Well,

I've been meaning to post for some time now. But between K monopolizing the computer to study for exams and me busy at work on my book again, it just hasn't happened.

The other night, Snowbird got 15 inches in 12 hours. So K and I headed there Friday morning. Even though we'd slept in and didn't get there till 11, the powder was insane--as though floating. Or like Keith said, as though gliding through butter. However, there were insane 50 mph winds, it was dumping, and the visibility was about 0%. Add Jenn getting stuck in waist deep powder in a flat section and you have a recipe for some tears at the end of the day! Then, we couldn't leave as the canyon was closed for a few hours due to avalanche blasting. It finally reopened and down in Salt Lake it was 50 degrees and sunny!

Yesterday I realized I've done a very poor job with my labels on this blog as I was searching for previous posts about Bodghaya and Calcutta. I spent hours going through and properly labeling things. K was proud of my archiving...If you know Keith, you know he's a huge fan of archiving. He archives the dharma, I archive our life.

In other news, K and I are off to sup with the neighbors. They've invited us for dinner. My contribution is lemon cheesecake bars which unfortunately got stuck in the pan and by the time I got them on a plate, K said they looked rat bitten. Sweet. But now they're decorated with a raspberry sauce I made, blackberries and powdered sugar. I think they're presentable.

This morning I made a Dutch baby for breakfast. It was a really wonderful winter breakfast, I think I'll try to post the recipe soon...

More good things

the book from the land of the moon (reminds me of the writing of marguerite duras)
this raw chocolate milkshake
the movies it's kind of a funny story/the child and the fox. if I had kids, they'd be watching this. so many beautiful images. makes me want to live in the mountains of france and italy--where it's filmed.

hot porridge for breakfast: amaranth, buckwheat.
this soaked flour gingerbread

Road Trip Part 2

at orgyen dorje den

ditto

charlie chan's

from the window in andy nguyen's--an amazing "thai buddhist diner" (as the guidebook said)--in sacramento

mocha at reno's oh-so-strange vegetarian pneumatic diner

wendover casino insanity

snowstorm driving!

so yes, there was more to this trip than just the rinchen terzod--but nothing else really mattered--i just liked these pictures i took.

k and i hadn't seen yangthang tulku for a few years, and had never received an empowerment from him--never mind dozens! truly wonderful.

in truth, the trip was like a reverse pilgrimage. everything went smoothly on the way there, but leaving...lots of obstacles! a $25 toll fine, crosssing the donner pass at midnight in a blizzard (visions of cannibals in our heads), and then snow and more snow! i think the mandala didn't want to let us go. and we certainly wished we didn't have to leave...