Candlelight Christmas Came Back

         The glow of the Santa Rosa Chapel from its east village hill top drew us into a resumption of a Cambria tradition.

        For almost 150 years Christmas magic happens here. After two years, delayed by Covid, the wondrous sounds, friendly warmth and joy was back.

            Friends and neighbors from the village crowd in to hear other friends and neighbors treat us to music, voice and word that soothes the soul.

        Soprano Molly Pasutti, backed by Jill Poulos on Irish harp and button accordion, Bob Liepman on cello, Eric Williams' guitar and violin virtuoso Brynn Albanese performed; Let Us The Infant Greet, I Saw 3 Ships, Good Christian Men Rejoice, Kesh Jig, and a stunning Mary Did you Know?

        Brynn's Handel Violin Sonata in D Major and Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons dazzled and melted us.

        Jody Mulgrew, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter added mirth and richness with The First Noel, a couple of his own creations- I Guess I'll Have to Spend Christmas Here, Christmas on the Island, and classics Jingle Bell Rock, White Christmas and the soaring Angels We Have Heard On High.

        A special joy was seeing Judith Larmore with her annual reflections message. Judith grew up in my mother's little north eastern Indiana hometown and her rich memories and stories kindle a special place in my heart. This year, after two years of loss and hurt, Judith reminded us of the value and peace of "saying their name" as we recall those special to us. Her message in this year of resumption sparkled as a homily of recovery and making right. It is a gift.

       Bruce Black was not available to share his telling of Twas the Night Before Christmas, so story teller Amber Atkinson wove the tail with panache and drama and musical emphasis from her partner Brynn. 

        Molly Pasutti and Eric Williams on Guitar teamed for a dramatic and spiraling O' Holy Night. 

        The ensemble led all of us in Silent Night and Joy to the World. 

        As we filed out, filled with joy and ambled down the hill into a gaily light village, the Christmas spirit and good cheer seemed to have settled over the village, again. It came back.

       See you down the trail.  

        

There is a moment...

     The magic begins to work on the heart, with the first step in the climb up the hill, crowning Cambria's East Village. It quickly reaches the mind as one recalls the wrap of sound, image and memory that are so delicately woven in this special place on this special night.

    Lana is quick to tell that this night, the Candlelight Concert is the highlight of her year, let alone this festive season.

      For almost 150 years the Chapel has been aglow above our village tucked between the Pacific and the Monterey Pine and Oak forests of the Santa Lucia Mountains. Readers of LightBreezes have received impressions since 2011. 

         There is a moment in this traditional evening when time melts and when emotions and feelings and your sensory memories glide into a kind of current and all that you've ever known of Christmas and family are there in your head and heart as the sweet music and narrative write even more code.
      Judith Laramore's annual Reflections open those portals with her exquisite narrative. This year recalling a cold and drafty winter on Hoot Owl Lane outside Bluffton Indiana, my mother's hometown, was a literary Norman Rockwell for the soul. Colorful and vivid scenes, family gatherings, visits to  aunt Norma and uncle Charles on Chicago's Lake Shore drive and the special place in her heart for Aunt Lois created a homily to the nurturing love of family at the holidays. They are universal memories.
       And of course there is the music and the magnificent players arranged by the renown Brynn Albanese who makes the violin an instrument of love.

      We were treated to a world premier of sorts. John Neufeld, a Cambrian arranged and Orchestrated almost all of John Williams movie compositions for decades. He did an innovation on Ave Maria for this special night on the hill in our little village. 

    Before the Farewell, blend of instrument and voice, Bruce Black again told tales of family humor and treated us all to the annual Twas The Night Before Christmas.

      And so, Christmas has come again, and the magic of the season has been lit by the candles glowing in an historic chapel, flowing from a hill top mixed with sweet music and memory, a place where life and dream weave.

      See you down the trail, in Ireland.

GOING HOME

Old Santa Rosa Chapel Cambria

November 30, 3018

    Suddenly it is December. So out of context in this profane and destructive time. There has been so little motivation to bow to the manger and the "Prince of Peace." Our psyches have been in combat, armed with anger, despair, and disbelief. But Christmas whispers, it is coming.

     And so in winter's dark chill we climb the hill, to the Chapel, to enter a portal, to go home, to Christmas, again.

   It was in the calm of the candle light, as Molly Pasutti with the voice of an angel, from the back of the chapel illumined only by candle began with O Come, O Come Emmanuel. As she paced forward she opened something in time. My eyes moistened. Our hearts stirred in unison. 

