I Thought it was Back -- You Know...I'M BAACCKK!

I scheduled my trip to France and the Normandy Beaches so that the end of it snuggled right up to my  Pet-CAT and other invasive scans that most every cancer survivor has to endure. For me, for now, it is every six months. Seems like ALL THE TIME. But, really, it is better than every three months. So far. So Good.

Three and a half years being cancer free gives one a feeling of false bravado.  Like...this whole thing is part of my past. So my Oncologist walked in with a great big smile (as always) and was delighted to tell me that every thing in the lung was great, no hot spots the scar tissues are fine -- everything great.

Except.

This is where the infamous however clause comes in to play. There is a spot on the back of my tongue.  Actually, it is way down in my throat. Then very clinically the Dr. says,  lung cancer survivors have a higher propensity for head and neck cancer. The shock mode comes to the fore very easily for me now and I take a minute or two to say -- yeah, but we can fix it right? Yes we can. But first...

the biopsy. We need confirmation.

A week later I am in the ENT's office and he is probing, and squirting stuff and examining etc. Yep. It's something alright. I will schedule a biopsy at the hospital next week. Here's your instructions.  Call me if you have questions. There's the exit.

Well, maybe it wasn't quite that abrupt, but shock will do that to you.

The procedure only took a couple of hours and I was surprised that I felt pretty alright afterward. It made me question why I needed to hire a caregiver for the first 24 hours, but I did. If I have learned anything at all from my cha-cha with cancer its that you don't put yourself through any unnecessary risk if you don't have to. A few hours later I was beginning to see why I might want someone around to help me. The drugs and the pain make for a bad combination.  Anyway, I was able to sleep mostly through the night and the next day I experienced the significant pain that was to be my constant companion for the next ten days or so. I was learning to enjoy smoothies and mashed potatoes.  I actually discovered (for the second time) Stouffers Mac and Cheese...hands down the BEST!  Well, don't forget, the pain, the drugs and my limited food options.

So I can barely drink coffee, forget all my favorite crunchy snacks, I am lucky to get any regular soft food down for two weeks. I can't tell you how many times I sent a silent grateful prayer up to the Gods that I discovered Gelato on my trip to Florence several years ago. This is how one passes the waiting time until the results come in.  The appointment was Friday. Fortunately, I not only had my Meals on Wheels run to keep me occupied, I discovered that they had expanded it a bit and my normal 1.5 hour run took over 2.5 hours.  You have to be grateful for these little blessings.  Of course it meant that I would have no time for lunch, but I wasn't all that hungry anyway.

The visit was pretty short. The Dr. came in smiled and while handing me the copies of the results said it looks like you are cancer free, it was only inflammation of some sort. Well, now I am in shock again, but this time of a different sort. Wait, what? Really? He went over the findings and said unless I have trouble he doesn't expect to see me again.

Well, thank you very much.  Really.

Thank you very much.

How was your month?

Finally...Atlas Safe Room

I can, with confidence, say that I am no longer intimidated by tornadoes.  The one that came through central Arkansas a couple of weeks ago scared the begeebses out of me. I went looking for a solution.I discovered Atlas Safe Rooms from of all places, Joplin, Missouri. The room exceed federal standards for surviving an EF5 tornado and if everything collapses around you, it is possible to remove a wall or ceiling so you can get out of the safe room and not be held captive because of debris on the unit.  That was all I needed to see.
Sign me up!
They came at 9:00AM as promised and were done with the installation by 10:AM as promised. I needed to do my meals on wheels run that day, so the schedule was a little tight, but everything went along swimmingly.  See how easy they make it look!

They were installing two units on Friday, mine is the small lump closest to the truck.

 I really got the feeling that installing the unit was the best thing I could do to "Protect my World".

 In moments they had a couple of the wall units up and bolted together. It was easy to  see that they had done this many times before.

 The door...that baby weighs 500 lbs, and all three guys were necessary to get it off the truck and into the garage for installation.

This is Dave. He is the man to drill the pilot holes for bolting the unit through the cement floor of the garage. He made it look easy! He was also hamming it up a little for me too!

This is the bolt that they use. once the hole is drilled the bolt is hammered in and then the drill bit turns the bolt and the flange that he is holding forces the end up and outward so it grabs the insides of the hole and exerts force along the sides so it cannot budge.  I thought it was pretty cool.

