Monday, July 30, 2007

Rocky's birthday.




43 years ago the love of my life was born in Olathe Kansas. Rocky's father was in the Air Force which is the only reason they were in Olathe and back in '64 it was the kind of place a black person really didn't want to hang around. Luckily they got much better assignments after that and Rocky traveled the world before running into me.

We celebrated the big day by going to Baltimore. We went to Mass at the Basilica It was lovely. My only qualm was the sight of the altar boy giving out Communion. That kid couldn't have been more than 14. After Mass we walked down to the crypt chapel and stayed with Jesus in the tabernacle for a while.

Next we headed over to St. Alphonsus. What a church! It's decorated in Southern German gothic style and it is so beautiful I was stunned. My heart was ravished by the sight of the place. It was like a peep into heaven. St. Alphonsus is special not only for it's staggering beauty but because two saints were once pastors there; St. John Neumann and Blessed Francis Seelos. If you're in Baltimore go visit.

Later we stopped by the Baltimore Cathedral. It was okay. It is sort of a mix between the Episcopalian National Cathedral and the DC Basilica. There was no light on in the Blessed Sacrament chapel. We weren't too impressed by that.

Then we went to dinner at Gladys Knight's restaurant. The line was long, the decor is pedestrian and the food was only adequate. You'd get better waffles at IHOP. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.