HERE at Lomaland the yerba santa, whose leaves never lose their delicate gray-green, is a widely scattered bush. It is a favorite of the Leader's. Among other plants, the sumach, the manzanita, the grease-wood, the "mahogany," and the dwarf-oak, clothe the sides of the romantic cañons and the tops of the hills with bright verdure throughout the year. There are always some wild flowers too, though the kinds that blossom during the summer are generally not as plentiful or beautiful as those of the spring. The thousands of eucalypts and cedar trees, etc., which have been planted mainly upon the lower portions of the grounds during the past few years by the Lomaland Forestry Department, have greatly improved the beauty of the landscape for miles along the ocean front; and the Canary palms and Date palms, the lemon and pepper trees, the acacias and pines, within the Homestead gardens and bordering the avenues, have now grown to a size and beauty which make them a pleasure to look at. Every visitor who comes into the grounds expresses delight at the wealth of foliage and cultivated flowers which surround the Râja Yoga College and Temple as well as the students' homes and bungalows.
In a few weeks we may expect the first rains, though sometimes they do not arrive till nearly Christmas, and then the multitude of seeds that have been quietly biding their time will begin to stir, and soon after the opening of the new year the hills will assume the vivid green which will not diminish till next summer; the five varieties of Lomaland ferns will unfold their delicate fronds on the shady southern side of the cañons; and then the ground will become carpeted with spring flowers of many colors, chiefly purple and gold. When Katherine Tingley first established the headquarters of our Society here there was very little grass, except at the lower levels near San Diego, but it has been gradually creeping up the hills until it has become a characteristic feature of the Spring; it seems to have increased in proportion to the enlargement of the human population of Point Loma.
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We have been reading with sympathy of the terrible heat that has been such a marked feature of the present summer throughout Europe and the larger portion of the United States. In Lomaland, and all along the Pacific slope, nothing of the sort has been felt, for the constant westerly breezes which blow from the ocean keep the temperature down; no case of sunstroke has ever been recorded here, and there is never any need to cease from outdoor work or exercise during the heat of the day; the nights are never too hot for a blanket.
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Though we usually do not get our best sunsets until the so-called "winter" months, lately there have been several of the magnificent ones for which Lomaland is famous. In August a very remarkable mirage was seen by a large number of persons at a sea-coast town about a hundred miles to the northward. It represented a ship ashore on dangerous rocks with the waves beating over it, and it was so real and vivid that the lifeboat went out to rescue the supposed drowning crew. But when it reached the spot (less than a mile from the beach) the boatmen could see nothing, and there were no rocks near. From the shore it appeared as if the lifeboat passed through the wreck. An attempt made to photograph the mirage turned out a failure. About ten years ago a strange mirage was seen from the Homestead in the form of an island far out at sea. It persisted for several days and was so realistic that some persons were on the point of chartering a boat to sail out to it and take possession when it disappeared. The mystery of many well-authenticated mirages has never been explained by the ordinary laws of refraction and reflection. The Century Path of October 25, 1908, which can be found in nearly all the libraries in America and other countries, contains a special article on the subject, giving many examples and treating it from the Theosophical standpoint.
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The Woman's International Theosophical League, with its center at Point Loma and its world-wide membership elsewhere, is becoming, or has become, one of the most potent instruments for the spread of our work that the Leader possesses. First organized under the name of the Woman's Propaganda League, it has greatly extended and enlarged its activities under the new title. During the Spring months of this year the women of the League in Lomaland organized a most successful series of meetings for women only at the Isis Theater, San Diego, at which the Leader gave addresses which are said by those who were present to have been the most uplifting and inspiring she has ever delivered. She spoke out in the plainest language about the causes and the only remedies for the steady degeneration of the so-called civilized world, and she showed what a marvelous power for redemption women have in their own sphere, the home. The Isis Theater was crowded to its utmost capacity on each occasion Katherine Tingley spoke, hundreds of eager women of all classes could not find accommodation and, to judge by the mass of correspondence received, the impression made was most profound. According to the Leader's words, the splendid organizing work of the women of the Woman's International Theosophical League and the perfect harmony and unity prevailing among them in no small degree helped in producing this admirable result; the conditions were ideally perfect, and the audiences felt that there was an entirely different spirit present from anything ever before experienced. From the loyal, impersonal and womanly efforts of the League a new life has come into the atmosphere of Lomaland, a broadening and harmonizing influence. Its members are giving a fine expression to the principle of Co-operation between men and women which the Leader is ever striving to build up.
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