So, okay, even though I have this room, I am not so anxious to actually experience a tornado.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2013

I decided to make a butternut squash galette, to serve with the leg of lamb that I was making for thanksgiving dinner. As you can see, I had a little help from Woody...he just loves to get into whatever it is that I am cooking. Truth be told...he loves veggies

After I baked the squash I compiled the galette...
that required a good pastry dough (read that as Pillsbury dough boy store bought)
a mix of ricotta cheese and roasted garlic as a first layer, then the squash mixed with roasted shallots and spices...

After folding it up, top it off with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle the edges with some chopped fresh rosemary...an then into the oven.

Now, on to the leg of lamb. This baby marinated overnight in olive oil, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper. I did not use lemon, because I did not want any chemical cooking going on.

As you can see, the dinner was spectacular! The string beans were only boiled, and so were nothing to write home about, but everything else was really good!

Thankful for good friends, good food and good health.  What more could anyone ask?

A Bunch of Little Projects

Even a new house eventually needs work. I have skipped along for seven years now and haven't done diddly squat around here, and it was starting to show. The gate on my perimeter fence is all but falling apart, wind blows in through my front door, I REALLY need to get a platform built to put my TV on so I can slide the DVD player underneath and it sure would be nice to have knobs and handles on my kitchen cabinets. I am not complaining. I was just making a list and wondering if there is anyone out there who might want to fix these things.

I happened to be looking at the back section of the newspaper and noticed in the services section several handymen listed and figured, my list is long enough, I will call one of these guys. To my utter surprise the fellow I called stopped by the same day and made the rounds with me for all my projects wants. He seemed ok with the gate repair, the new storm door was right up his alley, but when we got to the "build me a wood platform for the TV" he sort of commented under his breath that I could probably find one already built. The knobs and handles for the kitchen cabinets got the response "I guess it IS kind of hard to drill a straight and level hole". (for the record it is NOT...it IS hard to to measure and get every one perfectly centered and placed). And with that he left saying he would get back to me.

About three days later, when I had already been summoned for jury duty I got a voicemail from him saying I could go and  order the storm door from Ace Hardware. Not know which one exactly, I called and asked for the specifics. His return voicemail said Lowes would have what I wanted and that they could likely do the job for less than the $200 installation fee he would charge. Fine.

I went to Lowes and found a nice door and sure enough, they will do the job for $150, works for me. While I was there I got all the knobs and handles for my kitchen cabinets and drawers, in anticipation of his showing up soon to handle all the other projects. I was pleasantly expectant. I just love getting this stuff done.

Days passed,  jury duty finally ended, and I still hadn't heard from him, but I wasn't too disappointed, since one of the two biggest projects was already in the works. I know this stuff takes time. Then I realized that weeks had passed, and it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to see the repairman, and I pretty much left to my own resources. OK. Fine.

But what am I going to do with all this kitchen hardware now? In a moment brilliance (for me) I sat down and searched for how to install hardware and found several videos. Pretty good as far as it went, but I was looking for how to get these things installed, so they were all even...I am a Libra you know, anything less than perfect could be the death of me! So, I was thinking about making some sort of template, but all the drawers were sized just a little differently and my poor brain could not handle that. Still basking in the moment of brilliance, I searched for templates and Lo and Behold! I'll bet you didn't know they actually sell them at Lowes for about $3 each; one for drawers and one for doors! Empowered, I head out to Lowes and got my set of templates and the rest, as they say, is history! Knobs and handles installed, and I think you know, you are listening to one happy camper.

The installation of my new storm door is set for two days, and I still have the TV platform issue to resolve. So, off I go again, searching for TV stands and sure enough I find a beautiful one! Very sturdy, very, just what I need, so I order it. In the meanwhile I am really wondering how I am going to lift the TV to get he stand under it all by myself. Since my illness I have the strength of sissy-girl! Well, I figure if the stars and planets aligned enough for me to find the right platform, then they will provide a solution as well. 

The stand arrives the morning of the day the storm door is going to be installed, and all I have to do is assemble it. Easier said than done, but I managed and it truly is a thing of beauty. I even had time to paint the triangle above the fireplace that had been so abused over the years; the surface was mostly white from the plaster. I tidied that up and knew there was no way I could possibly lift the TV alone. But, my plan was to get everything in place and hope that the door installer would take pity on me and help with it. Sure enough he did! All the projects are done!

