New Years Eve: Foggy Ascent

I told him we were entering Middle Earth








The fog made it feel quite Hobbitly for some reason.





























Sweet pure snow . . . ahh! The magic!






























The Indian border.







Walking in fog all day was exhilarating and beautiful but there was always the nagging feeling that we were missing the vista of the Himalayan mountains. Somehow the fog heightened my senses and I noticed a lot of small things that I might otherwise have missed.



















A cheese (paneer) press







The sweet smell of pine







Rich textures







Weathered beauty








Hospitality of the proffered chair







The warmth of the kitchen





















Hanging on to life . . . by a thread







The beauty of the handmade and the hand making is breathtaking at times . . . in it's simplicity and unassuming backwater normalcy.














Tea . . . the great bringer-together of cold people.




























Keeping warm.







Friends





























For those crazy about machines. Old UNICEF Landrovers from the 50's.







Finally at our destination.







Goodbye decade!

Riley Reflected

Jensen and Riley Moment

Happy 6th Birthday Riley!

Energy, spunk, zest, indefatigable . . . for starters.

Off Duty Vendor's Cart

Yummy Red Ones

I cannot resist sugared cranberries. I used this recipe, with some modifications, namely the addition of cinnamon and cloves steeped with the syrup mixture. Thanks to our dear head office folks we had fresh cranberries for Thanksgiving. Thank you Asia Desk.

Eid Mubarak

After a very filling, meaty meal.

Millers, Zooks and the River

The Miller Punch (explanation of "Punch". Our word "Punch" is from the Sanskrit/Hindi/Bengali word "Panch" which means "5". For us "punch" is a drink which is composed of several drinks. Originally probably 5 drinks. All non-alcoholic of course) I think my title packs a better punch ***groan*** than The Miller Five does. So much for long explanations of minutuae.

















Rhoda boat . . . ***permission to groan again***







I like blue backgrounds. I like Steve even better. I am secretly planning to kidnap him.







Bamboo bridge with the Troll on the top!

















Rhoda in the wee hours of the morning having "quiet" time with Riley's assistance.

Netrakona

Riley pulled out his sketch pad and started sketching the dog.







Pruitt soon joined him.







Indigo is magical. This sari was white and in a vat with indigo minutes ago. As soon as it hit the air (oxidization) it started turning deeper and deeper blue. The wave and shake it so that it oxidizes evenly. This particular piece has a batik design (where it is white). Batik is basically a wax resist to disallow the dye to penetrate in certain areas. As I said . . . MAGICAL!!!







Spools just beg to be photographed. I love the fluff and the shadows cast. In Photoshop I used the Match Color command to match the ambiance of the photo below. I didn't like the bluish cast of the original.







I am not a weaver but this is one step in the process of getting the thread to the loom. The object itself is a piece of art. There is something almost holy and trance inducing about standing in a room permeated with the rhythmic dhum-clop dhum-clop of looms and the soft whirring of these little wheel jobbies being hand crunk. All of this in a low lit room with rays of light escaping into it from a doorway and a window.

True Colors?

Pruitt






Pruitt's choice







The new Pruitt