The Crystal Cathedral

Some close friends had suggested I not bother visiting the Crystal Cathedral while in Anaheim, but when I realized how close it was to my hotel (a 5 minute walk!) I couldn't pass it up.

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I was impressed. I love clear straight lines and reflections. It was a beautiful warm day (one of the few I didn't need to wear a jacket) and, being a Saturday, the place was almost deserted so I just wandered, never going inside. You can see similar pictures at many sites on the Internet, but perhaps you haven't yet, and anyway, these are special because they're mine!

Above is the central area and below a closer view of the carillon.

Not surprisingly, it was the bell tower which particularly caught my attention, as I imagine it is supposed to do!

I love the way the tower enlarges as you scroll down!

Around the grounds are modern statues of Biblical events, mostly from the life of Jesus but including Moses.

I photographed this representation of the Holy Family from the back because the artist has depicted Jesus in silver (see the hand) which really spoils it for me. Otherwise it, and all the sculptures, are wonderfully life-like.

Jesus inserts himself between the woman "caught in sin" and her accusers.

Jesus receives a repentant sinner.

I don't remember seeing any representations of Jesus on the cross. Interesting.

All in all, very impressive even though I never went inside!

With The Jays In Anaheim

It’s been a roller coaster ride lately with the Blue Jays. We fans got all excited by the 8 home runs our heroes hit last Saturday. And then Sunday! Almost a no-hitter and another great win. Perhaps we should have taken time to consider that in the one game our pitchers gave up 11 runs and in the other our hitters got very few hits and zero home runs. But...”Bring on the Red Sox!”

They came, and, after a day off on Monday, beat us on Tuesday. Wednesday was a special for members of the Fan Club who could attend the home team’s batting practice, so I went along. Batting practice was forgettable to say the least, and the game even worse. Having left home at about 1:30pm, by 8:40 I’d had enough and decided to check out early – something I’ve never done before. If I caught the 9:13 train I could be home before 11. Not far out of Union Station we came to a gentle stop and didn’t move again for almost 4 hours. Evidently we had run over some poor soul.

Thursday was get-away day for the Jays and for me. They played in the afternoon while I was heading for the Buffalo airport. If you had seen me trying to avoid the Toronto-Hamilton traffic, at one point going eastbound on the QEW, and later jockeying from line to line at the Lewiston border crossing, you wouldn’t have given me a chance of catching my flight. But I did. And if you’d been listening to Jerry and Alan describe the futile efforts of the Jays leading up to the bottom of the ninth, down 5-2, you wouldn’t have given them a chance of winning. But they did. And now we are all here in Anaheim and there remains a buzz around the Blue Jays. Will they keep riding the roller coaster, or ...