Oh, yeah, all except the one that started this whole thing: the fence gate. I am still on the hunt for that solution, and I know it is out there, somewhere, just waiting for me to find it. And that grout around my kitchen counter? You are next! I already have grout and the sponge, your days are numbered!

Lunch with Mom...sort of

So this is what happens when you walk away from your sandwich for just a minute or two at my house...

Well, one would think that I never feed the little guy, but I do and lots. He just prefers whatever I am eating. This happens to be a liverwurst sandwich...he cannot help himself!

Me Showing off my new apron, cooking attitude and curly hair!

What's Your Favorite at the Fair?

That is the question that my friend asked just as we were pulling into the parking lot for opening night of the Washington County Fair 2012.  Like a knee jerk response: The Chickens! 

I was surprised when there were so many different favorites, which just goes to show, how we all have our preferences.

So here are my favorite pics from this years fair.  Hope you enjoy!

 Not just any old chickens either!

 Chickens with a little class!

I've heard about men and their horses,,,but men and their pigs?

Recycling jacked up a notch or two!

I was in the Mood for Donuts

And I had just read this really good recipe in the local newspaper.  Actually, I cut out the recipe and placed it ever so lovingly in my King Arthur Cookbook.  I always like to compare a couple of recipes before I actually make something for the first time.  I need to know that the basic ingredients are a common thread in several recipes and then I move on with confidence. Well wouldn't you know-- it was happy as a clam right there in my cookbook and the very day I decided I was going to make donuts...right after my nap...

Well, what you see is my cockatiel deciding that the newspaper sticking out of my cookbook needed to be shredded!  So he got through the top margin and the recipe title and almost obliterated the first item on the ingredient list! I made do with what was left.

I think it turned out pretty good!  Not quite as cakey as I would like, but quite edible.

Little did I know the recipe would yield 48 donuts.  Gees!  It's only me here!  So what could I do but try freezing them.  I stuck one in a snack baggie and froze it.  The next day I put it in the microwave for 20 seconds and then in the toaster oven and toasted for about 1.5 minutes.  OMG!  as good as the day I made them!

So it looks like I will have me some really good donuts for quite a while!  Yippee!

Masking Things Over

The local library got together with a local art therapist and the result was a two day paper mache mask making extravaganza. It was clear that some of us had worked with this medium before, it was a first for me and while it was a lot of fun it was also a little intimidating because everything about it was counter-intuitive for me. We started with a glob of clay and were supposed to make an inverted image of the mask that would be the finished product. I did not take nearly enough clay to produce a mask of any depth, so I ended up fashioning what was to be a sunflower face...

My flat little face made of clay was the form for the paper mache that was glued over the form and then left to dry. Once dry, the mask is removed from the clay form and the painting can begin. Here you see the clay form in the foreground and the paper mache mask in the background.

My friend Carol was having a good time and used some brilliant colors to bring out the features that showed the character in her mask. As we started to finish with the painting and then adding the cloth, nets, feathers, streamers etc., our instructor Joanne Kaminsky went to work creating a head-band that the mask is attached to and is suspended in front of the face instead of being banded right on your face like a Halloween mask. I thought that was pretty cool, it allows for placing the opening for the eyes anywhere instead of right there on each side of the nose. On a very large mask, the eye openings could be in the nose nostrils.

So here is my mask, it turned out looking like a sun-flower-chocolate chip cookie; I guess you have to use your imagination to see the specks as sunflower seeds!

You never know who will show up for these sorts of things. This lady who sat directly opposite me looked SO familiar. It took a while and then it hit me! She was the lady who massaged my sore body after I had fallen off the roof at the Habitat for Humanity project in Lafayette, Louisiana! I guess it doesn't matter what the job is...there is always stress.

Fatima had some very colorful interpretations to include in her mask!

It was a lot of fun and now that I learned a little bit about mask making I have been thinking that maybe...just maybe I would like to try it again! This time with a little more know-how before I start. And so, yesterday, Carol asked if I was interested in trying another mask, she wants to do another and she is recruiting all her friends. Wonder what my imagination will come up with this time?!

Lamb-A-Poloosa!

