Pic(k) of the Week: Chapel at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit

The chapel is quiet, awaiting the entrance of Trappist monks for their sext * prayers at noon.

Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit: Rockdale County (Conyers), Georgia, USA. 3 February 2024.

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit was founded on March 21, 1944, by twenty Trappist monks from the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, USA. The Archdiocese of Atlanta and silent film star Colleen Moore donated 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) of land on which the monks hand-built the monastery, a concrete structure complete with a retreat house, cloister, and chapel.

As of 2022, the monastery is home to a community of twenty-eight monks who are self-sustaining. A prior abbot (ecclesiastical leader) was Basil Pennington, a founder of the contemplative "centering prayer" movement. The primary work of the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit is prayer.

The monastery and grounds are a part of the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area and also serves as the southernmost point on the Arabia Mountain Path.

— Wikipedia

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Pic(k) of the Week: Double sonata

Framed in a window,

Boccherini, as the sun fell,

Dreaming a double sonata.

Seen in the upper windows of a violin shop in Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA, on the afternoon of 21 February 2024.


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Pic(k) of the Week: Winter speedwell

Look down! Tiny blue winter speedwell blossoms have popped up, low down, in large numbers, seemingly overnight. So small, so unassuming, and, yes, some might say, so weedy.

Lanier Gardens Park: Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 24 February 2022.

I've so often walked by over ubiquitous winter speedwell, paying no heed, until one winter afternoon, when I felt the need to get down on the ground and look at them on their level.

My clothes became muddied; I probably received bemused glances from motorists passing close by this tiny strip of streetside greenspace. But there I lay, taken aback by these blossoms' miniature elegance: flowers for a fairy's garden.

Veronica persica —commonly known as birdeye speedwell, common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell— is a flowering plant in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). It is native to Eurasia and is widespread as an introduced species elsewhere, including North America. The short-stalked leaves are broadly ovate with coarsely serrated margins, and measure one to two centimeters (0.4 to 0.8 inches) long. The flowers are roughly one centimeter (0.4 inches) wide and are sky-blue in color with dark stripes and white centers.

— Wikipedia.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Laurel Creek waterfall

Evergreen mountain laurel trees ring small Laurel Creek as it cascades into the (slightly) larger Stephenson Creek.

Seen alongside (that is, clambered down from) the Flat Rock spur of the Arabia Mountain PATH trail in the Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve: DeKalb County, Georgia, USA. 27 February 2024.

Note to self: Return in spring, when the mountain laurel is blooming.

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Pic(k) of the Week: Winter's spring fling

In a winter garden,
It teases
Of a spring fling.

Northlake, Georgia, USA.
11 February 2024.

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