Grotto of the Redemption

This spring while Larry and I were in Iowa visiting Janice we took a day trip to see the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. It is an incredible achievement of one Catholic Priest that started as a simple promise. In the early 1900's a young priest in Germany was about to be ordained when he was stricken with pneumonia. As he lay there, possibly dying, he made a promise to the Virgin Mary that if he survived, he would build a shrine to her.

He survived...and fulfilled his promise....and then some!

He was sent to a small town in Iowa and enjoyed traveling around the United States. A fairly common activity in those days was to collect gems, crawling inside caves, or finding them in fields, wherever they were available. Father Dobberstein collected all kinds of gems and gorgeous pieces of petrified rock, sending them home, by rail or by freight, whatever way was available. In 1912 he began his shrine to the Virgin Mary. And when that was done, he kept going!

This is a tiny corner of a large wall covered in petrified rock.

The grotto was built to resemble caves in a mountain side. Each cave depicts an aspect of Christ's life, from his birth to his crucifixion. The entire thing is covered in gems..... $4,000,000.00 (that's millions!) worth of gems, and petrified rock! It is quite a sight to see.

White quartz pieces were used to create the illusion of snow capped mountains. In some places he used the green glass of broken coke bottles to depict flowing mountain streams.

Wandering through the display gives me the illusion of walking the streets of Jerusalem, although I've never been to Jeruslem. Displays were in caves set into the walls.

Rose quartz and other rock minerals and gems cover this stairwell.

The Manger scene is just an example of one of many grottos. The ceiling is mostly petrified rock.

There were several other scenes. The garden of Gethsemane was beautiful. The 2 disciples were tucked into corners, sleeping. Another big focus were the Stations of the Cross.

The Grotto of the Redemption is an unusual tourist attraction, but well-worth the trip. Since there was plenty of room to run, even the kids liked it. Next time you are near West Bend, Iowa, take a few hours to see this one-of-a-kind place.

Trusting Mother Nature

I've been watching our Robin's nest with 4 growing babies in it. The nest is high up, tucked under the floor of our deck, on a rafter. I can keep an eye on it from a basement window, but I can also see into it by peering through the crack in the floor boards of the deck.

This is our third nest this year, but this one turned out to be nerve-wracking! The heat has been terrible, and I couldn't help but worry if the babies could handle it. Each day I saw fuzzy little heads hanging over the edge of the nest, beaks open, panting in the heat. Would they be able to stay cool without the insulation of feathers? Was there any breeze in that little corner the nest is tucked into? I worried about them. It was so tempting to try and set up a fan to move the air around.

But worse than the heat was the fact that whenever I saw Mama feeding the babies, it was clear that 2 heads rose above the rest, and one tiny little head barely cleared the top of the nest. Worst of all, Mama seemed to feed the 2 big ones, and sometimes the third one, but I never saw her feed the tiny one. I was sure I was seeing Mother Nature's survival law at work; Survival of the Fittest. And I hated it. I wished I could find some worms and feed the one that was being ignored!

Jane Goodall is an animal behaviorist well-known for her work with gorillas. I've admired her tenacity as she sat near the gorillas and observed, but never meddled. Now, I confess, it wouldn't be that hard to resist the urge to meddle with gorillas, but even so, when she saw a baby being ignored, or going hungry, don't you think she was dying to go help it out? (At least as long as the adults were a good distance away!!) Wildlife watchers do just that. They watch. They don't interfere, or help. Their job is to let nature take its course and observe. But I can't help but believe that sometimes they wish they could step in to save an animal they've been studying.

After watching my little nest of birds, I now know I would never have made it as a wildlife watcher, as interesting as it would be. It is nice to know I didn't follow the wrong path in life, don't you think?

I did help my birds out one time. One day not long after the babies were born, as I peered through the floor boards, I noticed a very hot noonday sunbeam had made it's way through the crack and was striking a pink-skinned baby. The sun felt like a laser that day so I pulled a deck chair over the spot to provide a little shade. That's the extent of my interference, or assistance, depending on how you look at it!

Having baby birds under our deck presented another problem for the parents. I liked to work in the yard, and we liked cooking on the grill and eating at our picnic table. Mama Robin seemed to develop a sense of trust around me. While we were sitting at our picnic table eating dinner she would fly up to feed her babies. Working in the yard presented more of a dilemma. The parents would station themselves around the yard and yell at me. I tried to give them space, but sometimes there seemed to be no satisfying them. And then Mama and I made a deal.

When I worked in the yard, near the nest, Papa Robin sat in a tree and CHEEPed threateningly at me. When I looked at him, he would fly off, trying to lure me away. But when Mama Robin came with a bug or a worm, she gave a little "chirp". As soon as I walked away she flew up to the nest to feed her babies.

It is now time for the babies to fledge. Last night, I saw all 4 babies peering over the edge of the nest and I was able to get a photo of the four of them waiting for 'dinner'. It was a great sight to see! They all looked healthy! Perhaps I just couldn't get a good viewing angle on that little one I thought was ignored. Or perhaps he was fed first and it was the other birds' turns. Whatever it was, nature took it's course, and all 4 have grown up without my help!

And today the first one flew from the nest! By tomorrow the nest will be empty. At that point I may be done watching the nest, but it won't be over for the babies. For one thing, I heard our local hawk screeching today. So even when they leave the nest, danger awaits.

Even when they leave the nest they won't be safe. Today I heard our local hawk screeching as it soared above us. Between hawks, vultures, cats and other predators, the babies will have to learn quickly how to stay alert and protect themselves.

Also, baby robins still need to be fed by the mother for a few more weeks. The other night when I was walking, I saw a baby robin that looked full grown. Suddenly a mother robin hopped over with a worm and popped it in the babies mouth. The baby stood on the path with his head tilted back and his beak straight up in the air waiting for more.

