Edythe Bates Old Chapel, Festival Hill

Another look at the Edythe Bates Old Chapel as promised for Tom's Tuesday Treasures and Mersad's Through My Lens:

The Chapel was moved from nearby La Grange Texas after it was set to be destroyed

The entrance to the Chapel grounds, flanked by two lovely fountains....

The interior of the beautifully restored church, featuring the Henry Erben pipe organ

The scene of many weddings, events and small concerts
 

To learn more about the Edythe Bates Old Chapel and the Henry Erben Organ, click HERE.
Please enjoy this video of Festival Hill featuring the 1835 Henry Erben organ...

For Friday My Town Shootout with Mersad, Prominent Places of Worship in Tucson.  And...this works well for my Fives also.  Just connecting to Willy Nilly with Tanya and Cath's  Fun Friday Favorites though this week....

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4.   I cannot do this post without including San Xavier del Bac Mission, which is still an active cathedral.  We had planned to visit this past week (one last time) and didn't make it so I have as yet to get the photos I want to share.  So, breaking the rules of My Town Shootout, I am including one taken by Geraldine Clark, giving her full credit.  I promise to get my own shots soon and do an entire post on this gorgeous place....

 

San Xavier...the White Dove of the Desert

 

5.  And for a final one of my five, just like to mention it looks like we may be able to move by the end of August instead of the Fall, and I am excited about that...I will miss all this, no doubt.  But on to a new world for us, new experiences, and new sights and sounds.  Just have a whole house to pack in the next five months!  Yikes! :-)  My Chronic Fatigue and back issues make me work slowly, but I will get it done!

 

 



 

 





Tuesday Treasures-Tumacacori

Mission San Jose de Tumacacori (Too-ma-Cah-corri) church is breath-taking.  It is often overlooked by visitors to S Arizona and Mission San Xavier del Bac is always on the itinerary.  Oh, yes, San Xavier is definitely a MUST-see, and I will post about it on another day.  But today...share some of these views of beautiful Tumacacori (present church built in the early 1800s) for Tom's Tuesday Treasures, for Mersad's Through My Lens and joining in also with Monica's Trees & Bushes as well.

Learn more about this beautiful Mission HERE

A pear tree on the grounds.

A tree in the cemetery

 

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church

This church captured my attention as we drove by one day.  We had never been down that stretch of road before so had never seen the church.  I went back a few days later to get pictures.  This beautiful church is my offering for this weeks InSPIREd Sunday.  Thanks Beth & Sally for this great meme!

For Memorial Day I want to remind everyone to honor our fallen veterans, even if only in your heart tomorrow...their sacrifices are great because they gave all they had to give.  God bless their families, and may this country always be a God fearing, free nation!

Mathews County

A few more of my archived photos, joining in with Roan's Rubbish Tuesday, and Denise and Roger's ABC Wednesday.  (starting with round 16 with the letter A...a good time to join in!)  Hope you enjoy these, and join in with these wonderful memes as well.

A is for ancestors....

Mathews County, Va is my husband's family's home of "origins"...they actually came over the big pond into Delaware and Maryland from Ireland then moved down onto the Eastern Shore of Virginia to a little place called Bird's Nest before moving over to the mainland to Mathews County.  I'll likely do a post about Bird's Nest and the Eastern Shore at some point.  But, Mathews County and the town of Mathews is a quaint spot in Virginia, filled with charm and delightful boating history.  It's world revolves around the Piankatank River.  My husband's grandfather was a boatbuilder and farmer, making deadrise oyster boats by hand.  As a boy and teen my  husband's Dad earned spending money by selling softshell crabs to restaurants.  They went to Donk's Theatre to see shows and enjoy movies when they could. The theatre was still there and still open when Russell and I drove back to Mathews for a trip down memory lane with his Dad back in the late 90s.

Russell's Dad as a child

One of many churches in the area, reflecting a beautiful and interesting architecture...

St. Ann's Catholic Church

In Tubac, AZ is St. Ann's, built in 1929.  It was however built on the foundations of the 1767 Santa Gertrudis de Tubac which in its turn had replaced the original church built there by Father Kino and destroyed in the uprising of the Tohono O'Odham which largely razed Tubac itself.

We were there right before dusk and did not go in, though I understand it it usually open.

This flikr photo shows the interior.

The tile street sign features the church.

Joining InSPIREd Sunday with thanks to Beth and Sally!

My Friday Five and InSPIREd Sunday

Joining in with Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five. Thanks Tanya for this fun meme!

