The Cathedral of St Helena

Extreme  peace and beauty in unexpected places!

I would expect to find a Cathedral such as this in Europe – it’s expected there.  I’ve got visiting Cathedrals and historical buildings on my brain, I’m going to ROME and VENICE amongst other places in just a few weeks.

It was a pleasant surprise to find such a beautiful Cathedral on the hill overlooking Helena, Montana this past week.

This photo was from my first evening in Helena, during a driving tour past the state capitol building and around town to show me a bit of the city.

It was such a glorious evening (Oh yes, temps do cool down to blissful in Montana in the summer!) that I begged Kerri and Bryl to please pull over so I could get some photos.

The spires on the Cathedral are so tall that it is nearly impossible to fit the whole thing in the camera unless you are farther away, so across the street I went.

Dang! Too many trees!

Too much parking lot!

And the bells do chime on the hour and half hour!

But the best by far was coming back after our Last Chance Tour Train adventure, after Saturday evening Mass was over, but the doors still open, for a peek at the inside.

The sun was easing its way to the west, hitting those glorious stained glass windows at just the right angle for all of the colors to sparkle throughout the sanctuary.

Awe inspiring!

As people watching is one of my favorite pastimes, it is also heart-opening to me to watch people in their places of worship.  I’ve believed many things in my life, but so far find myself reluctant to tie myself to one school of belief, sect, creed or dogma. 

I have deep spiritual leanings, but can’t latch on to one label of religiousness over another. Yet I love holy places.  I love the open prayerful hearts of the people and their faith in something greater than we are.  I visit churches, temples and cathedrals in other countries as often as I can, and I sit and ponder the lives of the people that worship and have worshiped there.

The last time I attended Mass was an early morning in November in Cusco, Peru.  I get the same feelings of reverence, respect and connection when visiting a historic Jewish Synagogue. Faith, and respect of each other's faith should unite us not divide us, and those are the feelings I get when I am inside these beautiful buildings representing the faith of the people.

I have stood in the temple grounds in Bali, watching the beautiful Balinese people go through their rituals and feeling connected to their human spirit and love of life even though I am not Hindi.

I have stood atop Mayan and Incan temples in Mexico, Belize and Peru, knowing that the people who lived and worshiped there loved their families, longed for happiness and believed that there was something greater watching over us all.

I have stood at the feet of the giant Buddha on a trip to Japan in my early 20s.  I felt what the people felt even though I didn’t speak their language.  Our wishes and longings were the same.  We were different but our hearts were one. Visiting the temples in Japan first opened my mind to the fact that there are MANY walks of life out there, perhaps believing that their way was the only way.  Or that their way was the way that worked for them, a tradition of forefathers passed down through the generations.

All humans should have the ability to choose which path they wish to follow.

And from that moment I chose love. No labels. No categories.  No Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Catholic or any other label.  I choose HUMAN.  And LEARNING. And connecting to others, one by one.

Cathedral of St Helena in Winter.

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Wow.  Not sure where all of this came from on a Sunday morning,  but as this blog is my journal, I think it's important that I also share some personal heartfelt thoughts.  Please, no preachy comments in the comments section.  Please respect my beliefs as I respect yours. They are not up for debate, and I would never comment on your personal faith of choice.

You can find the rest of the photos from the beautiful Cathedral of St Helena in the slide show below.

I can't wait to explore these holy places in Europe during our cruise.

The view from where I type!

I love the pockets of cloud!

Yesterday’s accomplishments!

50 kits have been assembled for the A Little Bit Hexie workshop aboard the Brilliance of the Seas in just a few weeks!  It was great fun putting these together.  I still have needle/pin felt thingies to put together, but those will be used for BOTH kits so I’m waiting on those for now.  Inside each kit is a needle threader and a bobbin of very blend-in-able bottom line thread, also to be used with both projects.

I am kicking this kit thing out of the ball park this weekend, getting as much done as I can.  Today I start the applique kits.  And it all begins with 200 base squares in 4 fabrics.  Chick Flick Movies on Netflix all day!

And oh, the problem with the A/C  SOLVED!  Of course, it took the A/C guy coming out and charging us weekend fees to fix it.

It seems a spider…one silly lone little spider…crawled into the conductor, compressor, flux capacitor and fried himself, taking down the whole unit.

The part was replaced, and we now have A/C back up and running. 

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

I love how one idea sparks another, and another, and another! All I wish is enough time to sew it all up!

Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt shared by a student in our Helena Montana workshops last week. Free pattern available under the free patterns tab at the top of the blog.

I love seeing all of the colors you choose for your quilts, so inspiring! Isn’t this black on turquoise gorgeous?

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

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