It kind of reminded me of those grown adult kids who come back home. Don't you think she's wondering to herself....

Ok, sweetie! Time to cook your own meals!!

At the Regatta

The last post was about trying to get to the Regatta. Once we were there, we had a good time. Here are just a few shots of events at the river.

Impressive Sand Sculpture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Very appropriate, don't you think?

A close up of the center portion. This was a clearer picture, but I really love the image of Ben Franklin sitting in the chair in the next picture.

The river wall is built up in steps providing both protection from flooding and a ringside seat to the festivities.

This also gives you a good view of the bridge we walked back across.

One of the cool activities for kids was the Beach at the Burg'.

There were several beach areas set aside where people could play in between events. Adults had as much fun here as the kids!

One event we watched was the ski show.

Ok, watching the girls in this split position really got me. 1st of all, anyone who can do a split impresses me. I couldn't even do one when I was a kid! But these girls are going over waves while they are being held by two different people. One little bounce and those legs would go into a hyper- extended split. OUCH!!!

This ski team was from Wisconsin where they apparently ski at least once a month.... even in winter!! Yikes!!!

The river had lots of ducks and Canadian geese swimming around. Before the boat race the Rescue boats tried rounding them up to clear the waterway. It was fun to watch even if they weren't all that successful. However, the boats started running, the ducks got the hint and cleared out of there!

Of course, I missed the best shot of all the boats racing towards us at the begining of the race. I was too busy watching. But here are a couple of shots of them. The pink boat was piloted by a woman and came in 2nd. OOPS, 3rd. She had held 2nd for most of the race, right up until the very last moments when she was passed. As for the winner... he was going too fast and I couldn't catch a shot. He was 3 laps ahead of everyone at the end!

All in all, it was a fun day. A memorable 'day before' the 4th of July.

Pittsburgh Regatta, or New Adventures in the City

Pittsburgh celebrated the 4th with the 35th annual regatta on the Alleghany River. Larry and I decided to go on Tuesday when it wouldn't be quite as crowded. We are not the bravest when it comes to venturing into the city, and there is a history when it comes to us finding our way around this town! However, this looked like a pretty easy trip for us. And it should have been. But... it's us, and it's Pittsburgh.

First of all, Larry works right up the road from where the Regatta was held. Even better, he works a couple of blocks from the Rivers Casino and a huge parking garage. And the river walk begins right outside the casino and follows the Ohio River along to where it meets the Alleghany River where the Regatta was held. So the plan was simple. Park at the casino, walk the 1/2 mile or so, past the Science Center, past Heinz Stadium to the Alleghany River, eat dinner at a restaurant right along the river and then watch the boat races. Simple!

Parking went as planned. Larry played a few games at the casino ('since we're here') and I went outside to see what I could see. Plenty of people seemed to have the same idea in mind. I wandered along the Ohio river walk for a bit and then headed back to get Larry. It was late afternoon, and still pretty hot. Larry met me at the door and we headed down the path until...what's this? A sign! For a free shuttle from the casino to the regatta... and here it came! A bus, just for us!

The bus driver confirmed he was taking people to the regatta. So we sat in the air-conditioned bus while he waited for more passengers and then we departed. We exchanged glances when the bus driver turned left instead of right at the stoplight. We headed away from the river, under the interstate, made a turn, wound around under the bridge again........Larry leaned over and whispered, "Are you taking notes?" "UmHmm." I mumbled back. Wherever we were going this was a new route!

As we got on I-279 south, we thought, Oh...we're going ACROSS the river! Not in our original plans. Dinner at the Tilted Kilt was suddenly out. We were going to Point State Park! Now, we have tried to go to Point State Park before, but... it's Pittsburgh. We could never figure exactly how to get there. For one thing, we are country folk. We figure when you have a park you have a parking lot at the entrance! Not Point State Park. It is a city park and you have to find your own parking lot and walk to it.

Well, we watched and we learned, and we went to the regatta at Point State Park right along the Alleghany, directly across from where we planned to go, but we had seats to sit on instead of a grassy bank, and we had the announcer letting us know what was going on, instead of guessing. And Larry had a corn dog instead of a beer and ribs for dinner. You win some, you lose some.

And when it was over.... the races ran late, and the shuttle was no longer running and we were on the wrong side of the river from where our car was. We had two choices. We could hunt around for the T and take the train across to the stadium, and walk back to our car, or we could use the pedestrian walk along the I-279 bridge and walk all the way back. It was not an easy choice. Choice 1 meant we had to hunt around for something in the city and like I said...as much as I really like Pittsburgh, this just isn't our town. We are not hunters here. We prefer going in caravans. BUT choice 2 meant I had to walk on a high bridge over a river, along with hundreds of cars and trucks. So guess what we chose? The bridge. My aversion to heights has bad moments and better moments. Tuesday was a better moment and I opted for the high walkway above the river over wandering city streets looking for an underground train.

Well, we made it. It was actually pretty great. The boat race was fun. We learned a little more about this fabulous city and we got home without getting lost. We even celebrated that fact with ice cream at DQ once we got back in our own little town.

A side note: This is a city built on a triangle, with 3 rivers, and hundreds of bridges. (After all, the steel was made right here!) Most of the bridges have pedestrian walks on them. The one along I-279 is as wide as a sidewalk and completely separated (by fence, and another walkway) from the highway. It is as solid as I could ever hope for. Everyone here is used to using them to get where they want to go. I was fine until we were 2/3 of the way across when Larry stopped to look out at the view. A truck rumbled by, the walk gave a tiny little quiver... and I was off. I didn't stop until I hit the steps on the other side! But I made it! Chalk one up for me!