philadelphia freedom

philadelphia yesterday was wonderful, save for lack of parking. we could not find a space anywhere near the Cathedral for noon mass and i finally said "ok God - i cannot imagine You would allow us to get up here in time to worship you and we would be hindered from doing so for a lack of a parking space." well, He parted the red sea, He can certainly open up a space in time for us to be seated and present to attend Mass.

He is just that good.

i wanted to take pictures inside the cathedral itself, but there were so many folks in silent prayer i did not want to be rude and by doing so. all i can say is it is gorgeous. i felt as though i was before the Holy of Holies and that it would have been entirely appropriate to be on my face for any given length of time. really amazingly peaceful.

the Wyeth Exhibit was wonderful - we donned our headsets and dutifully pushed the appropriate numbers so we could learn about Andrew Wyeth and his paintings. extremely informative and exceptionally stuffy narration made it enjoyable and easy to roll our eyes at the same time. the best i heard (aside from the word "juxtaposition" about one hundered times) was Wyeth himself speaking of when he learned how to paint from his scrupulous father, famous illustrator N.C. Wyeth -- it was along the lines of "He made me sit for three hours at a time simply painting cubes - cubes - any artist these days under him would have given up quite easily and ran from the room weeping."

i wonder what his spiritual life was like? nothing mentioned about his religion or affiliation, nothing exceptionally spiritual about his works, i am just curious if there are any Wyeth afficionados out there who could inform a sister....

from there, we went to South Street. gosh, it has been at least 20+ years since i have strolled down this famous street and i can tell you, it had a far greater "this is cool" impact on me as a 20-something girl than it did as a 43 year-old woman. there were a lot of trashy stores, but a lot of cool stores with celtic stuff and gothic designs. fun place to visit would have been "condom kingdom," complete with pillars in the shape of sperm. however, i failed to venture in and was appreciative of being across the street when i noticed it. egads, i am old.

fun fact: jimbo & penni were interviewed on the street with the question of "what do you think of the desire to have the National Anthem sung in Spanish?" and we appeared on CN8's "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle." all you comcasters out there (RC?) if you have on demand, you can get it on "local" and see our respective replies, which differed greatly :) husband and i are very different, suffice it to say.

went to ikea which i think is the spawn of the devil. nice store for things you think you need, but impossible to get out of unscathed. they have signs leading you out, no short-cuts, through every.
freaking.
department.

i felt like a rat in a cage. no cheese, save for the wok i had to have. i am thinking it was a good purchase, no? bypassed the futons and must-have foam chairs and settled for the $9.95 wok that will more than pay for itself.

the play was marvelous and was loosely based on the novel "Little Women," as i know you all suspected it would be. maureen mcgovern was the lead, but the gal who played "Jo" stole the show - she had a great stage presence. our seats were amazing - 12 rows back/orchestra/center stage. i felt quite spoiled :)

the entire day was wonderful, and save for our aching feet and pounding headaches we both had on the drive home, not to mention we got in at midnight and my dear husband got up at 4:00, we would do the entire day all over again.

in a heartbeat :)