A Holy Cottage in the Mountains near Ephesus, My Sunday Favorite and Shopping with Anita!

Shopping Sunday Secrets is hosted by Anita of http://bridalblooms4u.blogspot.com/. Visit her blog and check out what everybody brought home from the shops this past week. As if I do not have enough plates, LOL! If you have been following my blog, you probably know that we were in Chicago a few days ago. And when I am out of town, I SHOP! I shop when I am in town too but more so when I am away. Anyway, I discovered a Marshall's store 1 day before going back home. I am sure my wallet was happy about that cause that did not leave me much time to shop anymore. I saw these plates which were marked originally at $19.95 for 4 (and if you shop at Marshall's, you probably know that their original price is already a bargain compared to other stores.) And they had them marked down to $7, for all 4 of them. So I grabbed 3 boxes for a total of 12 plates. Do you know how heavy they were? Luckily the store was only 2 blocks away from the hotel cause when I went there, I have already been to Crate and Barrel so I already had a bag of purchases from there. That means I had to struggle carrying 2 heavy shopping bags walking back to the hotel room. The following day (our flight was not until 6:55 PM so we had more time to shop), John and I went back there because we had to buy another luggage. By then I had boug ht so many things: bag, shirts and jackets because it got cold and I did not bring heavy jackets). While there, I saw these plates. I have dishes with this same Italian design but none of them are square, so I grabbed 2 plates and 2 bowls. I couldn't resist, ok? They were on clearance, $3 each.

When we got home, packages were ouside the front door and more packages were in front of the garage doors. This coffee set was in one of the boxes. I won them on ebay for $50, a coffee pot, 6 cups and saucers, creamer and sugar server. I thought they kinda match my Vogue dinnerware set.

I moved some of the cups away so you can see the pot better.

In another box were 6 of these wooden plate chargers I bought from Horchow.

And in another box were a set of 4 glass chargers. I really like these. I am debating whether or not I should buy 4 more. I need them, right? LOL!

Last but not least, I received this set of Homer Laughlin eggshell Cavalier designed dinnerware today.

I won them from Ebay. Unfortunately, the platter came broken but I think the money I paid is still worth the set and I can file an insurance claim. The others are in perfect condition. The girl I bought them from said they belonged to her mother who hardly used them and she was very sad to let them go. I told her not to worry because I will take good care of them. I bought the whole service for 8 set for $89 plus a veg. bowl, sugar and cream servers and the broken platter.

I hope you enjoyed the items I bought this week. Actually I bought more but I do not want to overwhelm you. Thank you Anita for hosting an event that I know I can participate in regularly. For as you know, I am a shopaholic!

It is also time for Sunday Favorites meme, hosted by sweet Chari.

You can check out "Oldies but Goodies" posts by visiting her at http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/. Chari's blog is so much fun to read. She has the most amazing stuff and she is so witty and the combination will definitely entertain you.

For my contribution, I would like to repost our trip to see the Blessed Virgin Mary's house in Turkey near Ephesus. I posted it on my early Sightseeing Saturday posts and it's one of the unforgettable places that I have ever visited. I hope you enjoy reading about it again if you have seen it before.

Welcome to Sightseeing Saturday! Our trip today is very special because we will visit the house of our Blessed Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary in Turkey, near Ephesus.

But before we start our journey, let me first acknowledge my acceptance of 2 wonderful awards, the Sisterhood Award, presented to me by an amazing courageous woman, Ann at http://ann-jamesaskeltonyahoocom.blogspot.com/ . You need to visit Ann's blog and you will see her home and family treasures. Thank you , Ann!

The rules for this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award

I also received the Best Blog Daily Thinker Award.presented to me by a very talented Marty of http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/. I just discovered recently how talented Marty is in spotting bargain treasures. Go visit her blog and check out her precious finds. Thank you, Marty!

The rules are to post it on your blog and pass it on to 10 other deserving bloggers.

Now this is the most difficult part of these awards because I think all of you deserve them and I cannot limit giving them to just 10.

So, I decided to give them to all to you? If you read my blog, please collect the awards because I know you all deserve them.

