Southern California has been hit again - first with the Montecito fires 2 days ago, Sylmar yesterday and Anaheim Hills today. Hundreds of houses of burned to the ground and over 10,000 people have been temporarily displaced.
Today when I walked outside in the sunshine, sunlight was filtered taking on a hauntingly beautiful quality. Air smelled of smoke and I found it harder to breath. White ash wafted back down to earth like snowflakes and I decided it was better to be indoors. Who knows what you might be inhaling...Apparently there was a small fire in Palos Verdes this afternoon that I didn't know about until my (curtailed) evening walk.
I am particularly sorry to hear that the Mt. Calvary Monastery completely burned to the ground. The monks provided spiritual retreats to individuals and groups. I visited many years ago - and was struck at the warmth and hospitality of the monks. The mountaintop sanctuary was breaktaking with its panaromic view of the Santa Barbara Coastline. The retreat house itself was a Spanish style house built in the 1920's that housed Spanish colonial masterpieces, Navajo blankets, wonderful books in their library - what a loss. Very little survived the fire - the large iron cross in the garden and a fraction of the beautiful mural at the entry way.
Here's their website: http://www.mount-calvary.org/visit.htm
Today when I walked outside in the sunshine, sunlight was filtered taking on a hauntingly beautiful quality. Air smelled of smoke and I found it harder to breath. White ash wafted back down to earth like snowflakes and I decided it was better to be indoors. Who knows what you might be inhaling...Apparently there was a small fire in Palos Verdes this afternoon that I didn't know about until my (curtailed) evening walk.
I am particularly sorry to hear that the Mt. Calvary Monastery completely burned to the ground. The monks provided spiritual retreats to individuals and groups. I visited many years ago - and was struck at the warmth and hospitality of the monks. The mountaintop sanctuary was breaktaking with its panaromic view of the Santa Barbara Coastline. The retreat house itself was a Spanish style house built in the 1920's that housed Spanish colonial masterpieces, Navajo blankets, wonderful books in their library - what a loss. Very little survived the fire - the large iron cross in the garden and a fraction of the beautiful mural at the entry way.
Here's their website: http://www.mount-calvary.org/visit.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment