Monuments and Statues

As promised in an earlier post, these are some of the statues, monuments and prayer stations on the grounds of St Anthony's Franciscan Monastery.

The first statue is of Blessed Kateri (Catherine) Tekawitha, who is not yet a saint according to the Catholic Church. She is a child of nature and known to the Church as the Patroness of Ecology. It is only fitting that a statue honoring her would be on the walking trail.

The next statue and fountain is of St Francis of Assisi, is the founder of the order of Monks, Franciscans. St Francis is the Patron Saint of animals and the environment. His statue is just at the beginning of the walking trail.

The next photo is a prayer station. It is one of many along the walking trail. This one honors St Vincent de Paul, who was dedicated to serving the poor. There are many St Vincent de Paul Society Chapters in large cities who provide aid to the poor in his honor.


And finally, the last monument is a Crucifix honoring the Lithuanians who lost their lives fighting for freedom.

More to follow in a future post.

Sculpture at St Anthony's Franciscan Monestary

This sculpture by Professor Vytautas Jonynas, of the Militant, Suffering and Triumphant church, was displayed at the Vatican Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair. It is now displayed on the grounds of St Anthony's Monastery in Kennebunk, Maine.

There were so many great works of art on the grounds of this Monastery, many by the same artist, Professor Vytautas Jonynas, that it almost seemed a tribute to the artist.

The Monastery itself was once owned by William A Rogers, Esq, a Buffalo industrialist. He bought the grounds in 1900 from John Mitchell, a professor of the Christian religion. Rogers commissioned Green and Wicks, a Buffalo firm to build a house in Tudor style. The estate was sold in 1937 to William N Campbell, who then sold it to the Lithuanian Franciscan Monks, who used it for the Monastery.

In later years, the Monks added a Shrine to St Anthony, a Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine, a Chapel of the Stations of the Cross, the main St Anthony's Chapel and several little shrines along the trails. More photos will follow this post.

I'm not a very religious person, but I will tell you that my walk around these grounds and on the trails had some kind of peaceful, calming effect. It's as if my whole body knew that these grounds were sacred.

The Landings - Kennebunkport Shipyard

During our travels in Kennebunkport, we came upon the St Anthony's Monestary. While there, we decided to take a walk on one of the trails on the grounds.

During the walk, we saw many little shrines and some bigger ones that I have yet to post. This shot of "The Landings" the old Kennebunkport Shipyard was an unexpected surprise. Right out there in the middle of the woods, we came to a clearing and I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted this view of the Kennebunk River looking over to The Landings.

I was so blessed to have such great weather with beautiful clouds all the time we were in Maine. What a wonderful vacation. I'm thrilled that my son and daughter-in-law included me on their vacation, which was my daughter-in-law's present to my son. He is also blessed to have found her. She's a wonderful girl and I couldn't have picked a better person for him to spend his life with if I had picked her myself.

Salt Marshes

I shot this from a moving car, while we were on the way to Beddeford Pool, where my son used to live. The clouds were so right, the blue sky reflecting on the ground and the perfectly placed rocks made this look at least to me like a beautiful painting. One day, I will paint this one.

It was just too beautiful not to share with all of you.

Webhannet Falls

These are the Webhannet Falls in Wells, Maine.

Webhannet Falls is on the site of the first settlement of Wells, Maine, It honors Edmund Littlefield, who erected his saw and grist mill at this site in 1640-1641, thus being the first settler of Wells. This little park and the falls are just off Rt 1.

You might notice that the water is sort of coffee colored. I believe that's because of the iron content in the area. It's too bad that tree has fallen obscuring part of the falls. I tried and tried at different angles to find a better spot but unfortunately this is the only possible angle to shoot this.

This little "park" is so small, all of it would fit in my backyard. Officially though, it's a dedicated park, so who am I to question it?

Rocky Shoreline in Ogunquit, Maine

While in Maine, I want to show you all that I didn't only take photos of the lighthouses even though they're one of my favorite subjects.

The shoreline in Maine is very rocky. It's strange that even though this is the same ocean, and the same coast how it changes as so radically as you get further and further south. Here in Florida, we have no rock and our water is more of an emerald green.

