September 6, 2011
After many days of good and rich food, we decided to have a healthy breakfast today. We cooked up three kinds of oat meals this morning, and sampled all three. There is the Irish steel cut oat meal, a multi-grain oat meal, and the regular five-minute oat meal. No, no instant oat meal.
Sue cooked the Irish stone cut oat meal. Four cups of water, one cup oat meal, bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. It takes a bit of time, but this can be cooked at night and stored in the refrigerator. Louis cooked up the multi-grain in another pot, and microwaved the regular oat meal. We sat around the table, and sampled all three, with complements of brown sugar, raspberries, blue-berries, and half-and-half. It was a very satisfying breakfast.
For today's tour, we drove to Carmel Mission Basilica. This old church was built by Fr. Junipero Serra in 1770. At some point, it was restored and enlarged to what we see today. In 1987, the then Pope John Paul II visited the church, and spent some time there praying. Pope John Paul II declared the church a minor basillica, and the restoration project began.
The main courtyard of the church leads to the main entrance. Two clock towers surround the main building. This is the original church building. The long hall on the left house the museum, library (the first library in the country), and the gift shop. The long building is not reinforced for earthquake, and had toppled once during an earthquake before.
In this room, Pope John Paul II had prayed when he visited in 1987.
Outside the main building, there is a very big courtyard, with a center fountain. On one side are the school rooms, and school was in session this day.
The three sisters lined up for a photo shoot.
From the courtyard, the bell tower is flanked by flowers on each side. At noon, the bell rang very loudly, and a child screamed.
Continuing with my experiment to frame the subject of my photograph with interesting background, I found this tree with large branches to frame the cross. This cross marks the original location Fr. Serra erected the cross.
This is the original fountain in the old church. It was completely restored in 1987, in time for the Pope's visit.
The long corridor outside the museum and library.
In the courtyard, there are two large barbeque pits. The fire pits burns wood, but may be started by gas. The BBQ looks like they are large enough to cook 50 chickens at once, each. On the side, there is a large cooler for cold drinks, and a wash basin for washing hands and things. This must have been a great place for an outdoor party.
More picture of the main building. After seeing the museum, I went back outside to take more pictures of the main building, including some artistic ones.
I like the way the archway frames the building inside. I have another picture of this archway with the vines on the wall, looking very much like a Spanish villa.
This picture shows the original church, before the restoration. the long building in front and to the left is in ruins.
Outside the gift shop, a humming bird was flying from flower to flower. Here he is shown at the top right of the picture.
After visiting the Mission church, we went down Ocean Avenue, and stopped for lunch at The Forge in the Forest. Paula had tea, and the tea mug bears the name of the restaurant.
We drove down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue, and walked onto the sandy beach. The beach is called white sands beach. There was a lot of big waves there this afternoon. Across the bay, you can see the green fields of the Pebble Beach Golf Club.
I received an email from Tim, enclosing two pictures of Lena. Today is Lena's first day at kintergarten. Here she is with her new dress, new shoes, new backpack (?) and sporting a new hair do.
What a beautiful girl. Oh, she is growing up too fast.
Apparently John Paul wants to get into the act too. He looks like he is ready for school. They are such good children, I really love them
I am glad I receive this email and the pictures. What a great way to end the day. Thank you, Tim.
Late entry: Manny the cat
Manny is such a friendly cat. Here I am, late at night, stretched out on the sofa watching TV. Manny just jumped up on the couch, and rested his head on the arch of my foot. He appears to be quite comfortable and stayed for a long time.
In the afternoon, we decided to go to the Wild Things (animal shelter and rescue.) This place is also an EARS (Elephants of Africa Rescue Service) shelter. It is almost like a zoo, with animals that are discarded by owners or retired from movies. Joseph the Lion is their oldest and most famous lion, the one that was the model for the big lion in the Lion King.
Paula opt for the "feed the elephant" option when we bought the tickets. At the end of the tour, she get to meet the biggest elephant in the herd and fed him some carrots.
The flame bowl was interesting. It appears to be a bowl of lantern oil, but can burn without wicks.
For today's tour, we drove to Carmel Mission Basilica. This old church was built by Fr. Junipero Serra in 1770. At some point, it was restored and enlarged to what we see today. In 1987, the then Pope John Paul II visited the church, and spent some time there praying. Pope John Paul II declared the church a minor basillica, and the restoration project began.
The main courtyard of the church leads to the main entrance. Two clock towers surround the main building. This is the original church building. The long hall on the left house the museum, library (the first library in the country), and the gift shop. The long building is not reinforced for earthquake, and had toppled once during an earthquake before.
In this room, Pope John Paul II had prayed when he visited in 1987.
From the courtyard, the bell tower is flanked by flowers on each side. At noon, the bell rang very loudly, and a child screamed.
Continuing with my experiment to frame the subject of my photograph with interesting background, I found this tree with large branches to frame the cross. This cross marks the original location Fr. Serra erected the cross.
The long corridor outside the museum and library.
In the courtyard, there are two large barbeque pits. The fire pits burns wood, but may be started by gas. The BBQ looks like they are large enough to cook 50 chickens at once, each. On the side, there is a large cooler for cold drinks, and a wash basin for washing hands and things. This must have been a great place for an outdoor party.
I like the way the archway frames the building inside. I have another picture of this archway with the vines on the wall, looking very much like a Spanish villa.
This picture shows the original church, before the restoration. the long building in front and to the left is in ruins. 
Outside the gift shop, a humming bird was flying from flower to flower. Here he is shown at the top right of the picture.
After visiting the Mission church, we went down Ocean Avenue, and stopped for lunch at The Forge in the Forest. Paula had tea, and the tea mug bears the name of the restaurant.
We drove down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue, and walked onto the sandy beach. The beach is called white sands beach. There was a lot of big waves there this afternoon. Across the bay, you can see the green fields of the Pebble Beach Golf Club.
Manny is such a friendly cat. Here I am, late at night, stretched out on the sofa watching TV. Manny just jumped up on the couch, and rested his head on the arch of my foot. He appears to be quite comfortable and stayed for a long time.
