Journey to Ojai
Dec. 2nd, 2010 03:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keyan_bowesI went to Ojai with someone who's been interested in finding out more about the Krishnamurti Foundation of America.
J. Krishnamurti was a philosopher from India who spent most of his life in England and in California. He settled in the Ojai Valley, and eventually died there. The Foundation now runs the Peppertree Retreat in the grounds of his old home. It's a bed-and-breakfast that's a favorite of people who come to meditate or to retreat... though it's a pretty nice B&B even for those who are merely tourists.
We arrived after dark to the sound of owls. A pair of Great Horned Owls -- and possibly a young one -- were calling in soft but resonant hoots from the trees around our room. I joined in the conversation, and they seemed okay with that. In retrospect, though, I probably shouldn't have; it was like barging in on a date.
I awoke uncharacteristically early, and was immediately enchanted. Something about the scents of the place was deeply nostalgic in an almost Proustian way, reminding me of my grandparents' home in a small town 150 miles from Delhi. And the early morning was completely reminiscent of New Delhi winter mornings, a sense amplified by the trees around the building -- a peepal tree (ficus indica) and eucalyptus, which grows all over India. And there was the dawn chorus of birds. Though a lot more muted than the morning birdsong I grew up with, it actually existed. We don't get much of that in San Francisco.
Behind the building was a garden and then orange groves, covered in fruit. Volunteers had picked a bunch of them (which we were offered but forgot to take); there were so many more than the ground under every tree was littered with the bright fruit. In India, it would have been mango groves.
The breakfast was good - mostly vegan but they did have scrambled eggs and hash browns. The hostess for the morning gave us a fruit that was new to me: Pineapple guavas. They're tiny fruit you bisect and scoop out, and they're more delicious than candy.
On a practical note, the bathroom was a bit cramped, and the water so hard that the soap slimed my skin but didn't lather. The bed claimed to be queen size but felt smaller. Next time we'll probably take the twin beds and sleep better.
Despite the lack of sleep, we hiked a trail starting behind the quite luxurious Thacher School, (a boarding school that includes horse-riding facilities) and encountered only a dog-walker with two enthusiastic dogs, and a jogger running uphill on the quite steep trail. The town is full of orange groves -- in fact, there are farms that grow them commercially for Sunkist -- and all kinds of trees, and nestled among mountains. Downtown Ojai is a nice mix of tourist shops and sellers of necessities. We stopped at a drugstore that had been at that location for over 100 years...
Ojai was lovely, but the drive back was even better. More about that in another post.
J. Krishnamurti was a philosopher from India who spent most of his life in England and in California. He settled in the Ojai Valley, and eventually died there. The Foundation now runs the Peppertree Retreat in the grounds of his old home. It's a bed-and-breakfast that's a favorite of people who come to meditate or to retreat... though it's a pretty nice B&B even for those who are merely tourists.
We arrived after dark to the sound of owls. A pair of Great Horned Owls -- and possibly a young one -- were calling in soft but resonant hoots from the trees around our room. I joined in the conversation, and they seemed okay with that. In retrospect, though, I probably shouldn't have; it was like barging in on a date.I awoke uncharacteristically early, and was immediately enchanted. Something about the scents of the place was deeply nostalgic in an almost Proustian way, reminding me of my grandparents' home in a small town 150 miles from Delhi. And the early morning was completely reminiscent of New Delhi winter mornings, a sense amplified by the trees around the building -- a peepal tree (ficus indica) and eucalyptus, which grows all over India. And there was the dawn chorus of birds. Though a lot more muted than the morning birdsong I grew up with, it actually existed. We don't get much of that in San Francisco.
Behind the building was a garden and then orange groves, covered in fruit. Volunteers had picked a bunch of them (which we were offered but forgot to take); there were so many more than the ground under every tree was littered with the bright fruit. In India, it would have been mango groves.
The breakfast was good - mostly vegan but they did have scrambled eggs and hash browns. The hostess for the morning gave us a fruit that was new to me: Pineapple guavas. They're tiny fruit you bisect and scoop out, and they're more delicious than candy.On a practical note, the bathroom was a bit cramped, and the water so hard that the soap slimed my skin but didn't lather. The bed claimed to be queen size but felt smaller. Next time we'll probably take the twin beds and sleep better.
Despite the lack of sleep, we hiked a trail starting behind the quite luxurious Thacher School, (a boarding school that includes horse-riding facilities) and encountered only a dog-walker with two enthusiastic dogs, and a jogger running uphill on the quite steep trail. The town is full of orange groves -- in fact, there are farms that grow them commercially for Sunkist -- and all kinds of trees, and nestled among mountains. Downtown Ojai is a nice mix of tourist shops and sellers of necessities. We stopped at a drugstore that had been at that location for over 100 years...
Ojai was lovely, but the drive back was even better. More about that in another post.