    Somewhere as Eric William's guitar and Jill Poulos' Celtic Harp wove into the voices of Wayne Attoe and Steve Dowling  in Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, I was drawn into a timeless flow where my boyhood and those of the century and half of Christmases in the Chapel and those of Dickens, and nights where Angels sang and shepherds quaked and nights of watching and waiting, for ever, seemed to meet, quietly, peacefully, blissfully. 

     I was home. 

     Judith Larmore's annual reflection further wrapped the gift. Yes you can go home, she said, though it will be different, it can provide different memories, and give you a new appreciation for your cherished deep memories.

      She shared how she returned to her Bluffton Indiana home, a different place than her childhood. Buildings gone, boarded, a beautiful bank now a smoke shop, the 5 and dime a failing dollar tree. It was especially poignant as I know that town well, it was my mother's home.

     In Judith's telling I was home again, with my mom and with all my Christmases past. 

     Christmas is like that, a kind of current in the alchemy of our lives that never goes away and never ends, and waits for us to enter it again. 

     As I have written in this space before, Lana says the Concert in the Chapel is her Christmas delight. 

     The sweet music and tender sentiment was precisely the magic this old boy needed.

     Selections from Suite No. 3 by J.S. Bach, John Williams Some Where In My Memory, Leroy Anderson's Jazz Pizzicato and Jazz Legato, Praise for Christmas, Sleigh Ride,  all performed by the marvelous string quartet filled us with even more magic. Brynn Albanese 1st Violin, Bill Alpert 2nd Violin, Drew Van Duren Cello, Peter Jandula-Hudson Viola. 

     Eric Williams vocal and Mandolin, Molly Pasutti Vocal and Brynn Albanese Violin brought extraordinary life to A Down Home Christmas Medly. Then, selections from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Winter.  It was stunning.

      We all joined our voices for Hark The Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World. And Bruce Black did his annual recitation of "T'was The Night Before Christmas." 

      To the refrains of We Wish You a Merry Christmas, we left the historic old Chapel on the hill and descended into the world again, but we were filled with a new hope, an anticipation of light. Just like it has always been we dwell in a broken, frightened, hurting and needful world, a world awaiting an advent. So it was in 2018, but we left with Christmas in our hearts. We had been home.

     

     See you down the trail.     

THIS YEAR, MORE THAN EVER

 

      There's a little magic in this story and I want to share it, especially if this December finds you a bit wearied; amazed at how rapidly the year has flown, crestfallen by the state of the nation, or world, wrestling with health, worried about loved ones or other complexities in the messiness of life.

      This is our little story, but there is something in this for you, a portal to a place where you can lift your spirits. Simply, immerse yourself in the peace of musical artistry as expressed in Christmas music and search your mind for a piece of your childhood.

        Full disclosure. I enter this Christmas season struggling to find that sweet balance where I can be rid of the anger I carry, a disgust that is renewed with each new headline or word of another friend being depressed, troubled or stressed by Washington. Worried about the loss of reason and civility. Saddened by that and news of diagnoses, or the indignity and labor of an aging generation.

     Frequent readers may recall my seasonal ecstasy over Strings in the Chapel.
You can read these love notes beginning here with 2016
Or 2015 Where the title Could it Last Forever gives you a hint.
Over the years the photos and post celebrate a connections to something deep.
      This year I entered into the historic Santa Rosa Chapel and its place in the slipstream of time with a different mind set. But I'm here to say music is indeed therapy. 

     There is a timeless and expansive joy in the music of Christmas, the origin story of the Christian faith. The rich beauty of the music soothes and enlivens that place in us in need of nursing. 

      A cappella vocals with chapel bells, magnificent strings, harp and guitars combining for Low How a Rose, Mary Did You Know, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, O Holy Night and a stunning Ave Maria performed by violinist Brynn Albanese and guitarist Eric Williams lifts one above worry and fretting.

Wandering Shepherd with Molly Pasutti's vocals, accompanied by Eric with Ron Poulos on mandolin sears into your heart. So too was Robin Covey's O Holy Night accompanied by Jill Poulos on Harp, Ron Poulos on mandolin and Bob Liepman on Cello.

