On the agenda was:
1) Get hair cut.
2) Get best boba at Half and Half Boba Tea House.
3) Get best pho at Golden Deli Pho.
And then because I had time to kill before my evening activity in Pasadena, I decided to have an impromptu visit to a beautiful spot that I hadn't been to in a long time called Mater Dolorosa monastery. I thought, "What better way to spend Good Friday than at this beautiful Passionist priests monastery?" Since Good Friday is a day to reflect on The Passion, I knew that this Catholic order was founded upon the power and beauty of The Passion.
Sadly, denied upon my arrival as there was a friendly guard at the gate, and he let me know that the brothers were in seclusion until later that afternoon. So I decided to return when the gates would open again, and asked if there was a park nearby to rest and be still. The guard very kindly pointed me to a park nearby which happened to be in the middle of old town Sierra Madre.
I didn't feel like settling down just yet and was curious about this quaint little old village area. So I wandered a bit and was delighted to see all of this!
Old City Hall is pale pink! :-)
All of the park benches looked like this, a big beautiful leaf across the back!
It was a beautiful day on top of finding beautiful buildings and spots throughout the town. I finally did settle down for a bit on one of those beautiful benches, and had some lovely quiet sacred time and did some journaling. I stopped by some of the shops and boutiques to look around, and also found this lovely bakery that had some gluten free items, which of course made me very happy. I bought a green Easter meringue cookie and it was delicious!
The time came soon enough for the gates to open at the monastery, so I headed out there to find that every Catholic in the San Gabriel Valley area was there waiting to get inside as well! I didn't know that Catholics come to do the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday!
I don't know if you can see this very clearly but there was a VERY long line of cars all the way down the street into the driveway of the monastery. I ended up pulling over about a block down, and parking on the street and just walking up to the entrance.
I had a really beautiful time reflecting in the the garden of The Seven Sorrows of Mary. It was a Good Friday, indeed.
Peace.