So my friend decided to have a Lamb-A-Polooza this year. It is an open house held on her small farm. She has close to 30 Sheep, 1 Chicken and 9 adopted chicks, around 7 Guinea Hens, 1 Ram, 1 Llama at least 2 Geese and several other critters that somehow didn't make it to my inventory of livestock! She invited volunteers from the Circle of Life Hospice organization (where I volunteer) and a bunch of friends. We chatted and snacked but most of all we enjoyed the animals

Actually, it looks like she did a lot of animal enjoying too! If that little lamb doesn't look happy I don't know what does!

She got a reward for being so well-behaved

Here is momma chicken who was brooding on two non-fertile eggs for 3 weeks and then finally a neighbor decided that she needed to offer some chicks for adoption so that Momma chicken could play the role even if the eggs she sat on were not productive!  She seems to be a fine Mommy!

What is a party without chooch the Llama?  He just walks around and makes sure nobody manhandles the lamb-ies.  They all felt so protected.

Sheep, lamb-ies or Llamas, they all come when you have food in your hand.

And a good time was had by all!

Celebrating at the Dentist Office

So, some of you may have noticed that I have be eerily silent for the last five or so months.  That is because immediately after my trip to Death Valley I found out that I had lung cancer, Stage 3a.  The news, which I received while coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room really shocked me. After they removed 70% of my right lung I had three or so weeks of recovery before I started Chemotherapy which lasted for another three months. To say the last five months have been difficult would be an understatement.  But I had my last chemo on February 28th, all my scans last week and the consultation with the Oncologist resulted in a clean bill of health right now.  That is music to my ears.  I am not as strong as I was, but I am doing a lot of stuff that amazes me, given what I have been through.  Everyday is a little better...I just keep working on that.

 Today was teeth cleaning day...chemo can mess with your body and the general condition of your mouth, so I was actually looking forward to it, more so than usual.  but my hygienist, who has been giving me moral support throughout had a little surprise for me today.

 I had called her last week to tell her my good news and she had her work space all decorated in celebration of my good news!  She is such a treasure!

 Streamers and balloons all around.  I had to be careful where I stepped!

 A present, V8 Fusion health drink, party hats and noise-makers...it was almost like New Years Eve!

She is REALLY happy for me!  So am I!

Stay tuned for some fun stuff that I have on tap...I am making every effort to get a lot more of that into my life going forward.

I Want to Change my Major

After all these years I think I finally figured it out... I want to be a professional photographer of Llamas, sheepies and lambs eating out of my hand -- or someone elses'.

c'mon...give me some more

What about me, don't forget me...I've been really good.  Honest!

I would follow you anywhere, anytime...as long as there are nibbles in your pocket!

Llamas, like all the other furry creatures are not particular, they will go to anyone showing love, but mostly anyone showing any kind of food!

Now where did she go this time?  It isn't always about food you know!

It Just Looks So Wrong

It was one of those "suped" up motorcycles...the front wheel was stretched out about 12 feet from the seat. He actually managed to get a piece of two spots and the area with the yellow diagonal lines.  I did not hang around to see the disabled person retrieve it, I doubt he was...at least physically.

Caught in the Act...

It all started out innocently enough; I thought I would go and get gas for the lawn mower, since I would be needing it soon and also get some onions for the chicken and dumplings I planned on making.  That was it, just a quick loop with two stops I should have been back in a jiffy.

I got to the new Walmart Market and got my onions, and some nice romaine lettuce for a salad.  A quick turn around and I was at the gas station, but the place was packed.  Sometimes that happens, but certainly not at the more expensive place in town.  OK, two pumps are down and the rest (8) seem to be occupied.  Two loops around looking for anyone leaving soon and I found my spot.  Red can in hand I make friends with the pump, at least I tried to.

But that pump wasn't having any of it!  It licked my credit card, winked at me, offered me several types of gas, but when I squeezed the pump so gently...nothing happened.  That continued for several minutes.  A new guy pulled in on the other side of the pump and I wished him luck getting any gas for HIS red can.  He said the pumps had been slow several days ago; it took five minutes or so.  With that he took his can and walked to other pumps hoping for better luck!  I told him this wasn't the only game in town, and took off for another station.

So three minutes later I had my red can full and saved a big 3 cents a gallon in the process.  Got in the car and decided to take the back roads home instead of the busier main road.  That is when it happened.  Turtle.

Right there in the road a turtle not going very far or fast.  Argh...I hate that.  I took a chance and stopped the car right there in the middle of the road, got out and picked up the little guy and placed him on the other side (the direction he was heading) and quickly got back in the car...no traffic yet! 

