February 16, 2015

2-16-15
Last Saturday Mom and I went to see her long time friend who is retired at San Juan Batista Mission. Sister Loretta is a nun of the Franciscan order. Mom and sister are the same age and have birthdays on the same month. They met when mom and dad lived in Paso Robles, at the Mission San Miguel. This Tuesday, sister is going down to Salinas to get prepped for surgery on Wednesday. She is getting stints put into the arteries of her heart. I don't know the details, but it is always dangerous for someone of that age to go into surgery. Please pray for her. 

We spent the afternoon there, mom talking with her friend and the other nuns there. Later we all went to mass in the beautiful mission with a Franciscan brother in the signature brown habit, playing the organ to lead the congregation in song. While mom visited with the nuns and her friend at the convent, I went out for a walk with Tulip. Since it was a long weekend, there were lots of people visiting the mission. I decided to explore quieter areas around the mission complex. I found what looked to be an old road behind the mission.It was narrow, no wider than a single car or truck could fit on it. On either side, it was overgrown with shrubs and old trees, patches of asphalt still clinging to the path. A chain linked gate blocks any traffic, but I can easily walk around it.

 On one side is a tall retaining wall artfully graced with moss in the crevices. It is so tall and overgrown that I can't see the mission.  On the other side, a wide stretch of farm land with rows of crops, some ruby chard, I think, probably other winter hardy crops too. This is part of the San Andreas Fault.

I took some photos with my phone and noticed that there were small trees that looked like the almond trees that we sped by on the 5 on our drive. Off of highway 5, before Santa Nella, there are hundreds of acres of trees, all in bloom, looking like they are frosted trees. The little trees along the old road that I was walking on were either volunteers or remnants of an old grove that no longer exists. These trees are twisted, some struggling to put out blooms, others covered in masses of light pink flowers. 

When I got back to the convent, I asked one of the nuns who had lived there awhile what that road was. She told me that it was the El Camino Real, The King's Highway. Parts of present day highway 101 and 1 is called that sometimes, but this road was the original one that connected all of the missions in California. 

I decided to paint, in Photoshop, from a combination of a few photos that I took, a view of the mission from the El Camino Real with an almond tree in bloom.