The Prytz Family

I belong to another photo group, called God's Abundant Gifts. There are 6 participants and we post once a month. The themes are chosen on a rotating basis by each participant. This month's theme was churches, and I decided to do something uniquely Californian. Since I pulled my Sepia Scenes from this "photo shoot", I thought I'd publish the whole article here:

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I thought I'd show a church that is uniquely Californian. We have 21 missions in California, founded in the 1700 and 1800's by Spanish priest. They worked their way up for South America, through Mexico, to California. Some of the history of the missions is very negative, but today, we are left with the current beauty.

This is the front of the church. Built in 1798, San Luis Rey is the largest of the 21 California Missions. It's nickname is "King of the Missions"; it covers 56 acres. It is a historic landmark, and is operated by the Franciscan Friars. They receive no funds from the Catholic Church or State or local governments.

These are the flags of welcome, at the Mission, U.S.A., California, Mexico and Spain.

This is the entrance and interior of the graveyard at the Mission. There were some interesting sculptures, and a lot of trees. Most of the trees had small wind chimes in them, to catch the breeze. That made the environment very serene.

The Mission has all types of native plants this collage shows types of cacti and succulents.

Once a week the Indians that lived at the Mission walked down all these steps, to do their laundry. The water flowed out of the two gargoyles. Scary stuff.

The grounds of the Mission are full of wonderful flowers, too. Most of the flowering plants survive on little water, this is arid California, after all.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour of the Mission San Luis Rey.