Backyard Creatures

Last week I was at my parents and discovered some local wildlife. This toad was quite big and just exactly the kind of toad that might be a prince. (I didn't kiss him to find out)

I found these baby snappers heading down to the lake. My mom witnessed the prehistoric mama snapper laying her eggs a couple months ago. Then, my dad discovered a baby snapper in the driveway months later. We went on a hunt around the site of the nest and found 7 of them alive and a couple that had been run over on the street. I collected them in a bucket and carried them down to the lake shore near the swamp. I lined them up at the water's edge for the big moment of release into the wild. It was quite fun to watch them take in the scene of the lake for the first time. They were so tiny, the lake seeming so big. They moved their heads in unison from side to side a couple times and then slowly crawled into the water to test it out. They will have to find some mud to live in for the winter. It's interesting to think of them growing to be a huge snapper. Turtles are so cool.

Breitenbush, OR

Oh, German Tales. So much time has passed since India. The spring brought so many changes and transitions my way.

I want to share this link. I was recently at Breitenbush, OR where these photos were taken.

If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend a couple nights at this amazing place in the middle of the woods. It's off the grid and produces all it's own heat and electricity.

As you know from previous posts, I can't get enough of hot water. Not only is there hot water, but there's also a steam room sitting atop a hot spring. Steam pours in 24/7. Clothing optional. Dreamy.

NYC photos

An artist hangs out on a New York City street corner for a couple of weeks, taking a number of pictures of the same location. He then uses Photoshop to splice together some interesting composites.

Holli

I'm back in the country....still digesting my trip and all the photos.

It's great to be home, but I wish I could wake up there sometimes, to the sound of singing prayer at 5am, or honking horns or a barking dog.

This last week, a fantastic annual festival took place in India. It's called Holli and it's a spring festival of colors. The pictuers are amazing. I can't imagine that there's anything quite like being in the thick of the crowd on Holli. Words cannot describe, so check out the pictures. They speak volumes.
Big Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/holi/clusters/

Bochum, Germany

Spring is around the corner here...we took a walk in the greenhouses of the university where Markus went to school in Bochum. They have an extensive variety of plants, whole greenhouses full of cactus, orchids, ferns...The woods there is very magical. It's just the kind of place an elf or fairy would hang out...moss covers all the trees, ivy covers the forest floor...the winters are mild enough here to keep a nice shade of green on everything.

This is a Chinese style garden built in 1990.

Germany

I said good-bye to India a couple days ago...arrived in Germany to finish the trip. We'll be here a week. Markus is from a city called Gelsenkirchen, it's in the NW part of Germany.

I noticed that Slumdog Millionaire did really well at the Oscars...I thought that movie was really well done. After seeing some of those places, I think it's a fair and accurate representation of India. There was a picture in the German newspaper of a group of Indian people, living in the slums gathered around a single TV watching the Academy Awards. I thought it was pretty ironic that this scene now happens for real. In the movie, the people gather around the TV and cheer for their local hero to win the gameshow. Now, in real life, the people cheered for their own story to win an Oscar, and it won many. If you've seen the movie, you know that his whole life is a foreshadowing to the questions he's asked on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It's interesting that the movie now takes on a life of its own, the story of someone rising out of poverty...and now the scenes in the movie have come to life with the people of India watching for real, wanting their story to be heard. I think it must have really touched the Indian people. There was a lot of excitement about it when we were there. Irony like that doesn't happen too often...beautiful when it does.

Croc Bank

It was crazy to see the crocs up close and personal...I got to hold a baby croc. for 60 rupees. While I was entertained by this, the group of school boys gathered around were even more entertained...cheering for me as I held the snake. It was pretty funny and a little embarassing.

The snake was a constrictor...it started wrapping its tail around my arm...and I was ready to give it back...creepy!!

Venom Collection

The men make this look so easy...handling poisonous snakes is a very old tradition for this tribe of people. They collect the venom using a small jar and put the snake back in it's clay pot all in about 5 minutes. They cut off a scale from the snake to include with each sample to identify the venom so it can be used to create an anti-venom somewhere else.

Crocodile Bank

This crocodile preserve is a home for hundreds of native freshwater river crocs. They are endanged in the wild because people now live where they live...and living together with a croc is hard. The place has also become a snake sanctuary...there's a tribe of people called the Irula who have captured poisonous snakes for thousands of years...they used to kill them or sell them to snake charmers. Now, with a subsidie program, they sell them to this place where they can live out their life. The men here collect venom from the snakes, many of them highly poisonous to use as anti-venom. The venom is collected 4 times a month from each snake. We watched them work with a few cobras. It was wild to watch the cobras attempt to strike a cloth the man held in front of the snake.

Mamallapuram

Series of temples, carved into the rocks of a seashore...each one made out of a single rock. The elephants below are 12-15 feet tall. Gigantic and elegant elephants.

Krishna's Butterball is gravity defying. Goats lounge in the shade below.

This rock reminded me of an elephant. The kings would ride on the backs of elephants sometimes...the king that commissioned this place had a bed outside of this temple, carved in the stone. He would come hang out and watch the men work on his masterpiece.

Mamellapuram