Greensboro Daily Photo

Lights, Camera, Action.... On Elm Street

Elm Street is the pulse of downtown Greensboro. The above reflection was taken while walking past the Blu Martini Bar. Of course martinis are the featured beverage at the establishment. However, it is also known for music and a light show. The dots of light in the center of the photo are constantly changing color and add such visual interest to the 300 block of Elm.

While we were outside capturing the aggregate of light, the bartender invited us inside to photograph. Somehow, at the end of the photo shoot, this shot with the vehicle zipping past and the reflection of windows, branches, and lights- against a backdrop of cement gray- is the one that won out. It seems to captures the dynamic feeling of this little slice of Elm Street. Can't you almost hear the photo? 

Cheers dear readers, may you have a great weekend. For the moms out there, Happy Mother's Day. Here's a virtual toast to you! We're sharing this post with Weekend Reflections where mirror images and playing around with light are de rigueur.........

St. Benedict's Catholic Church

St. Patrick's Day is a great day for Catholics. We couldn't help but think of St. Patrick* as we drove around Elm Street and then past St. Benedict's Catholic Church on West Smith Street. In the photo above, we see the Elm Street side of the church. The doors looked especially colorful in the bright sun. When we photographed the church three years ago, the stained glass window above the doors was not in place (see here). The good news is that the beautiful window was replaced. The bad news is that the church's website doesn't appear to be active any longer. If you are interested in this church's history, see our link above. Tracing it's roots to 1877, St. Benedict's is one of the oldest catholic churches in the Diocese of Charlotte. 

This is our weekly religious piece. Don't forget to go to the lake at Country Park early morning if you want to take part in the church service with the reenacters of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The battle will be reenacted at 2pm. 

*Was St. Patrick Catholic? Irish? If you are interested, read more here.

October 1: Mystery Objects at City Daily Photo Sites

Today's first-of-the-month theme for the city daily photo community is "mystery object." Our mystery object was found on Elm Street last week. It is a photo gliceé,  submerged under water in what looks like a gallon pickle jar; reminiscent of what you would see at the house of horrors at a carnival. This entrapped photo has been underwater since July 2009 for the purpose of showing the archival qualities of the gliceé process.

William Heroy is the Greensboro photographer and restoration specialist who has this display in his store front downtown. We originally took the photo for Skywatch Friday as that square of blue hovering at the top is actually a slice of sky. Since Friday is over, but there IS a reflection, we get to double dip (pun intended) and also offer this "mystery object" up for Weekend Reflections. See what we meant when we said the memes can do wonders for keeping your perspective fresh. Had we not been on the lookout for a Skywatch/Weekend Reflection/City Daily Photo themed photo, the above scene would have passed us by. Maybe Mr. Heroy will get a FLOOD of requests for this technique for Halloween.

If you want more of the City Daily Photo theme.... Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Happy Easter!

According to their website, the stained glass windows at the West Market Street United Methodist Church (WMSUMC) were purchased at the Columbian Exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois in 1893. The windows were donated to the church as memorials. From this view of the stained glass windows at the WMSUMC, it is easy to reflect on the glory of the season. Christians, worldwide, are celebrating Easter today. Easter is a time of hope, rebirth, renewal, and reflection. We hope you have are in the position to nurture your spiritual self today as well as finding time to enjoy time with family.

We have featured WMSUMC before, as well as the Stations of the Cross related to Christ's life. If you really love stained glass, you might want to read about other stained glass pieces from the 1893 Fair, commemorating the 400th year of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the new world, by seeing more stained glass here and here. 

If you can't get out to an Easter Service today, this video is the next best thing to being there. Unfortunately, we don't have one from Greensboro but this one from Mt. Olive UMC, Arlington, VA is a great representation of the traditions of the holiday. Pay special attention to how the church transforms and oh, the music............ Feel free to open your windows and sing along!

  

 

Richard Ritter's Glass @ Green Hill

Richard Ritter, a North Carolinian originally from Michigan, has been a glass artist since 1968. Here we see two of his fabulous pieces on display at the Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, where his glass will be on display until May 9th (link). The pieces in the photo are part of his floral core series. They remind us of pearls emerging from oysters with a touch of Italian cane glass. If you appreciate glass art, this exhibit is a must-see. Green Hill even has a video set up so that you can learn more about Ritter's creative process.

Thanks to Skywatch Friday, we snapped the above photo from this angle, ever mindful to show a slice of the sky-- and to situate the photo in Greensboro! The building in the background is downtown on Elm Street.

 

Where is Spring?

The S.H. Kress & Company building was constructed in downtown Greensboro in 1930 and was a department store for 40 years.  The chain's founder Samuel Kress took pride in his buildings and tried to make them architectural gifts to the communities in which they were built. Our Kress building is no exception. The art deco architecture sparkles today. While the department store is long gone, the building houses a night club on one side and an event center on the other. Information about the architecture can be found here and information about the event center, known as Kress Terrace, here.

Today's post does not feature the building but the brilliant art display in the front window. After the wintry days we've had lately, we just fell in love with the BURST of color and with the message, Where is Spring? Here is a display in the same window that we shared last year. Thank you Kress Terrace for these arranging these wonderful works of community art. Finally, we're sharing this photo with the great group of photographers at Weekend Reflection.

 

Gran Poder

Just down from Fanta City-- yesterday's GDP post-- at 4516 West Market Street, you will find the store "La Vaca Ramona." This grocery store caters to the large Hispanic population in Greensboro. For today's Sacred Sunday, we are featuring a few of the prayer candles sold at La Vaca Ramona. Here, we see various depictions of Christ and, to the left, San Juan Diego. In Mexican Catholicism, San Juan Diego was a Mexican who had a Marian apparition in 1531. Recently, in 2002, San Juan Diego became the first indigenous American saint to be canonized by the Catholic Church. In a different (unseen) shelf at La Vaca Ramona, you will find the religious candles with women on them (e.g., The Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadaloupe, Santa Barbara). 

