Week 48

7 July

These brightly colored prayer wheels belong to the “old-people temple” in McLeod Ganj because this temple is easier for older people to get to than the large temple at the end of Temple Road near the Dalai Lama’s residence. A Buddhist worshipper walks clockwise (in a pradakshina direction) around the temple and spins each prayer wheel as she passes. The words are a six-syllable Sanskrit mantra borrowed into Tibetan.

8 July

This is the second time we have seen a car with a tire over the edge of the narrow, steep-sided concrete roads in McLeod Ganj. The drivers of the cars behind who want to continue up the road are most interested in helping the car get back on the road.

9 July

Stephen’s Hindi teacher Rita, whose husband teaches yoga classes, went with me and several of the BYU students down to Dharamsala to pick out fabric and order ourselves an Indian salwar kameez. My selection is the gold and turquoise on top. The fabrics come in sets of three that are designed to make a pleasing combination for the top, the pyjama bottoms, and the scarf. We each paid just over $13 for the fabric and just under $3 for the labor at the neighboring shop.

10 July

The mother cow reigns supreme in India. Cows and bulls are protected (and never eaten). They always have the right of way in traffic and are not goaded or disturbed. They are buried with a ceremony when they die.

11 July

Here is the line at the local ATM—this is by far the best way to get foreign currency when traveling (when it works). We get charged $1 at the credit union for each transaction. We can withdraw 10,000 Rupees at a time, about $225. One typically pays for everything with cash here.

12 July

These mudras, or hand gestures, at the Delhi airport have specific meanings. We see them when we pass the transit security in going from one domestic flight to another.

13 July

Stephen and I spent the morning on a train from Bhubaneshwar to Tilaru Junction in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. We were met by a driver (as we had anticipated), but somehow he was not clear on how he was going to get paid (we had prepaid through a travel agency), so it took two hours and an occasional phone call before he was willing to take us to our next destination, the temple at Mukhalingam. This street was our view while we waited in the fairly oppressive heat.

Week 47

30 June

Further travel adventures in India—our goal was to ride on train 19224 from Jodhpur to Abu Road. Although the original posting directed us to track 5, eventually the information was changed to track 3. With few English speakers around, we were afraid we might board the wrong train or the wrong car. The only individual who truly helped us was an elderly man selling chai (tea). He said in very good English that this is where your train will be, and this is where to stand to get on the right car. He didn’t even hang around to get paid.

After seeing the exquisitely carved Dilwara Jain temples at Mount Abu (where we were not allowed to take photographs), we relaxed for the afternoon and walked around Lake Nakki.

1 July

Hawa Mahal is a distinctive landmark of Jaipur. The Palace of the Winds is a five-story, delicately honeycombed, pink sandstone structure built to enable ladies of the royal household to view the life of the city.

2 July

Doing laundry in our apartment includes turning on the hot water heater a few minutes in advance, scrubbing the clothes with detergent in a bucket, rinsing them, wringing them out, and hanging them on the lines outside our balcony to dry. The next critical step is to listen for the rain to start so we can dash out and retrieve the clothes before they become even wetter.

3 July

Here is the group of BYU students joining us in our apartment for sacrament meeting: Rachel, Megan, Kristen, Julia, Matt, Bonnie, and Elizabeth.

4 July

We went with the students to Nick’s restaurant for apple (and raisin) pie and ice cream to celebrate the Fourth of July. The pie was very tasty (even though the crust wasn’t particularly tender and flaky). We especially love and appreciate our country when we are away from it.

5 July

This little device is called a tata photon⁺, a mobile broadband service. After a frustrating week, it now enables us (more or less) to get on the Internet in our apartment (and supposedly throughout India). The locals are not particularly knowledgeable about getting it to work with Macintosh computers. Now we don’t need to go to an Internet café or a Wi-Fi café to send or receive emails, post on my blog, check the state of our finances, etc.

6 July

Besides being the Dalai Lama’s 76th birthday (we are living in the same town where he resides), it was Shagrun’s 3rd birthday. She is the daughter of Rita, Stephen’s Hindi teacher, partially visible behind Shagrun.

Week 46

23 June

This unique plant in the Delhi Airport caught my eye, so I forgot to pay attention to what I did with our boarding passes after clearing security. I must have dropped them while taking the picture—Stephen’s pass was turned in promptly, but it took a while longer for me to get mine.

24 June

We hike a very steep road up into McLeod Ganj (said McCloud Gaunj) when we want to shop or use the Internet or Wi-Fi. We’re still learning where things are. The concrete roads sometimes have quite a dropoff to the side.

25 June

This picture does not fairly portray our bus experience from Dharamsala to McLeod Ganj (it makes the ride look much too ordinary and pleasant). We were packed in like sardines, dripping salty sweat from our faces, and holding tightly onto a bar so as not to sway into our closest neighbors on the curves.

26 June

This lovely Buddhist Tibetan monk, Geshe Yonten, decided to bring several children from his impoverished area in northwestern India to a monastery in Manali to be educated. The documentary we viewed on the white sheet, Journey from Zanskar, portrays the courage of the parents in sending their children away for 10 to 15 years with no hopes of seeing them in that time (some children were as young as four); the treacherous journey over mountain passes (first by foot and then by bus); and the eagerness of the children to progress beyond their parents’ illiteracy.

27 June

Here I am with my laptop in Café Budan to take advantage of wi-fi capabilities. The price was choco-chip cookies (more like hardened biscuits with chunks of chocolate) and bottled water.

28 June

This teamwork really needs to be seen to be understood. Two men were moving sand from the middle of the road to improve the passage. The worker with his back to us wielded a shovel that had a rope tied to the base of the handle. The other worker grasped the other end of the rope, and with a swinging motion in tandem, they would scoop up the sand and toss it onto another part of the pile. They worked rhythmically and quickly.

