St. Mercurius and St. Abraam Coptic Orcthodox Church and Joe Hollingsworth

Aloha Everyone,

This morning J.J. and I went to a travel agency to inquire about airline tickets to Hawaii. The office was over-heated and in order to stop feeling nausea from the dry air, I decided to take a walk. I spotted the skeleton of a building. It turned out to be a church. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California & Hawaii is the official name for the damaged church under reconstruction.

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The church was established by Saint Mark, an apostle and evangelist circa 42 AD. Approximately 10% of Egyptians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church.

According to information I obtained on-line, on April 15, 1997, an early morning fire destroyed the building gutting the 25-year-old church.

I saw Joe Hollingsworth just as I was taking photos of the church. He appeared curious about the church as I was and as we approached each other I asked him if he knew anything about it. Joe is a retired business owner and now follows his passion for photography. Joe is a very interesting man with a zest for life. He told me that he will be going on a cruise to Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast-Asia countries and Joe is looking forward to capturing something new, something different and something that would excite him. I assured him that he will see so many new and amazing things that would capture his artistic imagination. As Joe and I were walking towards our car, J.J. came out of the travel agency and I introduced them.

Joe recently won two First Places in a photo contest. Joe's portfolio is available at http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/joehollingsworth.html

The rest of the afternoon was spent going to Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears then back to Home Depot in search of an electric cook top to replace the one my Mother has in her kitchen. J.J. and I were determined to find it today, order and arrange for delivery and installation while we are staying with her. Mission accomplished. We are pleased that one of the "things to do" has been checked off.

By the time we returned home, we saw lovely silhouettes of palm trees against the graying sky, a typical California scene.

Aloha -- Cathi