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The aqueduct system, small as it is, still functions, and water pours into the cistern from the little brick-lined trench that wanders through the shaded oak trees in the background. |
| Above, the shaded pathway beyond the cistern, with the aqueduct running at right. Ben, as has always been his custom, took it upon himself to clean out the numerous clogs of fallen oak leaves and twigs, resulting in a much greater flow into the cistern by the time we returned to it. In the process he found a bullfrog polliwog (huge), a nearly two-inch-long creature that looked a lot like a shrimp, and tiny fishes. I'd never realized these things were living in the aqueduct. |
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While Ben was busy, I took the path around and returned to the cistern. In the view above you can see the brightly colored trees on the hillsides where we'd visited the tanning vats earlier. |
 Eventually it was back to the mission itself, ready for the night's festivities with paper-bag luminarias set out for the evening. |
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Above, the lighted entrance to the mission's church. We
were among the first to arrive, which netted us good seats at the front.
This year's music was provided by a string quartet. It's been a while
since I've listened to live strings and I'd forgotten how they can fill a
space with such rich sound. The carols they played were from many
different time periods, including very early carols (6th to 14th century),
which are my favorites. |
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Although it had been cloudy when we went in, by the time
the program was over we emerged to deep, dark skies filled with huge,
sharply twinkling stars. Everyone headed to the main building for cake,
cookies and steaming hot chocolate... and if you were lucky enough to make
it through the milling, chatting crowd, a chance at warming yourself in
front of the corner fireplace. In the end, a good time was had by all, and finally we headed out again, trekking along the luminaria-lit path through the darkness to the parking lot and our car, the bright stars decorating the sky above us and the rich, earthy night perfume of living hills and valleys all around. (end) |
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