     There is also a power in reaching a memory and the images of childhood. It invigorates. Each year at these marvelous concerts Judith Larmore invokes an exercise that awakens the images of Christmas past. She animates our world with the tinsel, winters, family moments, excitement, tastes, sounds and sheer joy of that time in our lives when the magic of Christmas was real. This years reflection, entitled Abundance was a massage of the soul. Much needed. Much appreciated.

     Bruce Black recounts hilarious Christmas adventures with his grandmother as a lead in to his spirited recitation of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

      Between Molly Pasutti's ethereal opening,  Let all That Are To Mirth Inclined, and the closing Sing-A-Long, Christmas invaded my heart.
       And so there is a pass it along moral here.

       Even if you are not a person of faith or even someone 

who eschews religion, let the purity and joy of the origin story's music, some of the most beautiful ever written, wash over you this year, especially this year. Hearing these beautiful songs, performed by strings, is magic.
And surely there is a Christmas or winter fest story from your own childhood that can kindle your heart.

         In a Scandinavian custom, candles were lit at the graves behind the historic chapel.

         We are reminded that life is fleeting. Christmas comes every year, with a purpose, to put light into our life and joy in our hearts. It is an advent. It is also an adventure in lifting ourselves beyond despair or gloom. If you are like me and  really need a dose of this, listen to some of the music listed above-it was employed to spread magic over Cambria this year. Lift your spirits!

       Thanks to the Players and Singers

The Vocalists

Robin Covey

Molly Pasutti

Mark O'Bryan

Eric Williams and Guitar

String Quartet

Brynn Albanese 1st Violin

Sonya Lanzen-Castellanos 2nd Violin

Peter Liepman Viola

Bob Liepman Cello

Ken HJustad Bass

Jill Poulous Celtic Harp

Justin Robillard Guitar

Ron Poulous Mandolin

And a special Thank You to Judith! You made Christmas arrive.

  See you down the trail.      

The Time Has Come and What Is Life?

    The real Christmas season arrived, carried on rich strings, voices and delivered in a "conversation that turns back the clock."

     From its hill side perch over looking Cambria's east village the historic Santa Rosa chapel was aglow, as it has been over more than 140 Christmas seasons. It is a special night, a "homecoming" that blends more than a century of lives, hopes, meditation, music and the unique poignancy of Christmas. 

   Each year is special, in its own way. We were accompanied by Jack who only recently lost his beloved Lydia, a dear friend. Jack is a masterful Viola player and has performed in Strings in the Chapel, but on this night he could enjoy and be soothed by the wonderful sounds.

   As frequent readers will recall a special moment of the evening is when Judith Larmore reads a Christmas Reflection. They are beautiful and vivid nostalgic gifts that weave the magic of memory and heart felt moments into a kind of garland symbolic of the season's emotional glow.

   This year she began with an apology. The very recent loss of her sister, the passing of Leonard Cohen, the emotional division of post election America, and other stresses left her depleted. So she went to the "archive" and presented a letter home she wrote a few years ago. As her work is, that letter was timeless. Given the losses, setbacks, worries and fear of of so many it was the perfect gift.

    Judith said even when people are gone and times change we can "go home again," in our memory.  She said we can see people who are "older but more beautiful" and we can experience a "deep love." This is a season where time "stands still with people we love." And as change is on the wind Judith noted our remembrances allow us to "look back before moving ahead."

     Bruce Black's humorous tales of adventures with his grandmother and his recitation of Twas the Night before Christmas, the extraordinary music in the candle light and the gathering of friends filled me with a great cheer that has been recently absent. Christmas time has arrived. In its way it is a light from darkness, a joy amidst loss in hearts and life. Specific thanks follow below.

searching for life

    Some of the brightest minds on the planet are gathering in Irvine California this week to discuss Searching for Life across Time and Space.

     The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine has convened in advance of pending missions of exploration to discuss what is life, what does it look like, how would we know if we have discovered it in some distance from our home planet? The curious can examine the agenda here.

     They are good questions. No one knows what life may be like away from earth, under different conditions and dynamics. In 2018 the launch of the James Webb space telescope signals the beginning of examining planetary atmospheres. We'll be more "hands on" when we launch a probe to Europa, a moon of Jupiter to examine what we presume to be water. 

better late than....

    Finally the federal government has acted with something close to honor. The Army Corps of Engineers refusal to permit final approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline shows respect for native nations and first citizens. The Obama administration was slow to act, but the refusal is a temporary victory for those who gathered at Standing Rock to protect water, sacred land and Sioux tribal rights. 

