Mandala set-up, sand bowls (Tuesday afternoon/evening)

Monks chanting for wisdom and peace

Preparing the table

Black hat dancers

Black hat dance to dispel ignorance

Laying out the mandala in chalk

Laying out chalk outline

Completed chalk outline (Wednesday morning)

Sand painting

More sand painting

Yet more sand painting

Progress made by Thursday morning

This past week I attended the International Association of Buddhist Studies conference in Atlanta where some Tibetan monks constructed a sand mandala dedicated to Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom. The construction of a sand mandala takes a long time, a really long time, and since I came home on Friday, I wasn’t able to see the finished product. Nor was I able to see them deconstruct the mandala and pour the sand in the river. But here’s what I did get!

The first seven shots are from the dedication ceremony Tuesday evening. The ceremony included much chanting and horns and drums and multiphonic chanting and dancing. Then they started laying out the mandala in chalk. This was very detailed and mathematical. It wasn’t until the following day that they started putting the sand on the table.

I’ll try to write a more detailed post on my personal blog in a couple of days about what this ritual means for those interested.

Enjoy!

scott in a silly hat

processional

in there somewhere

the hood

proud parents

cake!

buddha cake!

I’ve finally gotten around to posting this images of my doctoral graduation last month. There’s not many, and the one from the ceremony aren’t perfect — a lot of people, small space, what’re ya gonna do? — but there I am in a silly hat and all the academic regalia!

Enjoy!

Kitties get furniture!

Entry/Office

Office

Living Room 2

Living Room

Dining/Stairs

Dining/Kitchen

Kitchen

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 1

Balcony

Balcony view

Scott took these lovely photos of our new place! And yes, it’s still new – we only just moved in in April. It’s small, but it’s nicely outfitted and has everything we need!

Dana and I have been extraordinarily busy these past couple of months which helps to explain why we’ve been so slow posting stuff. But boy do we have stuff to post! We’ve moved, so there’s all kinds of apartment pictures to show off. Then I went and graduated and had a little party so there’s all sort of stuff from that, too. So we’re working on getting it all together! I promise!

Also, I’ve updated the software the powers this site which means that some stuff may have moved. You might need to update your bookmarks or links. And you’ll notices that some stuff hasn’t been put away yet. Some virtual house cleaning is still in order. So please be patient and soon everything will be put back in order!

Thanks for reading!

scott

Phoebe was actually napping in this position for quite a while. Scott and I couldn’t stop laughing! But then I had to snorgle her tummy and she got riled up.

Kai was feeling particularly cuddly this morning!

We went on the ferry!

Sally was very excited about the wind in her hair and the waves.

The ferry was really crowded!

And windy, too!

But the clouds were totally awesome.

We watched the Blue Angels from the ferry building pier.

Ben took lots of pictures!

We ended the night with a fabulous dinner at the Buckeye Roadhouse in Mill Valley.

Scott, Kai and I went hiking today in Tilden Park, and it was decidedly Autumn in the Bay Area. Beautiful clear skies, warm sun, but the angle of the light and the slight chill in the wind heralded the change afoot. Kai’s exhausted, but we all had a great walk.

Phoebe sure likes to sit in the sun and watch the world go by. Or sometimes just snooze!

You can see the all the pictures (there’s tons!) this-a-way!

Phil gave me a super cool new camera for my birthday… it takes four tiny slices of photo in close succession. We played with it a bit… neat stuff!

We just found it there… it was missing about 10 pieces, which was a bit frustrating, but we finished it anyway.

It certainly lived up to its name!

We had a second Christmas in Eureka with Bill and Linda – Bill was feeling very festive.

We had one Christmas at Phil and Sally’s house, where Lola was very friendly with Scott. Maybe she misses Leia.

This is very exciting for me as I have never had a tree in my own house – I’ve just enjoyed the one at my parents’ house. Soon I’ll post images of our tree topper – he’s seasonal, but not altogether serious.

We tried to get the whole “family” in the picture together, but Kai was far too excited around the kitty and Phoebe, as you can see, was eager to get away. So we’ll settle for this! Merry Christmas!

this guy stopped to rest on our window. wow, our windows sure are dirty! but kinda neat.

i think i can see myself in the reflection! puppy dog eye to the max. aww.

I didn’t have a camera myself while at camp, but someone took this one of me while I was doing what I did pretty much every day — eat ice cream and look at my schedule.

Now that camp’s over, it feels very very good to be home again. And Dana and I are taking off for Sea Ranch this weekend which is sure to provide us with all sort of photo-ops! See you soon!

I think he was trying to hide from the camera, but I can see his armpit just fine. Silly man.

Betcha can’t guess what these are! I think the green and blue one looks like a painting. Scott likes it, too.

She’s so fluffy! And very pat-able.

Ain’t he cute?

Here’s some fun macro plant images I took whilst testing my camera.

And here’s the ever-popular Kai. Dana took these (or maybe I did; we were all on a walk and I can’t remember who did what) with her Votar Flex camera. Votar Flex! reminds me a an alien robot bent on taking over the world.

This is a picture of our building! I took these images with my holga camera, winding for 16 frames but shooting without the 6×4.5 mask in the back. In other words, I was clever! I hope to be more clever in the coming months and show y’all the real precarious cat, among other things.

Anyhow, this is where we live, and we like it. Mostly.