1. For InSPIRED Sunday I would like to share the mission at Old Tucson.  This is not the original building because that one was destroyed by fire.  It is also not really a real church, but one built for use in many movies filmed at Old Tucson Studios.  I did attend a service there once, though, in the old church before it burned...our good friends were married there.  I carried the wedding cake I made for them over Gates Pass and down to Old Tucson.  To see a post about Old Tucson, which is a tourist destination, click HERE.   And here is the church...

2.  I also wanted to say something that relates to the Childcraft books I shared before.  Childcraft were made by World Book Encyclopaedias, and I discovered through your comments that some people had amazing memories of them, but others had never heard of the books.  All I can say is, if you didn't have a set as a child, you were really missing something.  My Great Aunt Lena was a school teacher, and she also sold World Books.  It was through her that we got our set of encyclopaedias and also the Childcraft set.  There was something else, and it was probably a gift for buying the set, but I remember this poster with great fondness .  We had it on one of our bedroom walls for many years and I used to love to look at all the details.  Nothing represents Americana better.

3. Another trip down memory lane this week was seeing Kristin of Texas's (onceuponaramblingblog HERE) post about The International Festival Institute (called Festival Hill).  It is located in Round Top, Texas, and it was where I worked at Administrative Assistant to James Dick for five wonderful years.  A summer musical festival is held there for the upper crust of music students, as well as  monthly concerts during the year, and wonderful forums on arts and history.  Festival Hill is a magical place, and  I have so many amazing memories.  I also miss my many great friends from Round Top.  I have to share this youtube video with you that shows the breath-taking Festival Concert Hall.  Please click on the link....

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnIP_GTVGaI

4. I have been reading The Greek Treasure by Irving Stone.  I read it once before in my early 20s.  I'd almost forgotten what a wonderful writer he was!  I met him once at a book signing where he was kind enough to sign my old copy of The President's Lady instead of the new book he was there to promote.  The Greek Treasure is about Heinrich Schliemann and his young Greek wife, Sophia who excavated and discovered the real Troy of Homer, and found Priam's treasure.  It has been a thrill to live in that world again, and discover Troy along with them...

Heinrich Schliemann was born on January 6th, 1822 as son of a Protestant minister in Neubukow / Mecklenburg (Germany). He described his life in the autobiography »Heinrich Schliemann's Selbstbiographie« (Autobiography of Heinrich Schliemann). On December 26th, 1890 he died after an ear surgery in Naples.
In 1870 he married the 18 year old Greek girl Sophia Engastromenos. On the photo above she wears the famous gold jewelry from the so-called »Treasure of Priam«, which Heinrich Schliemann had discovered in Troy.
The couple had two children, Andromache (1871-1962) and Agamemnon (1878-1954).

My book reviews are generally found on my sidebar but I reserved this one for my Friday Five.

5. My fifth random is to share some of the wonderful sky views of S Arizona I have taken photos of this month.  Our cloudless blue skies have been slow in arriving this season.  We even had a freak Autumn thunder storm two weeks ago:

The Santa Catalina mountains from my house

Tumacacori

I have been wanting to go to this old mission since before we even moved here.  We finally got to see it a few weekends ago.  Built in 1691 by Father Kino (who also built San Xavier Mission, see it HERE) for the Tohono O'Odham people, this lovely little chapel is located near the Patagonia Mountains and the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona.  I will be linking with InSPIRED Sunday, and also Bird d'Pot and Wild Bird Wednesday with this post.  It is a stunningly beautiful mission with a rich history and if you want to know more, go HERE.

The Visitor Center at the Mission.

Tumacacori Mission pronounced (Too-muh-kä'-ko-ree)

No one knows what Tumacacori means...it was a Tohono O'Odham word translated into Spanish for Father Kino when he asked the native peoples what the name of the place was.  No one is sure what was actually being said.

The interior took my breath away.  A recording of male voices, like one would hear in a Catholic church, was softly coming from above as we entered.  The photo below shows how the mission would have looked in it's earlier days, but I loved the "ruins."

A lovely little swallow was living in the walls of the inside of the mission.  I am having a little trouble with the id.  It looks more like a cave swallow than a barn swallow to me. (Maybe a bank swallow?) Update:  Thanks to Phil Slade for indicating this is a cave swallow.

Once stuccoed adobe brick...slowly deteriorating.

There was a pear tree with fruit on it in the gardens behind the Visitor Center. We had arrived almost at closing but the Ranger allowed us to have a look around.  We were so grateful for the time we had.  It was a moving experience.

 

The Gardens behind the Visitor Center.

A nice touch for the bird lovers.