The Cross

The Old Rugged Cross

Not much big lifting went on in the Church this weekend. But we did some fine inspection of various beloved features, including what lies behind the cross.

And I don't mean the incredible and humbling story of Jesus being crucified for our sins. I mean the quatrefoil with intact glass, for the most part. Not quite as awesome, but still of great interest to us.

One little crack in the glass!

Unfortunately, the structure of wood holding the glass is less than intact.

Bottom of the framing

So up on the ladder he did climb.

We both really wanted to let the light through-  even for a moment, but the structure was too fragile and we didn't want to take the chance of glass breaking. For now, it's still covered. But it's quite a nice view from up there! We could almost see the sunlight streaming in through the window.

"Photons of Sunlight" view

There was some drywalling going on. The plaster had cracked and fallen off in spots, so that had to be cut out and patched.

It will be plastered and painted.

Further scrutiny revealed other places that need tender love and care, A.K.A. crafty carpentry.

But the fine wood work will have to wait. The big ticket item this coming week will be the roof. We all agree that the roof needs instant attention.

I can't wait for the "after" pictures. That little chimney will be gone, as well, but the new wood stove pipe will appear.

I did have a chance for some quiet time. In fact, most of Sunny Saturday was spent working on Pysanki eggs for easter. I had some great ideas this year.

looks good on paper...

not bad for drawing on an egg...

OK, this should work...

Hmm... how to I make the waves blue?

ACK! This is NOT what I had intended! What caused all those leaky black marks? Is it the wax or the dye? Also, blue + red does NOT equal dark blue. It equals CRAP!

Oh well, better luck next year, I guess. I don't really want to wait a year though, I want to try again NOW! But easter and spring break are over, and there's nearly two more months of school left, so I will have to ponder my mistakes and try again when I can.

I did finish the egg for the Royal Oak First United Methodist Church, (ROFUM) where I became a member this past Sunday. Again, the egg didn't turn out like I planned, but it marked the occasion.

This was supposed to be the logo, but I couldn't figure out the acorn brown and oak leaf green. 

I'm a ROFUM now!

I wore Methodist red, and Mike came to cheer me on! We broke our ascetic Lenten fast with some Polish sausage, banana bread, Stella  Artois and a butter lamb. It was a lovely Easter!

Happy Easter!!

Window on Heaven

I've looked at clouds...

The old glass stays. People ask if we will put stained glass in the windows, but I think not. This gorgeous glass was probably made by the plate process, which replaced the cylinder process, which is a method of blowing glass that replaced the crown glass method. It all happened in the 1800s.

In the early 1800s, crown glass was made when glassblowers blew a large sphere or bubble of glass and spun it until it was a flat disk. They could then cut it into panes, but there was always bump or "crown" in the middle. Around 1825, glassblowers made cylinders instead of bubbles, and when cooled, they were sliced down the side so they could be opened up into flat sheets.

from both sides now...

Around the 1880's when coal was readily available for fuel, glass was made by the plate method, where molten glass was poured into rectangular or square frames. Once the glass cooled, it was polished on both sides. Apparently, after 1890, the development of glass making processes and the uses for it blossomed rapidly.

We're still trying to pin down the birthdate of the Church, but we're pretty sure it was late 1800s.

So is glass a solid or liquid? Mineral or not? These are age-old questions.

It's not a mineral. It has no crystalline structure, which is one of the requirements for mineral-hood. But solid or liquid? It sure feels solid when you run into it, but doesn't it look like it drips and droops over time? How can a solid do that?

Glass is called an amorphous solid, which means it doesn't have a crystal structure, but it's not a liquid. The reason old glass is so warped and warbly apparently is related to what I described above - the old method of pouring or blowing glass. The glass never came out completely smooth, and the warps and warbles stay in the glass once cooled. So the beautiful reflections of the church windows are there to stay forever, unless some unappreciative person removes them to replace them with something else. Not us! We appreciate them!