    The Sacramento Bee said it well in an editorial:

"The about face is miraculous and rare.  Throughout history, various arms of the U.S. government have shamefully dismissed the rights of tribes, usually siding with those seeking to make a profit."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article118836913.html#storylink=cpy

      "Shameful" indeed! Nothing can make up for the illegitimate birth of our nation by invasion and thievery but this small gesture is important though the Trump ascendancy  remains a menace. Trump has financial interests in DAPL.

going to be watching you

  A warning to elves--someone maybe watching you back!

well done

   Thanks to Jill Poulos celtic harp, button accordion, Justin Robillard guitar, Eric Williams guitar, William Alpert 1st violin, Mario Ojedo 2nd violin, Peter Jandula-Hudson viola, Grant Chase cello, Helene Robillard vocalist, Lyra vocalists, Jan Callner, Mary Anne Anderson, Diane, DeMarco, Rebecca Hendricks, Barbara McDonough, Lorna Mumpers, Nancy Taber, Vocal Quartet-Wayne Attoe, Steve Dowding, Ted Key, Ken Dunn.

    See you down the trail.

COULD IT LAST FOREVER?

HOPE NEVER DISAPPOINTS

Awaiting the Light

December Sunrise in Cambria

   Our good friend Jim asked the other night, "Can you imagine how our parents felt? The Depression happened, a world war was underway, millions were being killed, everything was affected and no one knew how it would turn out."

    Our world, with Isis, mass shootings, discord and division and changing nature falls into a perspective doesn't it? "Was ever such!" There has always been trouble, trials and tribulations. Isn't that why this season is so precious? One need not be a Christian to find a cause for cheer, merriment, hope and joy at Christmas time.That's part of the magic.

      That magic was at work as we sat in historic Santa Rosa Chapel. Listening to the rich strings and angelic voices I thought how wonderful it would be if the moment could go on forever.

      Frequent readers may recall this candle lit night in the 145 year old Chapel on a hill overlooking Cambria's east village is a definition of sublime. Enveloped by sound and the good cheer of those fortunate enough to crowd in, something is triggered. It is as though this night is a portal to all good Christmas memories and feelings.

      It happens now as Bruce Black begins with hilarious tales of his little grandmother and then launches into his annual recitation of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, I hear a second audio track, my fathers deep voice and inflection as he reads the story to my brothers and me. It is a memory cell in my brain. I love to hear it, again.

     The finest gift of the evening is Judith Larmore's Christmas Reflections. 

      She grew up in my mother's Indiana hometown and recounts places, things and feelings of home. This year's story, A Handsome Marine at the Door was exquisite and  again dampened my cheeks. Happy tears that added luster to the glow of candles. As Lana said her description of Christmas displays and the wooden floors in the Five and Dime take you back. She even made the glistening of snow and icy Indiana winters appealing. As Judith noted it's just not fair, the evening must end.

      So much of the transcendence of the evening is the music, simply world class.  Vocalists Molly Pasutti and Helen Robillard. 1st Violin Brynn Albanese, 2nd Violin Mario Ojedo, Viola Peter Jandula, Cello Grant Chase, Bass Ken Hustad, 1st Flute Suzanne Duffy, 2nd Flute Maria Apostoles,

Harp, Hammered Dulcimer, Button Accordion Jill Poulous. Guitar Justin Robillard, Banjo and Guitar Eric Williams, Bells Tim Novoa, Mandolin, Tenor Recorder Grand Chase. Cambria resident and composer John Neufeld provided a special arrangement of Pie Jesu. 

    I repeat myself, but I wish everyone could experience the unique magic that happens in this little chapel in the Santa Lucia mountain and sea side village of Cambria. It is an evening that should never end. I suspect that is the kind of thing Charles Dickens had in mind when he said we should keep Christmas in our heart all year.

    The madness of war, hate, the uncertainty of change, the suffering of loss will not abate, but neither will hope or chains of memories made on nights like this.

     "God rest ye merry folk, let nothing ye dismay."

     See you down the trail

    

THE SPECIAL NIGHT-SEASONAL SCENES-THE CANDLE FROZE-A CUBAN THROWBACK

THE GLOW ON THE HILL

      We look forward to the chosen December night when fortunate Cambrians walk the hill out of east village up to the historic Santa Rosa Chapel for an evening of strings, music, Christmas reflection and magic.

      Frequent readers may recall previous posts, this time of year when it as though we step into a slip stream of timelessness. 

