Tibetan nomads
Posted: July 30, 2007 Filed under: Apso Aficionados 6 CommentsHere’s something else Kathy sent…
Family
Jigme and seven of his relatives, including his wife, three sons and a daughter – pictured here – sleep in his yak-hair tent.”At night, right before bed, we howl into the dark to remind would-be thieves, wolves and local hungry ghosts to stay away from our herds,” Jigme says.
Awesome link from Kathy
Posted: July 30, 2007 Filed under: Apso Aficionados Leave a commentKathy sent this link, along with the following note:
Poetry is magical and heartbreaking. Written in English and Tibetan
characters–Matteo contributed to this, too.
Read it (It’s a pdf file, so give it time to load.)
Haulin’ Slash
Posted: July 29, 2007 Filed under: DRambles on Black Mountain 1 CommentMy favorite job…haulin’ slash! Living in the mountains on wooded property requires different ‘yard’ maintenance than lush, green lawns. A coniferous forest where fire is Mother Nature’s way of maintaining balance presents additional maintenance, otherwise known as mitigation. Gathering up dead wood, cutting down ladder trees and pruning the pine trees are all part of the job. I try to fool myself and call it gardening.
Here’s the truck loaded up for trip #6…
Those of you that have been to my house, especially this past year, know what the slash pile looked like. This photo doesn’t do it justice, as it was only after 5 trips that I thought it might be fun to share my weekend…
Twice each summer, the local firefighters organize slash clean-up. Using the high school parking lot, for a small fee local residents are able to dump slash. Later, workers come in with big chippers and produce mulch from the slash.
Today, we’re finishing up. For Apsos on the Mountain this year, I’ll be able to hang prayer flags where I want, rather than in attempt to hide the slash pile!
Bhutanese baby booties
Posted: July 28, 2007 Filed under: Apso Aficionados Leave a commentThis morning Kathy sent this. I had to share!
I was looking for a special baby gift for a friend in one of
Boulder’s Tibetan shops last week. These cute felted shoes are made
by poor mothers in Bhutan trying to make a living. The store owner
is from Bhutan and she asked me if I have ever visited her country!
She said Boulder is okay, but she misses home!
Ribbon of Life
Posted: July 27, 2007 Filed under: Apso Aficionados Leave a commentRemember the pretty pin I mentioned Kathy was wearing when we met a week ago? She sent me a couple of pins, along with the following taken from the January-February 2007 issue of Native Peoples:
A common ritual among American Indian tribes is the giving of a feather to a loved one, for marking important achievements in one’s life or as protection. Fittingly, a pink feather has recently been adopted as a symbol by the American Indian Advisory Council to the UC Davis Cancer Center to signify their message of breast health and and cancer prevention in Native communities. Kellie Stevens (Yerington Paiute) designed the Ribbon of Life feather. It can be found on free pins being distributed by the university and the Turtle Health Foundation.
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 
