Monday Mystery Tour, 03/14/2011

Saints and Churches On Parade

Beautiful church on the edge of town, Cuchillo, NM

Last December, I got involved with a blog exercise that had participants doing twelve days of Saintly stories and photographs which culminated with the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th. This project was the brainstorm of my good friend Rebecca of the recuerda mi corazon blog.

Before I jumped into that project, I had never realized how many photographs I had taken of religious statues, churches and objects. On my last trip down to New Mexico and through Arizona to California, I took some photos as well.

When I got home and transferred all my stuff to iPhoto on my Mac, I found more Saint Shots and Chuches I had seen and photographed from our travels. I’d like to share them with you, mostly from a standpoint of art, but take whatever you might find interesting, if anything, and do with it what you need to.

This ramshackle dwelling sits immediately to the left of the beautiful church above in Cuchillo, NM

Personally, I don’t know what I find so interesting and why I am drawn to them, but I am. And when I see a photo op, I stop and snap away. I did no editing on any of these. All are right out of the camera, my Nikon Coolpix S8000.

I was in El Paso and visited a friend that I have shared blog adventures with for years. Her name is Border Explorer and she and her husband do good works for so many people in the border villages near El Paso, TX in Winter and back home in Iowa in Summer. We attended a Peace Vigil, held every Friday at Noon in downtown El Paso, TX.

Peace Vigil in downtown El Paso, TX
Border Explorer and Mrs. Spadoman 3rd & 4th from the left

It was quite an honor to meet old friends I’ve never met before. Above is a photo from the Peace Vigil of Mrs. Spadoman with Border Explorer and others gathering for peace. On the walk from our parking place to the Peace Vigil site, I spotted this in town church and snapped a couple of shots.

Immaculate Conception Church, El Paso, TX
I find it a shame that a church has to put wrought iron gates on it's windows

Statue of Our Lady above the doorway of the Rectory
Immaculate Conception Church, El Paso, TX

I’d spend some of my time wandering the desert areas near and around Truth Or Consequences. North of town is a series of roads that travel to some small old, mining towns. Cuchillo, not far from T or C, was somewhat run down overall, but the church stood clean and white, pure, along the road near the South end of town as you can see in the first two photographs of this post..

Then the shot of Jesus on the Crucifix affixed to the power pole in the middle of town. Probably a reminder of someone who had died there in some sort of accident.

Shrine posted high up on a telephone pole, T or C, NM

While traveling towards Arizona, we stopped in Silver City, NM. On our way was Santa Rita, a small suburb, if you will, where a huge open pit copper mine sits. On a rural highway crossroads was this Grotto and Veterans Memorial that used Our Lady of Santa Rita, adorned with red roses, as their guiding light.

Santa Rita Veterans Memorial, Santa Rita, NM

Santa Rita amidst bright red roses

In Arizona, we traveled Southwest from Prescott, where we had met other blog friends, Rebecca of recuerda mi corazon and Magical Mystery Teacher of the blog by the same name, and used a two lane highway through the small town of Yarnell. There was a sign for a Saint Joseph Shrine. That’s my namesake, I couldn’t avoid taking a look. There were a few statues there. The white alabaster St. Joseph, holding the Christ Child, and the Last Supper Table with only one guest. Maybe Mrs. Spadoman was just early showing up for dinner that day.

Saint Joseph at Shrine in Yarnell, AZ

Mrs. Spadoman had his ear when she arrived early for supper

So you see, for some reason I seem to like these images. To me, they make good photography subjects. I do snap photos of other things like Shadow Shots for a meme I’m involved in and the occasional train. I like trains, but one special blogger friend and her mate really like 'em. They make me think I really should stop and take some pictures.

So, I’ll leave you with this short one minute YouTube of a long straight flat stretch of US Highway 60 through the plains, East of Amarillo, TX.

This was on our way home. We stayed on the two lane and this particular train and I switched places, one ahead of the other, for a couple of hours. I’d go through a small town and come out behind the train. Then, I’d catch it and pass, only to fall behind again at the next town.

What I marveled at was the fact that this monster had eight locomotives pulling strong. It was traveling at 70 miles per hour. Try to listen past the wind noise for the crossing warning whistle near the end of the short video.

I was away from home for over six weeks. I have more photos to share and stories to tell, including some restaurant and coffee shop reviews. Stay Tuned.

Peace to all, and prayers sent to those suffering in Japan and surrounding areas from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. Our hearts go out to those struggling with grief and loss.