2011 Post

2012 Post
2013 Post

      Cheer and anticipation fill the 140 plus year old Chapel bathed in candle light and greens. This evening has become our single favorite of the Advent season on the Central California Coast. 
       The acoustics, artistry of the musicians and the lighting create a dreamy mood. Ra Duncan's soulful a cappella Ava Maria set the mood and another memorable evening flowed into Cambria history.
       Judith Larmore's meditation on the love in nostalgic moments were heart warming. Recalling her father's devotion to providing hand made Christmas toys invoked a kind of universal remembrance and in that she reminded us was a connection. In Christmas memory, loved ones are with us still. As Lana said as we departed, Judith should collect and publish her reflections.
      Jude Johnstone put together the music program. She asked her daughter Emma, an accomplished actor/director and home from New York to write a poem. Her reading was yet another and unexpected gift of this wonderful annual event. Jude and daughter Ra performed and then lead the audience in a uniquely cheerful and entertaining round of carols.

     Santa has already delivered our favorite gift. 

THE CANDLE FLAME FROZE

      My family occupied an old farm house during one of Indiana's coldest winters and I slept upstairs in an unheated room. We had just moved to the state capitol of Indianapolis and rented a large, drafty house while our new home was being built in one of the new suburban divisions.
      The place was massive. Two bedrooms, dining room, living room, parlor, long kitchen, sun porch and bath down stairs. Upstairs had only recently been "finished," meaning there were floors and walls. Heat "entered" the frigid domain by virtue of a hole that had been cut in the floor of the bedroom and the ceiling in the largely unused "parlor." In fact we kept the sliding door to the parlor closed as it was so difficult to heat and made the living room too drafty.
      Since I worked and had late hours and was the eldest of three boys, I got the private room, while my brothers shared a downstairs bed room. When I took a glass of water upstairs, it froze or if temperatures were more moderate it created an icy crust. I didn't mind.  As a high school sophomore I enjoyed the privacy. I'd wear a stocking cap, socks and pile under the blankets and slept very soundly.  Any nightly trip to the bathroom was a bear-icy cold floor and stairs, and then leaving the warmth of downstairs to climb back into ice land made those rare ventures, teen bladders being good equipment and all.
      Years later I told our daughters I slept in a room so cold the candle froze.  A stretch, but the water did.
      Our eldest is visiting from Naples Florida.  The central California coast winter can sometimes chill into over night 40's and warm "only" into the 60's.  As she is digging out the wool socks, sweaters, gloves, caps and all, I'll probably remind her of what real cold is. If that doesn't work I'll drag her along to a tennis match where one of my foursome, Jim, hails from War Road Minnesota, where to hear him tell it, you risked freezing to death all but 7 days a year!
      I still like to sleep in a cool room with fresh air, but for the next couple of weeks we may well heat the overnight.

SEASONAL AFFECTATIONS

VILLAGE STYLE

    Lana's centerpiece for an Instigators Art Salon luncheon 

    Cambria Historical Society 

   Victorian ranch house at Halter Ranch winery 

   West Village, Cambria 

A CUBAN THROWBACK

  As a tribute to improved relations with Cuba, a couple of On Assignment Cuba photos from the file.

     I'm excited about easier travel. Cuba is a marvelous island. The above scene is from Matanzas.

 Pictured here with Jon Christopher Hughes, photographer and journalism professor at the front door of Ernest Hemingway's Finca Vigia east of Havana. Jon is an old hand on Cuba. This was taken while at work on a documentary in 1996.

a "selfie" in the mirror of Hemingway's

bathroom

     Cubans are warm and wonderful people with an extraordinary culture and charm. Despite the decades long blockade and official sanctions, the people tend to understand Washington policy is one thing and the American

public is something else.

Previous Cuban Posts:

The Daiquiri and Hemingway-where it began

Rare look inside Hemingway's home

Cuba's St. Lazaro healing shrine

Cuban Street Scenes

A "model" for Old Man and The Sea

     See you down the trail.  

BEFORE ELF ON THE SHELF AND THE GLOW ON THE HILL

A VERY SPECIAL NIGHT

   Remember the old Coke commercial, "I'd like to teach the world to sing...?" Well, I'd like to invite the world to see what we have come to know as an extraordinarily wonderful evening, the Strings in the Chapel concert on the hill over looking Cambria's east village.

   I've posted here the last two years: Local Magic, 2011

and As Good As It Gets, 2012.  This year it was even more so.   

