We came across this painted sign in Panauti as we completed a day hike from Namobuddha through small villages and rice fields. Gratitude is what I feel during these final days in Nepal. Gratitude for so many things… Mark and I both saying......Read More
On our last morning in Nepal, in ancient Bhaktapur, our carved wooden oval window looks over a scene of deeply rooted patterns and a rhythm of life that’s as unfamiliar to us as it is automatic to Newari’s here. How profoundly their or......Read More
Yesterday I went downtown to do a little local traveling as if I were on a Dragons trip; part of my re-entry plan! There’s so much of DC I simply haven’t explored. Under bright blue skies, I ended up at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial,......Read More
So, I returned last Sunday, along with Darrel, sadly leaving the rest of our group and beautiful Nepal behind. Ashrams and Artisans was a breathtaking, beautiful, inspiring and challenging trip. Our days were so richly full that I am still......Read More
A week after our Artisans And Ashrams group graduated and our adventures ended, Caroline and I are still in Nepal extending and assimilating what we learned with our fellow Dragons. We are eating dal bhat as well as global foods. I am wearing my......Read More
Each of us on this trip almost didn’t come. It was a detour from our normal flow. But we plunged in anyway and every day has held unexpected great adventures like a first run on a complex and fascinating river. We’ve used the metaphor of......Read More
I love Nepal as much for the incredible ice melting grins and faces lined with life spirit as for it’s top of the world mountains. Cameras don’t do justice. A joke, a toothy ear to ear grin or just deep lines of life like rings on an......Read More
Often times Nepal is just plain beautiful. No words. Except maybe a gasp and ‘very good’ – Ektam Ramro....Read More
I’m so appreciative of my fellow Dragons on this trip! As years pass, I’m generally more aware of the fascinating & unique fruit of which each human being seems to consist once they are peeled to whats deeper and beneath. It’s......Read More
We can barely believe that our time at the ashram has already nearly come to an end. We have meditated, chanted and practiced yoga. We have learned about subjects as diverse as philosophy, organic farming and Nepali dancing. We have avidly discussed......Read More
Just inside the western rim of Kathmandu Valley we’ve joined a Ashram perhaps confirming my parents worst fears short or me joining the circus. We learned to spool pashmina, were schooled in chipati-making by young experts, ate in silence,......Read More
A highlight of our homestay time is the opportunity to live and study with a Newari master artisan. Punya-ji comes from a long line of metalworkers and jewelry makers his workshop and business provide a rhythm of family life, with his wife Reena......Read More
My host “older brother” was born in this house (pictured) like his father was. He played marbles on the ground, joined his father to make offerings to the Buddha statue behind him, and ran around with his friends to temples everywhere in......Read More
The whole group has settled into their homestays and dived straight in to their independent study projects with master artisans. Some students are learning the meditative art of paubha painting, others are crafting jewelry from silver and precious......Read More
Independent Study Project (ISP)...Read More
Sometimes the universe aligns and we don’t know why. Divine intervention? Karma? Dharma? Unbelievable accident? Whatever the cosmology, whether plausible or not, it really does happen occasionally. In this picture I am standing next to my......Read More
