Second Henry Purcell Dioclesian / Mark Alburger Diocletian rehearsal with members of San Francisco Cabaret Opera at Berkeley Chamber Arts House,
with Indre et al in fine voice,
then off to Moraga Boulevard (a first),
past hills and
old orchards,
up St. Mary's Road
to Syufy Hall and the Chapel. Time for another walk.
The inclined plane of Mission Road leads into the hills
above dormatories,
becoming a gravel path,
ascending to the observatory
and solitary
cross,
looking across to St. Mary's Ridge,
ahead to the Berkeley Hills,
Rheem Hill,
and even, astoundingly, our distant Vaca Mountains, of all landmarks....
From this vantage point, the campus lies map-like below,
including Syufy Hall, the Library,
and Chapel.
A friendly recent alumnus, on a visit from Dana Point, has reached the summit as well, and we chat back to the trailhead, to vistas including a compromised Las Trampas Ridge,
the Observatory,
and the general splendor of the EBMUD (what an ungracious name in all this beauty) and Open Space Districts.
Crosses seem to the order of the day, at the start of a second walk, continuing on the Lafayette-Moraga Trail at the hardly-further-modified
Christian Church,
near the trail's turnoff from St. Mary's Road.
Here the course is somewhat more prosaic, until Rheem Hill's bare, decidous, parasite-festooned oaks loom into view,
at the Leisure Estates crossing (something about that nomenclature....) and
the cows take over,
staring,
glowering,
indifferent,
as the sun streaks through (beam me up, Cowie!)
and the trampled grass is renewed.
'Nuff said, and photographed, so there's nothing for it but to get on Route 24 west, with Diablo dominating,
and make the way back to Lagoon Valley in a daylight full moon,
with the North Lagoons making their characteristic surreal showing.
Harriet returns from various SF Cabaret Opera meetings, and I return to an orchestration of Saul! Saul!: II. Eli's Sons, page 3.
