nearer West 65th, and still that bane of other photographers was not avoided. Too many act as if they were the only spectator/photographer, with no regard in blocking the sightline of others (often this is getting in front of you, and some do this progressively, and the telephones with foto lenses make matters worse. Police had people register to parade, i can not say march, because they just walked awkwardly.

This hearse approaching the staging area, before the parade.