Here’s a photo of the crucifix Nora bought me for Christmas. It was made in Medjugorje.
While you can see some of the detail from the photo, it still doesn’t do justice.
This is not a lightweight piece of jewelry. It is rather heavy. The cord necklace works much better than a gold chain, considering the weight and size of the crucifix.
This was by far, my favorite Christmas present this year.

This has been a busy day. I went through all of the photos taken on Saturday. I added a few more Basilica (DC) photos to the series that is currently posting. When we were having breakfast there, I noticed some outstanding stained glass. I grabbed my camera and took about five shots. They will be posting at the end of the Basilica series which began on December 26th and will now run until February 22nd.
I also had quite a few photos from the Franciscan Monastery (DC), National Cathedral (DC), Basilica (DC) St. Phillip & James Catholic Church (Baltimore), and Baltimore Basilica to get ready for the internet. It takes quite a bit of time to go through and weed out poor or duplicate shots. Then I have to resize for the blog, along with adjusting the color of each photo. Finally, I must ‘save in web format’ to provide for faster loading.
It took a long time to prepare the various blog entries which will post in the future. In all, I probably did close to 70 blog entries today.
I’ve spent about six – seven hours today working on everything. I’m about finished. I only have to do another shot series on the Baltimore Basilica and I’ll be finished.

Yesterday’s trip to the Franciscan Monastery in Washington, D.C., didn’t go exactly as planned. We left about 5:40 AM in the morning, which should have provided plenty of time to arrive for 7 AM Mass. However, the Baltimore – Washington Parkway was blocked at one point. We jumped off and followed the cars, figuring they knew a short cut how to get down to the next exit to jump back on. We were wrong.
After wasting about 1/2 hour, we got back on track, but didn’t arrive until about 7:30 AM. The Mass was letting out. I took some photos of the grounds and also some inside shots. We left about 7:55 and drove to the Basilica arriving just in time for their 8 AM Mass. Afterwards, we had breakfast at the Basilica, then headed back to the Monastery.
I was able to get some excellent photos of the inside and outside. Along the outside wall are the Stations of the Cross. The light wasn’t that great, but I did manager to get some good photos. Unfortunately, I didn’t record exactly what each station was.
We took a wonderful tour of the Monastery and saw both the upper floor (main church) and the catacombs. The lower level (catacombs) was not well lit and it was difficult to get many photos
The series of 52 photos begin on February 22, 2008 and end on April 13, 2008.
We intend to go back. I need to remember to grab my tripod the next time we go to WV and bring it home. It would have helped on several shots. Also, I need to remember to bring my cane. I think that might also help. My hip, lower back, and left knee were hurting by the time we left. On our next visit I intend to photograph the outside gardens. We will change our schedule and go in the afternoon being there for the 5 PM Saturday Mass.
Also, I neglected to purchase a book about the Monastery that would have helped describe the photos I’m putting on the blog and website. I also need to revisit the Basilica to get their book.
We left D.C. and drove back to Baltimore.
Other entries this week will describe what we then did. We had a very full day.