Ok, now we're ready to go. Let's go to the mountains between Ephesus and Seljuk via Izmir, Turkey.
After the Resurrection of Christ, St. John the Apostle brought the Blessed Virgin Mary to Ephesus in Turkey to live in a little cottage on the moutains between Ephesus and Seljuk. This is the cottage where our Blessed Mother spent her last years. In 1812, Sr. Ann Catherine Emmerich, a German nun who never traveled away from her home, visualized it. She is an invalid who one day, woke up in a trance with the stigmata and visions that included St. John traveling with the Virgin Mary from Jerusalem to Ephesus. Her detailed description of it was recorded from her bed by a writer named Bentrano. Sr. Emmerich said that the Virgin Mary died at the age of 64 and was buried in a cave near her house. When her coffin was opened soon after, both coffin and burial shroud were both empty. For the nun who had never traveled anywhere to be able to describe it so vividly, is a miracle. She described the location and the shape of the house so perfectly. The site is sacred to both Christians and Muslims.
Archeologists believe that the building dates back all the way to the 6th or 7th century but the foundation is much older and may date back from 1st century AD, which is the time of Mary. The house was turned into a chapel and people flock from all over the world to visit and pray.
The interior of the cottage which is now the chapel is the picture above with Virgin Mary's statue.
I traveled with my granddaughter, AJ, my youngest daughter, Tina (not AJ's mom but her aunt) and daughter's hubby, Scott. Tina was 5 months pregnant with Brendan then and was very sick and miserable with high fever, cold and coughing. She did not even want to come to the tour with us but I forced her because I did not want her to miss a probable once in a lifetime experience. I told her we can pray for her there and the Blessed Mother will surely make her feel better. And our ever loving and caring Blessed Mother certainly heard our prayers because Tina felt so much better afterwards. Here's AJ, posing with our Blessed Mother's house in the background.
Here's my son in law! Thank God he was with us because traveling with a sick 5 month old pregnant daughter and an 8 year old granddaughter and 8 total heavy and bulky luggage wasn't easy. Scott and I did all the lifting.
Of course, I wanted a picture of me with the Virgin Mary's home in the background too.
There's the couple, with Tina still looking miserable. Poor baby!
I thought this tree was interesting with little plants growing where the limb was cut. You can click and enlarge, of course, to see the details.
Women insert tissue paper on this prayer wall and pray to the Blessed Mother for them to get pregnant. I inserted a tissue paper but not with an intention of getting pregnant. Oh Lordy, no! That will truly be a miracle! LOL!...just my personal intentions.
I should hope that AJ did not ask to get pregnant either..LOL!

Do you see how high we were on the mountain?

After visiting the home of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we went to St. John's Basilica, only left now are ruins of it. But you can tell from what's left that it must have been a huge and beautiful place. The basilica is on the slopes of Ayasoluk Hill near the center of Selcuk, just below the fortress and about 3.5 km (2 miles) from Ephesus. We are not talking about St. John the Baptist here, but rather, St. John the Apostle, evangelist and author of the fourth gospel which he wrote in Ephesus, a prophet, the author of Revelation. St. John became one of Christ's closest desciples and was present on various significant events such as the Crucifixion and Transfiguration.

The building was destroyed by Tamerlane's Mongol army in 1402 and later was hit by a major earthquake. The brick foundation and marble walls were partially reconstructed but the building was never fully restored, in fact if it was, it will be the 7th largest in the world.

Oh Look! There is Santa Cristina!

AJ offered flowers on St. John's grave and prayed. She just picked up weeds from the grounds but isn't that sweet?

What a beautiful view!

Can you imagine how huge and grand it used to be?

I took this picture hoping to do an oil painting of it.

And I did! How do you like it? Does it resemble the photo?

That was a lot of walking up and down hills and I am tired. Good thing I wore my comfy walking shoes. I hope you enjoyed our tour for today and not too tired to take another trip next Saturday again. Don't forget to wear your walking shoes. I am so proud of you. You are all getting to be experienced travelers!

The Wiindy City, Chicago and Sevres Urns With Pink Cherubs, Pink Oleanders and Let's Visit

This is Sue! I will tell you more about her later.

It's Saturday and as I promised when I first started blogging that I will take you sightseeing every Saturday and I have kept my promise, haven't I? But before I do that, let's join Beverly for Pink Saturday first. Please visit her at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/
and then let's visit everyone else on her list of participants.

