Aesthete, Traveler, Gardener, Gay, Introvert,
Amateur Photographer, Author of one novel, Older than most of you
Amateur Photographer, Author of one novel, Older than most of you
I had no idea this Devil’s Trumpet (double purple datura) would get so large! The flowers are pretty, but I won’t grow another one. Now I have to find all the seed pods and destroy them along with every other part of this highly toxic plant that came with no warning label.
Rudbeckia in my humble pollinator garden, now in its third year
My front garden at its late summer peak - August 27, 2023
Patriarca
The Church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily
Photo by Charles Reeza
The Chapel of the Madonna della Providenza at San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily sits above a natural spring. The water from the spring is said to be “a gift from the Mother of Providence to her Palermo children,” and it is credited with healing “all infirmities.”
The spring was discovered during excavations under the chapel on January 7th, 1668, and by January 15th the Theatine fathers had completed sufficient infrastructure to begin welcoming thousands of pilgrims to the church. No one can monetize a leaky basement better than a group of Catholic priests. This was 200 years before a similar flow of miraculous water bubbled up in Lourdes, France.
Photos by Charles Reeza
Pipe organs, small and large, at San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily - Photos by Charles Reeza
My 90-year-old mother showing off her freshly decorated nails.
Detail - San Giuseppe dei Teatini, Palermo, Sicily
Photo by Charles Reeza
A raven pecking the eye of a Turk on a side altar at the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily. Images like this are surprisingly common in European churches because of perpetual conflicts with the Ottoman Empire.
Photo by Charles Reeza
Examples of inlaid polychrome marble at the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily
Photos by Charles Reeza
Chandelier - San Giuseppe dei Teatini, Palermo, Sicily
Photo by Charles Reeza
Reliquary containing the alleged bones of many saints in a side chapel at San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily
Photos by Charles Reeza
Gratuitous objectification of men’s legs. You’re welcome.
This side chapel in the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini, decorated with elaborately sculpted marble with polychrome inlays, was sponsored by one of the major noble families of Palermo who apparently competed to create the most ostentatious displays of wealth and generosity to the church.
Photos by Charles Reeza
The infant Jesus hawking jewelry.
Actually, this is a devotional statue of Jesus as a child, or the Divine Infant, similar to the famous Infant of Prague, but with more tasteful clothes. I assume the beads were offerings made to the little idol and he is either showing them off or trying to give them back.
Photos by Charles Reeza
at the church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini in Palermo, Sicily.