For Greensboro's Hispanic Catholics, many of whom are thousands of miles from home, $1.69 must seem like a small price to pay for the comfort and culturally relevant tradition of lighting a prayer candle. 

 

iPod, You Pod, We All Pod

The Apple Computer Store at Friendly Center is quite the destination. People of all ages love to hang out here. For teens, no trip to Friendly Center is complete without going to the Apple Store, taking your picture, and showing your Facebook world who is hanging out with whom. Since February 2009, we in Greensboro no longer need to drive to Southpoint Mall in Durham to buy, try out, and learn about 21st century technology.

Technology has the power to bring us together and to pull us apart. Here's to our knowing when to use these rainbow gizmos and when to  communicate the old fashioned way-- by knocking on doors for a good dose of person-to-person. Today, we're sharing this photo with the Weekend Reflection Group.

Friendly Park Pool and Tennis: July 4th Swim for Cancer Event

Here we see a picture of the Fourth of July Celebration at Friendly Park Pool, a big day for their Swim-for-Cancer fundraising. Kids were bouncing around on the inflatables, supporting a good cause. As we approached the pool, we noticed a lot of Friendly Frogs walking around with pink streaks in their hair. Carrie Drees of Orrell Design volunteered her time and supplies to pink-streak hair for a small donation to Swim-for-Cancer. This was only one of many local businesses donating time and materials for the cause. We will find out at the annual City Swim Meet, which of the area club teams raised the most money for Swim-for-Cancer. 

City Meet, by the way, is held today through Saturday at Lindley Pool. We cannot say enough about the wonderful swim programs at our local community pools. Children have fun with their respective team's events; they learn to swim competitively;  they learn to fundraise for good causes; and they get plenty of great exercise. Boy do they get plenty of exercise! Backstyle, breast stroke, butterfly, free, IM, relays......

This is our contribution to Theme Thursday: Celebration! Hope you enjoyed it!

Stained Glass at St. Paul's Catholic Church

St. Paul's Catholic Church is the visual version of surround sound. Technicolor abounds.  Here, is an example of four of the many stained glass windows on the rounded exterior walls. People may question the architect when viewing the exterior of the church. However, on the inside, the sanctuary is breathtaking. As you can see from the above windows, the one on the left is more washed out, indicating that the sun is beaming directly through that window and it has already passed the other three all of which seem darker.

Easter Sunday: Christ's Blessing

Happy Easter! Today, we present this ecclesiastical window, Christ's Blessing, which was installed in the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro circa 1903. According to the sign, posted beside the window, "(t)he theme for this beautiful Tiffany-style window comes from the Gospel verse, 'Let the little children come unto me... for such is the kingdom of heaven.' It was sponsored by members of the Scales family in memory of their mother Effie and father Junius, who was a prominent 19th-century Greensboro attorney and state legislator."  Today, the window is housed on the property of the original First Presbyterian Church which is now part of the Greensboro Historical Museum.

             

Stained Glass Window at Greek Orthodox Church

The stained glass window is found at the entrance of the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church at 800 Westridge Road.  Greensboro isn't filled with stained glass like the European cities; however, we do have some beauties like the one above and will feature other examples in upcoming posts.  Today crept up on us and we didn't get back to learn more about the window. If you attend this church and know the history of this window, please share the information in a comment below. From an artistic point of view, we love the way the colors of the window reflect onto the brass name plates on the wooden plaque on the left. The scene appears to be God handing Jesus to Mary (Theotokos).

If your church has stained glass windows and you need replacement pieces or you are a crafter looking for sheets of stained glass, we suggest contacting Blenko Glass Company in nearby West Virginia. Blenko has a fascinating process for hand blowing sheet glass in a process that has not changed for over 100 years. 

              

West Virginia Glass Pears in North Carolina

Today's theme for City Daily Photo is GLASS. At Greensboro Daily Photo, we love to photograph glass, so this photo is entered in the CDP theme day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants. The first of these  three pears was made by Rainbow Glass in West Virginia. The other two are from WV but do not have stickers.

While North Carolina is not known for glass blowing, we are famous  for the selling of glass treasures on the secondary market. Replacements, Ltd. located at 1089 Knox Road, in Greensboro, is known worldwide for its offering of glassware and china, old and new. With an inventory of 13 million pieces, likely Replacements has glass like these pears available for sale! 

              

Glass Valentine Hearts at Ellenburg & Shaffer

Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you have someone special this Valentine's Day and that you are able to enjoy the day together. To be sure, we'll be out looking for interesting pictures to share with you later in the month. Here we see some glass hearts hanging in the window at Ellenburg & Shaffer Glass Art Studio at 334 South Elm Street. For the glass collector on your list, Ellenburg & Shaffer has fabulous stained glass for sale. It is a treat to visit their store (and the other places downtown on Elm Street) even if you just want to have a look.

            

West Virginia Glass Vignette for Valentine's Day

Vintage West Virginia glass is widely available in Greensboro's antique stores. Most of the Fenton hobnail pieces in the photo are from Thrill of the Hunt (3122 Battleground Ave #B). For each holiday, we decorate our entrance hallway with a collection of vintage glass and arts and crafts items. We made the heart stopper and LOVE embellishment from polymer clay to fit with the Valentine's Day theme. Do you enjoy making holiday vignettes? Do you like antique West Virginia glass? Happy Valentine's Day, tomorrow. We hope you plan something special.