Can I get a Witness?!?!?

So, finally I have posted pictures from my trip to India... you can take a looksey at my picassa site

There are 5 albums of the individual sections of my trip and a "Best Of" Album with slightly less than 200 photos... hope you can handle it.. I tried my best to break it down, but you all know how I am with photography and I think that the photos, at least in the best of album, are good enough to hold your attention.

Since I got back I have been decompressing and will wrap the process up this weekend in Charlotte for the Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic Shows... yay! I will be reuniting with my dear friends Anna Huffman and Cliff Paulin... sure to be a good time. Details to come..

Enjoy the photos and if you happen to like any in particular, please let me know.. I am trying to get a gallery exhibit up by mid November and need some help choosing what to print.

Much Obliged. Heart of mine...

kiss the ground, hug your dog...

Can I just tell you how thrilled I am to be back in Alaska... how thrilled I am to hug my sweet soft dog... I am going through pics and will post some new entries along with some choice photos and links to more, if your lookin... soon... likely by the week's end... keep yo'self posted!

The Scramble

Whoa... I feel like I just woke up out of a haze.. been slightly sick for the past week here in Bhatsu.. I have a number of ideas why, but most of it boils down like the slightly treated water in all of the guest houses I have stayed... this is India..
India has finally caught up with me... now after three days of 'mild' rest at my ashram.. one of which involved a 5 hour hike to a grassy knoll with Lutkas (prayer flags) and glorious views of the snowline on the Himalaya (perfect for napping)...I am itching (both mentally and physically due to various flea bites) to get on the move to see just a few more places before I head out on Thursday evening.

This morning I head to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple... then maybe to visit my fiend Vid in Jaipur then on to Delhi in the afternoon of Thursday to catch my plane that night. Hoohaa! let's pack it all in!! Really I will probably just head from Amritsar to Delhi on Wednesday evening and arrive Thursday morning in Delhi to try to find some trouble to get into there for the afternoon... sounds like a plan. No sleep till Brooklyn... :)

And I really can't wait to get home to decompress and fill this blog with the best pictures from the trip... and hug my dog...
namaste'

Fusion

My mind is already racing after my first day of cooking class... Pulled Pork stuffed momos with Mango chutney?? This is all I can think about right now.
Today was a good day. I hiked to a waterfall in the dreadful wind and rain (and thunder and lightning) it was awesome.
I had my first Ayruvedic medicine class and cooking class. Tomorrow I hit repeat and do it all over again.. with Somosas and Dal Mahktani and Chapati this time instead of Veggie and chocolate momos...

I think I will start the day with yoga... this morning I started the day telling myself that I was no longer young enough to be afraid of thunder and shadows made by lightning. I haven't experienced a thunder storm like that since I was young enough to be scared of those things. Living through such a storm this morning (for the first time in nearly 15 years) took me back to a feeling that I thought I had lost ages ago. It was exhilarating... I laid in bed and listened to sets of rain falling in waves across the forest canopy, slowly moving over the tin roof I slept under. It was lovely, peaceful, and almost musical. All morning long... all day long... the rain stopped about an hour ago. A nice end to a gloriously lonesome day in the mountains... I am headed out to have a "Bhatsu Cake" which is something like a nanaimo bar or whatever you call those things with butterscotch and chocolate... damn good?

Bhatsunag

Hello from the forest near Dharamsala in a village called Bhatsunag (or Bhatsu)... also know as the official home of all Isrealis in exile.. I mean Tibetans... no wait.. I mean Isrealis... wait.. I am confused... Am I in Isreal? I thought I went to India, but there are nothing but Isrealis in these backpacker towns and half of the signs are in Hebrew...I met a man this mornign that explained to me that all Isrealis are terrified of being alone and pack together which happens to have the quazi unfortunate effect of turning places they travel to into little Isreali villages... interesting indeed...

I spent the morning reading in a cafe while it poured down rain all around the terrace with some really good Neil Young album drifting from the cafe speakers. then Pink Floyed, then the Chantrelles, then Annie Lenox.. I left after the Chantrelles and started down the lane just in time for the rain to end and the terrible music to begin... perfect timing as usuall.. sun is now shining.. living is easy as I drift like a little leaf today wondering around the vilage and into the woods...

I had a really good stuffed sweet sweet roma tomato today.. stuffed with a delish panner, golden raisins, spices and cashews.. the sauce was I think tomato, cashew based with onions, garlic and turmeric...maybe some pureed chickpeas. I am really putting it down to a focus on the food for the last week of my trip. Tomorrow I start a cooking class and will be making Veggie and chocolate momos among other things... I also will begin 3 day course in Ayurvedic Medicine in the morning. Living is easy.. drinking apple wine in the evenings and hiking and eating the days away... hope the balance isn't tipped too far to the plumpy side by the time I get home ;)

I think I am going to wake up to yoga and maybe a laughing meditation lead by my friend Maitreya (Ashish)... I think his real name is Ashish, but whatever, he is one of the nicest most free people I have ever met and he and his lady Layla are so sweet, so I suppose he can call himself whatever he wants... I am staying with them in the woods outside town... well, I am done with my internet business for the day...

More food stories to come...