What Do You Do On A Snow Day?

Not much to say about this.  We got about 16 inches of snow; I picked out the carrot. The eyes are Hedera helix L. and the hair is made out of Pinus strobus L.

What Did You Bring Me?

Top row, l-r: Vietnam, China, China. Bottom row, l-r: Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar. A small sample of my daughter Amy's doll collection. And yes, that's a pink wall. [NOTE: Snowing like crazy today. Thought it best to post something close to home].  

The Water Was Up to Here

José Tuanama showing how high up the water came last year (1985) in this floodplain forest. The tree he's pointing to, Number 22, is one of the Spondias mombin trees that was measured for fruit production (see Yield Studies). Wonderful to be gliding through the mid-canopy of the forest in a boat when the Rio Ucayali floods. [NOTE: I can remember scooping up handfuls of Spondias mombin fruits out of the water (and eating them) as we paddled by. The sight of thousands of bright orange fruits bobbing up and down in the water was one of the best parts of studying the reproductive biology of this tree].      

Diversifikasi

"Diversify your farming by planting coffee between your rubber trees".  Love this poster.  I wasn't able to convince the Department of Agriculture official in Pontianak to take it off the wall and give it to me, but he did let me take this photo. [NOTE: The only place I ever saw someone planting coffee between rubber plants was in Dayak tembawang (see Tembawang), and I'm pretty sure that this was not being done at the request of the Department of Agriculture]  

To Market (Eventually)

Bicycle with a basket of tampoi (Baccaurea macrocarpa (Miq.) Muell. Arg.) fruit on its way to market in Singkawang. The owner had just propped his bike against the wall of the store and run in for a "kopi susu" (strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk) when I took this photo.

Enrichment Planting

This shot requires a bit of an explanation.  The villagers from Sumpak in the Danau Sentarum National Park (see Danau Sentarum) in Kapuas Hulu, West Kalimantan are fisherman.  They make their fish traps (see Bubu Weaver) out of duri antu (Calamus schistoacanthus) rattan, which is getting increasingly hard to find in the forests near the village. In early October of 1994, a group of villagers asked me if it would be possible to enrich some of the degraded rattan stands in front of their village by transplanting duri antu seedlings from more distant, unharvested forests.  I said yes, but that it would require a lot of work and that the transplants would need to be continually tended. The next day, almost everyone in the village - men, women, and children - turned out to help dig up, carefully bag, and transport rattan seedlings to the planting area.  

So, the picture above shows a group of villagers from Sumpak with a boat full of duri antu seedlings getting ready to bring them back across the lake and plant them. [NOTE: The villagers transplanted 82 duri antu seedlngs on this day; about a third of them survived (and these have probably already been made into bubus by now)].    

Dayak Kids

These kids were sitting in the doorway of their house in Bagak Sawah, West Kalimantan (see Bapaks from Bagak) early one morning when I walked by.  I was going out with Pak Afong to run transects in local tembawang (see Tembawang). Glad I pulled out my camera, because I really like this image.

Loading the Tolagyi

Good job for a slow Sunday morning in the village of Shinlonga (see Shinlonga and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer).  Finally load the broken tolagyi (see Tolagyi Tour of Tanai) into the dump truck and take it to the shop in Tanai to be fixed (maybe). Took 16 people about an hour of pushing and lifting and head scratching and opining - but they got it into the back of the truck.  No word, yet, if it has been fixed. [NOTE: The "HTR" painted on the bed of the tolagyi stands for Hukaung Tiger Reserve]. 

Parinirvana

Yesterday, February 15, was the Mahayana Buddhist holy day, Parinirvana, which marks the death of the Buddha. He died in a state of meditation, and attained nirvana, a release from the cycle of death and rebirth.

"The Buddha and his monks came to a grove of sal trees in Kushinagar. The Buddha asked Ananda to prepare a couch between two trees, with his head to the north. I am weary and want to lie down, he said. When the couch was ready, the Buddha lay down on his right side, one foot upon the other, with his head supported by his right hand. Then the sal trees bloomed, although it was not their season, pale yellow petals rained down on the Buddha.

Then the Buddha said, All compounded things are subject to decay. Strive with diligence. Then, serenely, he passed into Parinirvana."

-Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra

[NOTE: The image above is the reclining Buddha in Myitkyina (see Reclining Buddha and Reclining Buddha II)].

Kathmandu Produce

Colorful, tasty things for sale on the side streets of Kathmandu.  Another image from the same box of slides that produced Climbing on the Ponies, Om Mani Padme Hum, and Scenes from Kathmandu.