Monday, April 23, 2012

Photos from my daughter Claire's trip to India

My daughter Claire has been traveling in India for the last three months.  Here are some selected photos from her stay in an ashram and as she traveled around the country (this is her second visit to India).  We were with her for two weeks of her first visit there, which ended up lasting for over two months.  Visiting India was probably one of my favorite trips of all time.  The people, the history, the sounds, smells, flavors were just stunning and amazing. I envy Claire this trip.  It would take six months of traveling there to just scratch the surface. . .


Claire with her teacher Vishva and wife Chetena’s daughter, the amazing 5 year old Uma.


"This is an old friend of Vishva’s and he came to teach our 6am class one day during the course. He is 104 and still going strong on the yoga tip. His name is Yogananda. One of the memorable pieces of wisdom he left us with was “Milk silent killer”.  



At a Shiva sunset ceremony in Rishikesh.



"My yoga sisters and brothers."  Claire spent a month at an ashram in Rishikesh, becoming a yoga teacher.  This is her graduating class.


This is one of my favorite picture of Claire of all time--taken at her graduation in Rishikesh (see previous photo).  This is her with her teacher, Yogi Vishvketu, or, Vishva.


Bisecting prayer flags.


This is the view from Claire's room/apt. in the mountains, where she lived for a month and made many friends.


"My homegirls just finished their exams. They are so happy. We went to a Shiva Temple near a river to party."


Claire's friend, the monk Sangee, makng dinner for them.


"It snowed so much at my house. They haven’t had snow like this in March since the 80’s.   In this shot, Claire hiked up into the mountains, a couple of hours above her apartment..."


"This is Tenzing. He and I are almost exactly the same age. When he was 14 he left Tibet on foot. He said it took him 27 days to get here. His family gave him the equivalent of 2000 rupees before he left ($40US). He has been living here on his own since."


"The most snow anyone had seen this late in many many years."


The train Claire rode on for 40 hours after leaving Rishikesh (note to Claire:  I rode the train Seattle to NYC twice...80 hours+). 


A ceremony on the river that takes place every single day.


Claire's friend the monk Sangee, with his favorite beverage--Mountain Dew, or as he calls it, Dew.



Claire and Sangee on a rooftop.


What a wonderful shot...


Trichy, Tamil Nadu


Ooty, Kerala.  The kids in the 'hood.
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Sunday, April 22, 2012

Drawing: Adam & Eve

By Jack Brummet

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The First Photograph Of The Finger (Fingers, No. 27)

By Mona Goldwater, Signs, Symbols, and Gestures Editor












In this photo from 1886, pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn, at the far left in the back row, gives the finger to a cameraman.   It is the first known photograph of someone giving The Finger.
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Middle fingers of the month, No. 26 (subset: women giving the finger, part 3)

By Mona Goldwater, Gestures and Signs Editor


A new roundup of middle fingers.   About half of these were sent in by readers...  /Mona








Kathy Griffin




this is "someone," but I don't know who...









Some of my selected recent finger compilations on All This Is That

All This Is That: Middle finger of the day: the sun gives earth the finger

All This Is That: Middle Finger of the day, No. 24





Damaged Slide

A damaged slide of Jack by Keelin Curran, 
"restoration (scraping some strange goo off the slide)"/digitization by Jack Brummet

Keelin took the shot, and it sat in a box for decades. I don't know how it got damaged (none of the others were), but it's pretty cool. I don't know if they still have these cars on Amtrak--it's like an observation car with a big round dome on top...


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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Photo: Arkeo-Corinth at Sunset

By either Jack Brummet or Keelin Curran, 1982, Corinth, Greece

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Land crabs in Bucerias

by Jack Brummet, Mexico Travel Editor


One night last week in Bucerias, we were watching a movie in our casa after dinner.  Keelin heard a noise and walked over to investigate.  She didn't quite eek, but she had found something.  We turned down the volume on the movie and you could hear it walking, clicking, across the floor.  It skittered under the couch, which Señor Daveed and I moved.  Standing on the floor looking up at us was a land crab.






We had never seen one before in all our trips there.  I don't know much about them other than crabs run the spectrum from fully aquatic to fully terrestrial.  Even the most fully terrestrial land crabs must return to the sea to lay their eggs, so they don't live too far from the beach.  In our case, the beach was about half a block west of us.  It would have gotten pretty interesting if, say, thirty of them had invaded our house. . .




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Faces No. 287 - at the airport

Drawing by Jack Brummet

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Friday, April 20, 2012

Poem: The first blossoms, leaves, and shoots of spring




By Jack Brummet

The dappled grey, mottled rust,
And crumbling mustard leaves and fronds
Tumble to the beckoning loam in the fall,

Sinking to the brown earth
Like we all do
Sooner or later,

But they do it every year,
Reincarnated in green 
For one more run at life above the earth.
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Isn't it time we brought back Micro-Fluff?

-click to enlarge-
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Faces No. 286 - Four

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