All my life I've lived on the coast. I've lived in Maine, Connecticut, New York and Florida. The coasts and water color varies so much. What a wonderful continent we live on. I never get tired of living by the sea and can only wonder how people who have lived their whole lives inland who have never seen the sea don't know what they're missing. This is soooo beautiful. There's nothing like the smell of sea air.

Marginal Way Lighthouse

This is one of the smallest lighthouses you'll ever find. It's called the Marginal Way Lighthouse and it sits on the Marginal Way Trail in Ogunquit, Maine.

It is not operational and if you noticed the slot on the door, it's there for donations to keep the lighthouse and the trail maintained. This trail is so easy to walk it's often called "the walk for old ladies". It is also the most walked trail in all of Maine because of its scenic beauty along the coast.

The path is just a little bit over a mile long, and there are many benches to rest along the way. It starts at Ogunquit Beach and goes all the way to Perkins Cove, which is another picturesque place to visit.

The Nubble Light

One of the first stops in Maine, even before we checked into the hotel, we went to see the Nubble Light. The Nubble Light is in Cape Neddick near the entrance to the York River. The nearest town is York, Maine. We got there fairly early in the morning, so the clouds didn't have a chance to build.

The Nubble Light was built in 1879, but not automated until 1987. It sits on top of the shoals and there is a little bucket that runs on a wire to get groceries for the keeper. Sometimes, during low tide, one can walk across the channel to get to the mainland. The grounds are not open to the public.

This photo was shot from Sohier Park, which was donated by William Davies Sohier. One interesting fact is that the house was built in such a way that each point on the house points to North, South, East and West.

Petunia

While in CT, I stayed at my son and daughter-in-law's house. I just love it there. Their yard is like a park. Donna loves flowers and her home and yard show it.

This is only one of the many varieties of Petunias she has planted. I love the delicate petals and the soft color of this variety.

Donna is smart enough to plan her gardens to get the most of every one of them. She plants early Spring bloomers, Summer bloomers and Fall bloomers so she can enjoy them through the 3 seasons. During the Winter, she has fine art flower paintings in every room. It makes for a cheery atmosphere. No wonder I like it there so much.

Phillip

During my vacation in CT, I had the pleasure of attending one of my brother, Phillip's, Karate classes at his Dojo.

Phillip has been studying Karate as long as I've been a photographer, since the late '70's. He's a Black Belt and in this class he's teaching some of his students. In this shot, he's explaining a new Kata they'll be working on. His Dojo is not air-conditioned, and it was really hot; very hot for this time of year in CT.

I stayed for this class, then Phillip's advanced class which was taught by his long-time instructor, Tom. They were working on they're own Kata with the Bow (I'm not sure how it is spelled). They were getting ready for a demonstration for the next day.

The last time I photographed Phillip in one of his Karate classes or demonstrations was in the '80's.

New Pine Cones Macro

You've all probably wondered where I've been in the last few weeks. I've been traveling a lot, visiting my kids and grandkids. Last week, I went to Connecticut to celebrate my son's 50th birthday.

My son didn't want to have a birthday party, but he wanted to get all the siblings together and have a huge reunion. My sisters and brothers, Joe's wife, Donna's, sister and brothers, and Joe's sisters and brother were all invited. It was a great party, and it was awesome to have all my siblings in one place at the same time. My youngest brother was born after I was married, so unless there was a funeral, we were never together. All my siblings still live in Connecticut, where we grew up except for me. My daughter-in-law took a photo of the five of us. It's the first time we've ever had a photo of all of us taken. My brother didn't really want to take the photo, but I insisted stating that at our ages, (40's, 50's & 60's) anything could happen. He finally relented and I'm thrilled to have this photo.

While I was walking around in Joe and Donna's yard, which is more like a botanical gardens, with all their little garden areas and it's perfect grooming, I came across this low branch on a pine tree where the little pine cones are just starting to grow. I couldn't resist a macro shot of it. Being so short (5'0"), I rarely get to see something like this.