Xmas in the market

A cheerful bunch on their way to work.  The Xmas spirit in the market does make you feel rather festive.  

Christmas Is A Time For Giving

Look carefully at the sign in the window. The contrast is poor but check it out. It's not really a product of the times. In fact, it's very old. See Matthew 26:11. It was about 6F/-14.5C when I took the picture.

Found on Cherokee at Jefferson.         

Xmas Markets

We are lucky to be enjoying our Xmas markets here in London.  Of course we deplore the actions of an individual in Berlin and offer our condolences and sympathies to the families affected.  Whatever the crazies do we must not let this create a world of hate and vilification towards entire communities.

Okay, So Those Statues Were Getting Kind Of Dull

And now for something completely different... 

Um, I was getting tired of all those wet bronze heads, too. (Ever notice that Americans say "um" and the Brits say "er" when trying to fill in some vocal space?) Maybe every couple of years, when I don't have an idea in my head, I go by this hard-to-find place in the southeast corner of Forest Park. A major highway borders it to the south and a main boulevard to the east, with tall, steep berms down to the park itself. You can't get there from here.

Round a bend in a bike/running trail and you come upon T. Rex and a triceratops (not shown). At least they lived at about the same time (68 - 66 million years ago) in what is now North America. So you could have, in theory, seen them in a stare-down in a parking lot of what is now the Washington University medical center up the hill. None of their surgeons could have repaired the damage. 

      

Old stones stand strong

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In the previous post we saw the dazzling sunlight inside the upstairs chapel here at the monastic Community of Grandchamp.
But here at the entrance to l'Arche, on the ground floor,

where the nuns hang their warm capes before going upstairs to pray,

you can still see the original stones of the wall, from back sometime in the 1700s!

Just inside the door is a little corner with little boxes for writing your prayer requests (intentions), so that the sisters will pray for the person or situation you mention in one of the four daily offices.
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