Happy Birthday Alana! The morning began with a rare view of a double rainbow, rare because large raindrops along with a low sun are much more common in the afternoon than morning. Anne went to Mass at St. Theresa of Avila in Anacostia, the church we'd visited on Fat Tuesday. The liturgical dance was powerful, the congregation very welcoming.
After a late pancake breakfast, we headed to Chinatown to see the New Year's festivities. We wore red clothes to ward off evil spirits/bring auspicious good luck. The weather was cold and very windy. The fireworks, which we missed as we were supping in a warm Irish bar, were supposed to be lit from a crane but had to be lowered because of the wind and blew away. The best part of the parade were the lion dancers which Alana is trying to see a close up of through her camera. Ack and Anne stopped by the Portrait Gallery for a quick tour of the Kathryn Hepburn exhibit on our way home.
On the day before, Saturday, Feb 9, Anne and Ack joined Ryan and Victor for a visit to Tom and Tim's in Baltimore. Our hosts treated us to a tasty lunch and a tour of their wonderfully restored house. On our way to the
Walters Art Museum, we walked through the Bolton Hill neighborhood, past lots of outdoor sculptures by MICA art students (Maryland Institute College of Art, which is just down the block from Tom and Tim). One highlight of the Walters' collections is the "Chamber of Wonders," a Dutch cabinet-of-curiosities room filled with an fabulous collection of disparate treasures. Another highlight is an amazing collection of Chinese vases. I'm not usually excited about vases, but these were wonderful. I think it was a combination of the varieties of vases and how they were displayed - not crowded, in nice cabinets, and in a room that reflected one's home.
After the Walters, we stopped at the
Baltimore Basilica - America's First Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A long name with many badges: a National Shrine, Marian Shrine, National Historic Landmark, and Co-Cathedral of Baltimore.
Thank God Sunday was sunny in DC because Saturday's cloudiness made leaving Puerto Rico even more depressing! What better way to thank God than to join in a United House of Prayer for All People's shout band of praise. The world headquarters for the denomination is just three blocks from our house, and one of their many chapels is on 6th & M. The Sunday service started at 11, I arrived late, and by the time I left at 12:30, things were just warming up. People, both attendees and musicians, trickled in slowly; a grand piano, one trombone and several tambourines were the instruments when I arrived. When I left the number of trombones had grown to five, and a drum kit, a sax, a tuba, and washboard played by a 10-year-old boy had joined the crew at the front of the church. Personal testimonies of the goodness of God were the main part of the service while I was there, each punctuated with vocal music. The instrumentals were more dominant during the start of the preaching (which began just as I left) and were used in particular to praise Jesus and the presiding bishop, Sweet Daddy Madison. To find out more about the style of music that characterizes United House of Prayer services, here's a nice article from Folkstreams that summarizes the four types of music most important in African American Washington D.C.
In the afternoon I drove to Maryland for a different type of prayer service, one much more subdued but just as sincere. I've started to research the Marian apparition in Emmitsburg, MD, which is about an hour north of DC. My second time attending, I got to this service in time for the apparition of Our Lady of Emmitsburg to the visionary, Gianna Talone Sullivan. I'll continue going there for the monthly prayer sessions and to conduct interviews with the gracious people who are willing to tell me their stories.
