Valyermo

All trips to the desert take 2 1/2 hours. Period. Last week, we tried to go to the Fall Festival at St. Andrews Abbey. Google Maps stated that it's 1 1/4 hours from my front porch. Maybe. If you don't get lost and drive intermidably around the desert for 90 minutes,




only, in the end, to find out that I am an idiot and had the dates of the festival wrong. Today, we tried it again. The car broke down.






Fortunately, AAA is as good as it's advertising; they came and picked up the car,



delivered us to Budget Car Rental,



and headed on down the freeway, back to the San Fernando Valley to drop the Lexus off at the dealership. I love the 100-mile towing option that I purchased just last year. Eric - it was his car - will deal with the repair tomorrow. But with new rental car in hand, we headed down the road to the Abbey. It was lovely there. Good food, good arts and crafts booths, beautiful surroundings. Singing priests and nuns, and dancing the Vespers at 4:30 pm. Maybe a few more priests, nuns, and monks than I'm comfortable with, but then again, it was held at a Monestary, so what did I expect?











Ethan asked an interesting question. "Do Monks sleep in their robes?" I doubt it, as their robes appeared to be very clean and pressed. And quite a different style than those worn at the Monestary in Santa Barbara where they are Franciscans. I guess it's a different tradition.
But then I started thinking, what exactly do they wear to sleep in? Pajamas? If so, are they plain, or do they have piping in obnoxious colors, or are they funny prints with fish or cows, hunting scenes or what-not on them? Or maybe they have replicas of their robes but in flannel? I have no idea, and, for once, I used the better part of discretion and did not ask. I do admit, though, that while I do not have the nerve to ask the Monks what their night attire is, my curiosity is piqued.