29 June

One of the main reasons we are in India is to visit panchayatana temples (see 19 January). Here we are at the Surya temple in Osian, Rajasthan (on a hot, dry day). The central temple is surrounded by four smaller shrines, two if which are visible in this picture. Intriguing features of the temples are the presence of running water nearby (in earlier centuries), the temple being built on a raised platform, the movement of ascension to the central shrine, and in another nearby temple, bright-colored threads and ribbons tied to a fence as petitions for bearing children or receiving some other blessing.

Week 45

16 June

Gloria left this beautiful coffee table for us when she left for Chile. It was one of her favorite pieces of furniture.

17 June

Cayelle, when told she could dance in her new smocked dress, decided she liked it after all. The straps were the most difficult part of the dress to make (after the one side seam)—which is not to insinuate any great difficulty—but they add a great touch.

18 June

Lora, bless her heart, offered to help me do one of my tasks in exchange for helping her with sewing projects, so we tackled the back patio. When we were finished, it looked terrific (compared to what it has been for too long).

19 June

And here is the cute apron for Maya that she got in exchange.

20 June

Jennifer and Ryan held an early birthday party for Cassius since we’ll be gone on his actual birthday. He is a sweet, very good-natured boy.

21 June

What—no picture, you say? You mean while you were losing hours flying from Salt Lake to Chicago to Delhi that you didn’t get your camera out? Shame on you—such gorgeous pictures of snoozing people, boring airports, and airline food you could have taken.

22 June

We’re back in India—this is our hotel room in Delhi. In this room I closed the bathroom door only to discover that it was locked from the inside. We had to call the reception for help at 11 at night.

Week 44

9 June

On our way into eastern Arizona, we visited the Painted Deseret and Petrified Forest. The petrified wood is harder than steel and can be quite striking in colors and design.

10 June

One of our favorite places at our family reunion in Snowflake, Arizona, was this Smith Memorial Home; Jesse Nathaniel Smith, my great-grandfather died about the time it was completed, but there is a room dedicated to each of his five wives. Dad is flanked here by his eight children in order of age, left to right.

11 June

We were so eager to be back home after our weeks away that we got up early and drove straight home. It was great to see Lora and Jennifer and their children again. We’ve been able to see all our children and grandchildren in the past couple of months.

12 June

We had piles of mail to catch up on after our sojourn away from home (and this doesn’t include the many books Stephen opened).

13 June

Tupperware home parties—does that ring a bell? Well, years ago I purchased a couple of sets of bell tumblers in the basic colors of bright red, blue, yellow, and green. Somewhere along the way I also acquired a purple one. The famous Tupperware lifetime warranty is that items can be replaced if they are chipped or cracked, so look what I got in replacement for some of my old tumblers!

14 June

You may not recognize this area—this is the botany/duck pond on BYU’s south campus minus the ducks. The entire southern area has been renovated with waterfalls and beautiful walks. I think the ducks will find their way back when the construction is finished.

15 June

Lora was so kind as to prepare this family tree for our heritage family reunion in Arizona. I believe this represents all my ancestors on this line for whom we have a picture. Lynette and I have spent the past year or so collecting great stories about them. The moral is that if we want our posterity to know about us, we need to write about ourselves.

Week 43

2 June

Stephen squats by some of the Civil War books he purchased at Givens Books in Salem, Virginia—he went through 35 boxes of books to see which books the BYU library didn’t own. He purchased 8 boxes of books to bring back. By the way, our country is now commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

3 June

Here are two people I came to know at SVU—Pat, the secretary to the president, and Vivien, one of the volunteers at the desk.

4 June

We lived in 303 Carriage Town House, the second unit from the left (see Stephen’s bicycle) for the time we were at SVU.

5 June

Gayle was kind enough to invite several of us to her home for dinner on our last evening in Buena Vista. The knight on the porch is an indication that she is a significant supporter of the university.

6 June

At the Stones River battlefield museum in Tennessee outside of Murfreesboro, we learned more about this significant Civil War battle (31 December 1862–2 January 1863) that determined military control of central Tennessee in favor of the Union. One-third of each army was killed, captured, or wounded—particularly high casualties.

7 June

Our drive west brought us to 97°F weather in Sallisaw, Oklahoma (preparing us for our upcoming trip to India).

8 June

Carrying on with our family’s tradition, Stephen and I like to visit capitol buildings on our travels. Here is a striking view of the dome in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Week 42

26 May

The front room of our apartment features an entertainment center (which is usually closed) and a coffee table, which serves as a place to collect books, papers, and laptops.

27 May

My morning walk can bring many views—this view of the sky with the jet stream was pretty spectacular.

28 May

I forget what a small temple is like until we enter one again. The Raleigh North Carolina Temple has the baptismal font at one end, the dressing rooms on either side of the endowment rooms in the middle, and the celestial room at the other end. The important thing is that it has been dedicated for the purpose of making covenants with the Lord, both for the living and for those who have passed on.

29 May

I like this picture of Rod, Bruce, Madison, Allen, and Clayne because they all have big smiles—they are enjoying their time at SVU, either as president, provost, or volunteer teachers.

30 May

This is a view of Thomas Jefferson’s beloved Monticello from the back—I think this view is nicer than in the front. We enjoyed seeing his Great Clock (with two faces—one on the outside porch and one directly behind in the entryway), his library, his polygraph machine with two pens (to make a duplicate copy of what he was writing—a precursor to carbon paper and copy machines), and other innovative features.

31 May

Stephen took his class (and families and significant others) to Buena Vista’s answer to Los Hermano—Don Tequilos.

1 June

Is this supposed to be a painless way to get your taxes and hair done at the same time--tax office and beauty shop together?