    There is a special joy to climbing the steep hill to the 140 year old Santa Rosa Chapel, festooned in lights and candles. In a sense it is as though moving from modernity to a wrinkle in the cosmic continuum where all Christmas moments meld.

    Jude Johnstone gathers extraordinary string players who weave a garland of sound and sentiment that fills the little wooden chapel with the exquisite richness of the season. Augmented by the vocals of Jude and daughter Ra Duncan hearts are lifted and spirits are thrilled. In the glow of the candles it is easy to forget whether it is the 19th, 20th or 21st Century.  

     Bruce Black's stories of his Grandmother and his emotional telling of the 'Twas The Night Before Christmas evoke memories that trigger time machines in the listener's hearts.
     The highlight for Lana and me is the beautiful poignancy of Judith Larmore's meditation decorated with her vivid remembrance of moments from Christmas season's past. Her words are emotional poetry as she transported us to snowy Indiana winters and drew from those days a story about kindness. Her Indiana roots, the fact her small town was my Mother's home and her lovely way of painting word pictures again found the way to moisten my eyes and lift my heart with a true Advent moment.
     Jude prepared a medley of Sting arrangements and tunes interpreted by the master string players, harpist and vocals of mom and daughter. A muted trumpet played on this set and I wish I could hear it all again!
     I'd like the world to hear, and see and feel this Christmas magic that happens beneath Pines, tucked between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific.  Our Christmas gift has come early, again.

BEFORE THE ELF ON THE SHELF

     I read Leanne Italie's Associated Press report with a chuckle.  She recounts how some young parents wrestle with keeping the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon working in their homes.  A few years ago an enterprising woman self published the Elf on the Shelf guide complete with an elf that "moves around the house" keeping an eye on little junior or sissy, helping them to be good little boys and girls. It seems remembering the elf on the shelf practices can add stress to the season.  Well,...

     Way back now.  Long before this product came on the market, our daughters Kristin and Katherine had their own elf experience.  It seems that each Christmas season a new  Santa figure would mysteriously show up, some place near their rooms.  Furthermore, a little closer to Christmas Eve they would find elfin tinsel or an elf figure in their respective rooms.  And then on Christmas morning they would discover that the "right jolly old elf" himself had somehow lost a piece of his fur trimming someplace around the tree or fireplace. There was a year as well, when old Santa left a jingle bell for each of them.  As there is an 11 year different between them, this ritual played for good number of years.  Never any stress though.  But you know, since the girls have grown, the elves have not been around with a new Santa, nor has he lost any fur.  I guess, given the number of Santas we collected, that is just fine.  Storage space issues in a retired boomers home you know! 

    See you down the trail.  

AS GOOD AS IT GETS & A LITTLE COLOR

EXTRAORDINARY

     An exquisite evening- Strings in the Chapel with the voices of Jude and Ra Johnstone, the writing of Judith Larmore and the traditional "T'was the night..." from Bruce Black. This California village was at its creative best.

       A deep star field wrapped around the candle lit Chapel on the crest of the hill presiding over the east village. A garland of sparkling luminescence cloaked the shrub in front of the white wood and the walk way. The  shimmery glow on the top of the hill beckoned Cambrians who made the steep pilgrimage. A mellow spirit filled the fresh air, rich with pine and hints of the sea.

      143 years of community mingled with those in place on this night; extraordinary players-violins, cello, viola, harp, guitar and the villagers, anticipating the magic of a special night, unique in a settlement of talent, authenticity and eccentricities.

     And powerful the music was.  Young Ra Johnstone's a capella opening of Amazing Grace prompted tears and lumps in the throat which only intensified when her accomplished mom, Jude, joined in.  The mood was set.  Virtuoso string performances of classic, traditional,  contemporary music and carols--poetry and the vivid time shifting story and message from Judith as the bow on the gift of this special night. This little village tucked beneath Monterey Pines between the Pacific and the Santa Lucia Mountains is accustomed to the best from California players. The candle lit second Saturday in December, in the acoustically charmed chapel, is something even more.

     I wish everyone could have sipped of this extraordinary night of flickering light, strings, voices and memories on a Christmas watch where 143 Advent seasons have been greeted.

Photo Courtesy of Santa Rosa Chapel -Cambria Ca.

   

MATCHING COLORS

Photo by Lana Cochrun. Taken a few seasons ago on Sanibel Island Florida.

     Sorry, I was just struck by the similarity of color.

     See you down the trail.