As I was getting in, I spotted a couple walking toward me in the street.  He said "I'm glad you did that", yes I said, I hate when I see turtles in the street.  His friend said what?  he explained and by then they were next to Mr. Turtle, he said "poor guy".

Doing Without

Last Thursday the morning seemed to slip away from me before I realized how late it was getting.  What drove that fact home was the fact that my morning shower was not as warm as usual...I waited too long and wound up taking my shower outside of the pre-selected "on times" for my water heater.  I learned soon after I moved here to put a timer on my water heater or pay dearly every month for hot water that I wasn't using.  So, I have learned to take care of certain things early in the day.

 I was out for the day so it wasn't until I started to clean my dinner dishes that I noticed, again, that the water wasn't very warm.  I went to check the water heater and the pilot light seemed to be out.  Finished up the dishes after heating some water and then I proceeded to read the manual on how to start the water heater.  Of course, I read the instructions right there in front of the water heater in the garage; it was only 98 degrees at the time.  Sweat was dripping down my face when, with my newly acquired water heater knowledge, I went through the process of turning off and then turning on, step by step, my water heater.  Nothing.

I tried it again...still nothing.  So now I have to find a ...well at that point I wasn't sure what I needed.  Did I need a heating and a/c guy or did I need a plumber, jeez this home ownership is not the fun it is cracked up to be!  OK, I decided I needed a plumber, at least in the telephone book plumbers advertise that they repair water heaters, so I went with that.  I wasn't getting any warm fuzzies from any of the ads though, so I decided to search for a plumber online.  I found a couple pretty quickly and then looked a little further for recommendations.  It didn't take long to zero in on what seemed to be a good one.   I  made the call and left a message and hoped I would hear back soon. 

I did and the plan was for him to stop by the next morning; he said he would have to rearrange his schedule though, so he would call me as he started the trip to my place.  I was feeling pretty good that I was able to put things together so quickly.  I got up early and quickly took a cold shower and waited for that call.  It came at 7:50 AM, I was pretty happy with the way things were coming together.

Tommy took the cover off the opening to the heater and doodled with the pilot light.  it didn't work for him either.  I was feeling a little satisfaction, at least I got that part right!  So he doodled some more and disassembled the auto pilot mechanism and said he would have to drive some 30 miles to a supplier to get the part. 

He assured me he could be back in time to fix it before I had to leave at 11:30. He said he had to get it done before I left because he was going away with his wife this weekend. So I was still feeling pretty good about the way things were going.

But about an hour later Tommy called and said "You sure aren't going to like what I am about to tell you"...he said the supply house did not have the part and would not have it till Monday.  Now under normal circumstances I would have said something to show my anger or dissatisfaction but surprisingly I responded "Well, there is only one thing I can say."  "Have a good weekend."  He chuckled a little and I could hear the sound of surprise in his voice when he said he would see me on Monday.

Saturday while I was making coffee and gazing out the kitchen window, it occurred to me that the garden hose had been sitting in the sun for several hours and the first couple of gallons of water would likely be hot or very warm.  I grabbed a couple of big bowls and filled them up with very nice warm water.  Took them into the shower and proceeded to take a makeshift shower that wasn't bad at all.  I was amazed that I could shower this way and use about a gallon of water.  This was decidedly better than using the cold water straight from the shower head.  Actually, my hot water needs are not so great and my work arounds  were more than adequate for what I needed to do.  Laundry was not on my schedule for a couple of more days.  I had the chance to reflect on  some ideas  that I read about in a book titled "A guide to the Good Life" by William Irvine.  This is a book about stoicism and among the principles that are discussed is deliberately doing without something, that we might normally take for granted.  For example, deliberately taking a cold shower, or walking to the store instead of driving or doing without some modern convenience by choice. The idea being, if one does this by choice and in enough instances, should a difficult time come to pass where our comforts are no longer available for us, it will have  less of an impact on our tranquility.

I think I actually experienced that this weekend.  The water heater was not fixed until Tuesday; it was five days without hot water, but using the idea of a makeshift shower and heating the water for washing dishes was really simple and easy to do.  It was not a big deal and now that it is fixed I feel a certain confidence in knowing that I am not as dependent  as I thought I was.  My tranquility was pretty much undisturbed for the whole five days.  I suppose when one can go through life facing the trials and tribulations without having tranquility disturbed, that would be called success.

