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

Sunrise

The three of us got up for the sunrise this morning...it's our last day at the beach. What a beauiful morning...this holy cow strolled by during her morning walk on the beach.

What do you see in the clouds??

The clouds made for interesting effects as the sun rose. When I commented that it looked like the heavens opened a door for a moment, with the Jesus clouds...Chandru said that churches using sunrise pictures was a form of propaganda. We laughed. Markus said, "You're so cynnical, Dude!"

Indian Free Flow

I've been searching for words, eloquent enough, big enough, thin enough...words to start to describe India. Better writers have done it. There's plenty written...about the movement, colors, people, the air and smells. My attempt is a free flow written while watching India from backseat of at car, a pretty cushy place to be. For some, two woven walls and a thatch roof makes a home. Tarp tents with laundry on the line outside...vertical sticks to support the structure. So much dirt, pavement with holes and cracks. Women bent over sweeping, every day taking care of their small piece of earth with handmade brooms. Bathing in the river, water green and still. Hands scrubbing laundry, beating the cloth against rocks. The road a constant tide of people moving from one place to another...on foot with sandals or bare, bikes, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, buses...small spaces packed with people. A dozen school boys all together in a small rickshaw, backpacks tied up outside the doors. Dust covering everything as if it's all old. Garbage piled up, cows grazing grass and goats eating garbage. Dogs trotting around with puppies, darting across the street. More cows crossing four lanes of traffic. Fields of rice, flooded. Banana trees, men pushing bikes heavy with green bananas, women carry loads balanced upon their heads. Colorful roadside temples enclosed in barbed wire...deities decorated with fresh flowers. Ganesh, Shiva, sandalwood, cement. Little girls dressed up in yellow frills with jasmine tied up in braids. School boys in matching plaid, walking hand in hand through traffic. A few dozen motorcycles weaving through traffic with women wearing brilliant colors perched gracefully sideways on the back, both legs on one side, holding a duffel bag, or a baby, or a scarf over her face. Turquoise, yellow, florals, peacocks, sequins, silk...so much color. Piles of dirt, piles of rock...men chopping wood, women forming cow dung into perfect patties to stack for fuel. Men stand off the roadside, urinating in the ditch. An old woman, dressed in long green fabric holds a rope tied to a few cows. Life is constant here--horns honking, constant motion. People making a living, surviving, worshipping, talking, giving birth, getting lost, everything all at once. Impossible to digest. To witness it is an experience that takes on its own life. My eyes can only digest a small fraction of what happens every second out the car window. I blink and there's something new I've never seen before. Never even imagined. Making bricks, selling tires, butchering chickens, stacking eggs, serving tea...it all carries on and on and on. Always this way....

Madurai to Mamlllapuram drive

We drove for 8 hours on Wed. to reach the beach just south of Chennai. We're near an old site of man made caves/carvings called Mamallapuram. The roads here were full of the bustle of a normal day in India. These are a couple pictures of people waving to Markus with his camera. We'll visit the caves tomorrow (Friday) and also a crocodile sanctuary.

Holy cow at work. Decorated and pulling a cart...stunning eyes.

Golden Sun

We landed on a white sandy beach. Thanks to Chandru...he can be my tour guide any day!! This place is called Golden Sun, it's run by a non-profit that Chandru has invested in. The organization has a hospital/group home for kids with autism in the area. They manage a few different properties, and this happens to be one of them. We're on the Bay of Bengal, about 2 hours south of Chennai. Yesterday, two cows strolled by, taking a walk on the beach. We played in the waves and watched the sunset last night. The sunset/sunrise is interesting. They are 12 hours apart and don't change much. The sunrise is always due east, sunset west...so the sunset that we saw in Allepey on the other coast was special to that place.

Vivekananada Quotes

I've been reading a book I picked up at the Vivekananada memorial...wanted to share a few quotes.
* Duty is sweet only through love.
*To be good and do good-that is the whole of religion.
*Save yourself by yourself! There is none to help you--never was, to think that there is, is a sweet delusion.
*Each soul is potientially divine.
*Experience is the only teacher.
*Bear every misery without even knowing that you are miserable.
*Real education is that which enables one to stand on his own legs.
*The happiest moments we ever know are when we forget ourselves entirely.

Sunrise

This is the sunrise over the Bay of Bengal. I got up early (even set my alarm!) and walked out to watch it. A pack of 7 dogs ran by, chasing each other and playing. A couple people walked by. The half moon was still high in the sky. It was very quiet except for the waves and Indian flute music I was listening to on my MP3 player. I am so grateful for this opportunity, to be here in this place, to have this experience, grateful for the gift of life. I should wake up for more sunrises. Everyday, the world is made new by the rising sun.

Love to you all back home.

More Madurai

This is a musical statue...by tapping on one hand, you can hear a tone through the other hand. Supposedly, they aren't hollow, but it's the way they are constructed. It was really neat. The statue was blackened by people's hands over the years. I was thinking about how tactile this religion is...these deities are so old--in the U.S. you cannot even touch anything in a museum. Here, you can not only touch it, but smear rice flour and sandlewood paste and vermillion powder on it. They even coat some statues in Ghee (butter). This is the way it's been done for thousands of years.

The bustle of life outside the temple was colorful.