I would like to take you once again in our garden. We came home from Chicago late Wednesday night and looked out the kitchen breakfast nook window and this is what we saw. The oleander is blooming with bright pink flowers.
Here you will see a little fountain on the wall. I planted little climbing plants that attaches itself to the brick and it is just starting to climb but wouldn't you know it, it has to go soon because we are building a pool. Looks like this oleander is going too. Do you know if we can dig it out to transplant it? Will it survive?
It sure has pretty flowers and I hate to see it go. I hope we can save it.
Now, let's go inside the house and find something pink. Oh, I found 4 Sevres lidded urns. They have pink cherubs wearing pink scarves and there are also pink flowers so they should qualify, I think.
I placed 2 urns on both sides of the fireplace mantel in the family room.
And there you see all 4 of them. Somehow, John is obssessed with sevres pieces. We laugh about it but everytime we tour antebellum houses and he sees similar urns, he always gets the urge to turn them over to check who the maker is. One time, the tour guide asked him what he is doing. LOL!
Thanks, Beverly for adding me to your list of participants and for hosting another fun weekend event.

Now, let's go visit a beautiful windy city! Do you know that Chicago is one of the final 4 being considered to host the 2016 Summer Olympics? It is the only American city that made it on the short list. DH wants me to reserve a hotel room already. I wonder if they take reservations this far in advance. Before I go on, please visit Chandy of http://whatnowtablescapes.blogspot.com/. She is also taking us on a tour. Isn't that fun? 2 tours in one day! Hopefully, someday, we will have more tour guides to take us to other places. Thanks Chandy, for joining me again today.
Chicago is totally different from where we live in the south. You will notice the tall buildings right away. I think the tallest building in our hometown is only 5 stories high so you can just imagine how much I am enjoying the change.

Look at the pretty colorful tulips.

My sister met me and we went to the Water Tower. The Water Tower is famous for being the only public building that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It is 154 ft. tall and inside, it has a standpipe, 138 ft high, to hold water. It is the 2nd oldest water tower in the world. We shopped at the mall. I couldn't believe that we walked and shopped from 10 AM to 8 PM and this is after getting up at 1 AM to drive to the airport so I really did not get any sleep the night before. I was so tired and my legs were so stiff that I couldnt walk after I got back to the hotel

And you know, my sister who is 71 years old did not even get tired at all.

I love to see old buildings in the midst of tall modern ones. This is an Episcopal Church.

This was the view from our hotel room.

That distant building on the lake is the Planetarium.The Soldier Field.

We went to Chicago for Dh's medical convention meeting. It was at the McCormick Place and this is inside the convention center. Of course, I only mostly shopped around the city but every now and then, I would meet John at the exhibit show. I like to collect freebies, stuff that vendors give away. John is shy about collecting but you know, I think of it as giving the exhibitors a favor cause they wouldn't want to haul those back into their luggage, right?

I thought this is interesting. It's a robot they now use in some hospitals to perform the surgery.

A lot of urologists were very interested in how it works. They are watching a live surgery being performed by a robot in a hospital.

Navy Pier. My sister and her hubby picked us up one evening to take us there for dinner. Too bad it was cold and raining so we could not walk outside.

Even McDonalds inside the Pier looks elegant.

We went to the Field Museum one evening for dinner. It was pretty interesting to eat with the elephants and Sue, the largest, most complete and well preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever discovered.

And Sue is the real thing! We were welcomed by African tribal dancers and musicians.

Do you see Sue at the very far end in the center?

And here's John trying to compete in climbing. LOL!

This is Chicago but it was from another trip when we took my mom with us. Isn't that a spectacular view from the hotel room?

And this was from our trip last Christmas. We took AJ and my grand niece Bhrielle with us. We were so high up and the window was all the way to the floor so I told the kids that if they want to go look out the window they have to lay on the floor. I was getting nervous about them breaking the window glass and them falling.

The hotel had a gigantic gingerbread house display in the lobby,

I took this picture because I thought the clouds look really weird.

I hope you enjoyed our trip to Chicago. See you again next Saturday for another sightseeing trip! Thanks for coming!