HH Dalai Lama Visit to Fayetteville, Arkansas

This past Wednesday was a very special day. It was the day that the Dalai Lama came to visit Fayetteville, Arkansas and discuss nonviolence as the ultimate way to solving the worlds problems. In addition to his keynote presentation in the afternoon, there was a panel discussion held in the morning with

Sister Helen Prejean of the Congregation of St Joseph, who is perhaps best known for "Dead Man Walking An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States" as well as "The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions" which was inspired by her belief that several of those whose executions she witnessed were innocent. She has dedicated most of her life to the poor and powerless and has been working to abolish capital punishment for over 25 years.

Vincent Harding, who is an icon of America's Civil Rights movement, traveled to Atlanta where he met Martin Luther King, Jr and later worked toward the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The panel discussion can be seen here

His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has worked tirelessly for the betterment of the six million Tibetans who currently remain in Tibet, as well as those who have chosen to follow him. He has become a major spokesperson for human rights, environmental concerns and the practice of nonviolence in solving problems that range from the purely personal to the broadly political. He has also worked tirelessly to promote understanding and harmony among the world's religious traditions.

The photo opportunities were not so good but I got a couple of shots that I thought were worth sharing.

I was sitting directly in front of a huge screen where the speakers were being projected.  Here I must have gotten the shot when Vincent Harding was about to speak and the previous shot of Sister Prejean and HH Dalai Lama were fading into the background.
I like it because it shows visually all three in harmony, with one voice for nonviolence.

This is a shot of His Holiness just before receiving his Honorary Degree from Chancellor Gearhart.

This is just prior to the opening of the morning session. 

The afternoon presentation "Turning Swords into Ploughshares" can be seen here

Just Lazy I Guess

I've been a little lazy lately. There have been a couple of good things happening which I will write about soon, but I guess I have just needed to chill out for a couple of days.
I think it helped because I seem to be feeling a lot better and my strength finally seems to be coming back! For a while I thought I was going to be stuck in some kind of funk as a result of my earlier accident, but I think I am rounding that corner and will back to my old self soon. Yippee!
So be patient, I have some good stuff that will be up soon. Probably not today though.

A Penny for Your Thoughts...

Last week, the plan was to meet some friends at a local strip mall and they would drive to a little theater in Rogers where Arsenic and Old Lace was being performed.  The weather was perfect and as usual I arrived very early.  It wasn't a problem since the area was relatively active, I enjoyed a little people watching while I waited.

I positioned myself just outside a Barnes and Noble bookstore and it wasn't long before two women walked out and headed for their car.  One of the women bent down just after stepping down from the curb, as if to pick something up.  It was a penny.  She picked it up, looked at it, commented to her friend and then carefully placed it back on the pavement.  They kept walking.

Five minutes passed when another couple (man and woman) exited and took the same route.  The woman noticed the coin, bent down, picked it up, smiled and said something to the man pocketing the coin.  Just at that moment...everything was right with the world!

I have no doubt the penny was facing heads up.  That is the position for good luck and heavenly angels.  What a fabulous random act of kindness.

Culture Day at a local school

Before my fateful trip to Lafayette, Louisiana, I spent a day with our local Tibetan group bringing their culture to the children of a local elementary school. Of course, the effort is led by Geshe Dorjee Thupton, but each table needed a few people to help teach about the culture.

There were Tibetan clothes to be tried on, various cultural icons and then, of course the sand mandelas.

I was actually pretty amazed that I looked this good in Tibetan garb; Don't forget this is on top of my usual jeans and tee shirt
Another in our group showing a typical males outfit...Geshe is making sure to get the right fit!

While I was not able to escape the native clothing demonstration; my post for the day was at the sand mandela table. It seemed to be the most popular one; who could say no to the opportunity to spread different colored sand on a pre-marked board and make pictures?


Here is the board of the mandelas; see the faint outlines of design? The spaces would be filled painstakingly with sand. Grain by grain, until the whole pattern is completed...well, that is how the monks do it. The children...they have a different approach


This little girl was so adorable. She was so serious about doing it right and I could not resist getting a shot with her tongue placed just so. You have to do that to get the sand to go just so, right?
Once it becomes a group effort well, it seems the details are lost but lots of fun is had nevertheless.