Rest Stop Lumch

Late post.  this is during second day of travel at rest stop south of Salem, Oregon in Willamette Valley.  we stopped to eat some of the fresh foods brought from home.  Corn from our garden and "Heaven on Toast".  The photos tell it all.

feasting on fresh corn on the cob and broiled figs on toast

Corn on the cob from our garden.  we brought it with us.  Yummy

Take ciabatta, add Dolce (sweet) gorgonzola, then layer with figs.  Broil to crispiness.  this is in fact.."Heaven on toast".

Heaven on Toast

And our view from the lunch table.  Charli on right in case you were wondering...

Spiritual Renewal week over. Now OFF to Oregon

Wonderful week of renewing and deepening our inner life here at village while the sun shined and the smoke from fires occasionally drove us indoors.  However outdoor amphitheater is wonderful in summer.  about 400+ people here for week of inspirational talks, mediations, evening entertainment with concerts and plays.

Now off to Oregon to visit and volunteer at the new Ananda Laurelwood campus west of Portland for a few days, then head over to Coast for a leisurely trip back home.  Stay tuned for some photos.  Here are a few from past couple days.

The lotus blossom on Lotus Lake in front of the Amphitheater

Chanting before class

The Choir tuning us in for Swami's last talk

Listening to Swami in Amphitheater

Blessing Swami at end

Swami Kriyananda, the Founder of Ananda Village listening to choir

a moment of humor

Speaking to us all

Satya, who has lived at Ananda since 1967.

Battery replacement

came to stop by O'Reilly auto parts. Where I left jeep running, dashed in and bought a battery, jumper cables and wrench. Whew.. Drove to parking lot by Sopa. Parked.. Met up with birthday party. Afterwards tried to jumpstsrt the jeep.. not happening. Some spent 45 minutes replacing battery with new one. It started of course then.
Made it home finally.  no photos of me, barechested, at 10 PM at night replaceing battery.

A visit to San Francisco

Originally we were staying home for the month of July but when some friends suggested we attend a Giants baseball game in San Francisco, we decided to go to the bay area over night.  Arriving in foggy conditions I am reminded of the Mark Twain quote that went something like: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco".  As usual, we didn't dress properly and it was cool.  We ate too much food.  I dropped a perfectly good piece of pizza on the ground. the music was too loud and we were grateful for our earplugs.  AND the Giants one the game.  "Woo Hoo" as my friend likes to say.

View from my seat.  The amazon woman in front of me never stopped talking to her daughter.

They turned down the lights for fireworks in the fog!

We visited the California Academy of Sciences and De Young Museum.  I love the penquins and this one penquin was walking around on the rocks trying to find a place to dive into the water.  He just couldn't do it.  The crowd was yelling "JUMP, JUMP".  He was quite a tease.

Penguin at Calif. Academy of Sciences

There were about 10 ostrich chicks in a special area feeding.  Only 17 days old.  Really neat.

17 day old Ostrich chick.  Body about the size of a large chicken

Saturday we drove over to the Marina area to visit the palace of the fine arts then hopped a bus down to fishermen's wharf for lunch and visited the Liberty ship and a World War II submarine.  Impressive.

Juvenile Night Heron at Palace of Fine Arts

Reflections on a Bristlecone Pine Forest

If you have ever spent any time in the Eastern High Sierra mountains you have no doubt heard of the White Mountains and the Bristlecone Pine trees.  We make an annual journey to where you can drive to the parking lot at over 11,000 ft elevation.

One of the tree trunks 

It takes a good 2.5 hours driving from Bishop to get to the Patriarch Grove. Winding roads up to the visitor center then another 45 minutes over dirt roads finds you slowly moving through these magnificent trees, the oldest living things on the planet.  The rocks are amazingly white, and vegetation sparse, yet when you look down close to the ground you find an amazing variety of tiny plants and insects.

Amazing wildflowers at 11,100 ft

Majestic and Very Very Old

We hike amongst the trees and go off trail over to another ridge half mile east.  We only saw 5 other people the whole day we were up there.  so close to the sky.  Truly a wonderous place on the planet.

Reflection on Sraddha's sunglasses.  That's me taking picture

More photos to come when I have time to process.