Thursday Doors-Heights Community Church

I find the architecture of many churches to be quite spectacular.  I have some that I will be  going back by to photograph.  They are tucked away for future outings.

Thursday doors is where door lovers from around the world come together to share their finds.  I mentioned last week that I joined in because the challenge makes me focus more on the present.  It’s hosted by Norm 2.0 and you can check out other doors here

I had to head over to the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op today.  It’s main location is in Grandin Village, which is a historic area of Roanoke that was built from 1906-1952.  The most significant growth was in the 1920’s.  It’s known as a walkable urban area and I find the area has a friendly atmosphere.  It would have been on my list of areas to move if its location had been more conducive to our situation.  My husband has a commute better served from a different part of town.

I am a member of the Co-Op, so I make trips over for some of the things that I like to stock up on and a few others that catch my eye when I visit.  I was heading down to get some Vitamin B-2.  I join ranks of many who experience these awful things called migraines.  I didn’t experience them until my second child was about 6 weeks old.  Mine start with a visual aura in my peripheral vision and progress centrally, creating a small pinpoint of vision.  Needless to say, I was freaked out when the first one happened.  I’m still not exactly sure what my triggers are, but I suspect dehydration and stress.

I’m also aware that the increasing evidence is that since my migraines occur with an aura, I am at increased risk for heart disease and stroke.  My grandmother had congestive heart failure so I’m proactive about my health. I have them much less frequently. Over the years, I have learned to recognize the beginnings of the aura and can take two ibuprofen which staves off the headache portion.  I still have the 20 minutes of vision issues, but not as extreme and I still feel brain fog afterward.  I’m not a giant fan of medications and don’t need anything stronger.  Ibuprofen has enough risks.  I recently obtained some information from a neurologist about things to do to try to prevent migraines.  Vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) was listed as effective for migraine prevention so I went to Co-Op to find some without tons of junky additives.

Heights Community Church is located right beside the Co-Op.  In fact they share parts of the parking lot (I parked in the neutral zone so I could walk around both places).  According to the Historic Grandin Village website that I linked above, this church was built in 1919. I found this cornerstone on the church dated 1922.  The church was originally names Virginia Heights Baptist Church.  In October 2014, they changed the name to Heights Community Church so that it would have a broader reach.  According to their website, they still maintain their Baptist beliefs, practices, and affiliations.

The church stands at the corner of Grandin Road and Memorial Avenue.  Black Dog Salvage is about 5-6 blocks away, just across the Memorial bridge.   I love a church with some grand Classical-Revival columns (I cheated and looked up its style, but I love columns).  It has wings that were added later and spans a good way up Memorial Avenue.

I also love a beautiful steeple!  And below, I didn’t straighten the picture to show the angle of the road.  As a Floridian, when I first started visiting northern cities it was so strange to see buildings appear off kilter.  One side of a building having more bricks than the other side to compensate for hills or mountains.  A new sight for a flatlander!

Let your light shine!

Amy