Today began with church at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego, CA and lunch with friends then a very exhausting drive north where I took refuge in a Motel 6 near Lost Hills, CA.
This church is a big deal - high church with all the ceremony but no sanctus bells. "Huge" choir, gorgeous organ, long procession, lots of incense and NO bells. 250 or so in attendance. Everything is in the bulletin. Announcements were before the offering and were mercifully short. A prayer was said for those with birthdays. Most of the service is sung. The choir gets to sing the psalm without the congregation. Grump. The celebrant was the cantor. He has a decent voice. I admired him for standing up there singing from memory at the beginning.
Her sermon was housekeeping as my hostess described it. Talk about upcoming major plans.
He was the celebrant. He is VERY tall. I didn't come up to his shoulder.
Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of the 80+ year old woman who led the entire procession.
This is the one we cared about anyhow.
The walls were lined with quilts and vestments hung against the pillars.
I regret that I couldn't get decent photos of the windows. It was simply too bright outside and the windows are tall. The upper windows depict people. The big ones show the life of St Paul. They are all beautiful.
This was my favorite.
This was given to one of the bishops on his installation.
Even tho I am no longer welcome there I still light a candle for Holy Cross whenever I get an opportunity. There was no lower right one to light so this time it was upper right.
Their columbarium. The photos were taken by one of my hostesses showing how the outside of the building was lighted during a community event.
Queen Elizabeth II visited the church so the "garden" where they had coffee hour is called The Queen's Garden, I think.
My "primary" hostess. It was fun to meet both. I'm most grateful for their generous hospitality. The internet is binding, not isolating for many of us.
This is not Moroni. Moroni doesn't have wings. This is atop a building that was a Methodist church but has been deconsecrated and is a performance space.
I-5 and I-405 were parking lots much of the time today. I didn't mind that as much as I felt mucho irritation at the drivers once the road was open again. I guess CA cars don't have cruise control. I wish it were mandatory to use on interstates. I don't care how fast or slowly people drive as long as they drive a steady speed. Californians certainly haven't learned that skill.
The heavy traffic kept me from taking photos on the drive. The barren, brown hills were unlike anything else I've seen on this journey. For a short while I had a glimpse of a snowcapped Sierra peak. And there were many verdant agricultural fields to break the brown monotony.
Then sunset tonight.
1 comment:
My oldest was a member of the Cathedral when he lived in San Diego. One of his good friends was a Canon there, as was the son of the Dean. Your photos and text bring back memories.
Post a Comment