Miscellanous Madonnas

That's where the lady at the Catholic store told her co-worker to look for the box to my lovely new porch Virgin.

I've been meaning to pick up a new Mary for a while. Ever since I was a little girl, I've admired the people with the plastic shrines and grottos in their front yards. Of course, as a renter, I can't really plunk anything down on the lawn, but I figured I could somewhat simulate the experience.

The first Mary that caught my eye was Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. She had a Sacred Heart with seven knives sticking out of it, sort of like a Tarot card. Wow. But her face just didn't seem right to me, and I figured, if I was going to spend over a hundred dollars, it had better be just right.

Then I saw the one I thought was the One. A much larger Immaculate Heart of Mary, with a golden halo, sitting on a golden throne. I really liked that she came more or less with her own accessories, and that her throne was like a pre-built grotto. She was beautiful, detailed, perfect. Four hundred and fifty dollars. Yow!

So, she was out. But there was no law that I had to get a larger size, especially since the area on the porch isn't that large. I was willing to overwhelm the space, but I was open to the possibilities. To the shelves of smaller, up to foot high Madonnas I went. And had myself a winner.

She has one of those round crowns with the cross on top, an elaborate cloak that's the plaster equivalent of brocade, and loads of gilt. The irony is that at $45 dollars, she was one of the cheapest options there, even though she looks richer and fancier. Obviously my kind of Our Lady.

You can check out a picture that looks basically like her, but without the cherubs, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_San_Juan_de_los_Lagos