49 Day Memorial Service

A 49 day memorial service was held last Friday night at the Empty Hand Zen Center for Tokudo Jion Susan Postal (see The Passing of Jion Susan Postal). In many Buddhist traditions, 49 days mark the end of the transition period between death and rebirth. We did bows, offered incense, chanted the Sho Sai Myo Kichijo Dharani (Beneficial Dharani for Removing Hindrances) and the Dai Hi Shin Dharani (Great Compassion Dharani), and read several poems for Tokudo Jion. I hope it somehow helped her along.

[NOTE: I read a short verse by the 10th century Chinese Zen Master, Shushan Kuangren: "My road lies beyond as the blue sky where white clouds roam as they please. A rootless tree grows in the universe - yellow leaves are cast back by the breeze"].

Jardin Etnobotanico Oaxaca

The exquisite ethnobotanical garden of Oaxaca at the church of Santo Domingo de Guzman. Arranged by ecological and cultural themes, this is, without a doubt, the most informative and creative collection of living plants I've ever seen. I remember when they were planting the garden in the early 1990's. [NOTE: I especially like the beautiful jacaranda trees in the background with the purple flowers].

Logging Trucks

We passed dozens of these logging trucks on the road from Comaltepec to Oaxaca. Couple of points of interest. The trucks are carrying 8 foot logs arranged crosswise on the bed. This is different from the loading that you usually see on logging trucks with 16 foot, or longer, logs arranged lenthwise on the bed (see Stopping For Gas). They do this because the road has so many tight, twisty curves that a longer truck can't get through. Also, it was noteworthy that most of the trucks had no tail lights. I assume/hope that they never drive at night. [NOTE: Nice pine forest with Pinus patula is shown in the background].

Growth Bands in Comaltepec

We first went to a beautiful piece of bosque mesofila (montane or cloud forest) about half an hour from Comaltepec, but it was pouring down rain and everybody was getting soaked when we tried to demonstrate how to make dendrometer bands (see How To Make Dendrometer Bands). Everyone agreed that we should just go back to El Mirador where we were having the workshop and try to do the demonstration there. Under a roof. So, we got a couple of small oak logs from a nearby sawmill, set them up on a table, and let everybody put a growth band around them. Worked great. Everyone could concentrate on making the bands - not staying dry.

Stopping for Gas

Image is from a gas station in Central Vietnam. Just a thought, but maybe you want to put gas in the truck before you load the logs. Off tomorrow to Oaxaca, Mexico to give a tree-banding workshop with my dear friends, Drs. Silvia Purata (see Alebrijes and Reading the Bands) and Patricia Gerez-Fernandez (see Pine Nuts).

Thambuddhei Paya III

Another image from the Mohnyin Thambuddhei Paya in Monywa, Sagaing Region, Myanmar (see Thambuddhei Paya and Thambuddhei Paya II). This little stupa is in the courtyard outside the main temple. So many pastel colors and curlicues and twining vines and repeating Buddha motifs. Reminds me of something you might find on top of a birthday cake. A very blessed birthday cake. Love the neon light for night time viewing.

Honor Guards

Stone mandarin honor guards watching over the hillside tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh in Chau Chu vilage outside of Hue. The architecture of the tomb is a mixture of Vietnamese and European styles (see Tomb of Khai Dinh), and the faces on the statues exhibit a similar mixture of Asian and European features. This is thought to be symptomatic of the decline of Vietnamese culture during the colonial period. [NOTE: Emperor Khai Dinh worked closely with the government of France, and by the end of his reign he was considered by many to be nothing more than a salaried employee of the French government].

Police Escort

The guys in the back are being shown how to dowload a waypoint on the GPS receivers that we are loaning them. The guys in the front, the ones with the machine guns, are policemen from Leshi who walked over to Tikon (see Faces of Tikon) to make sure that we were safe while we did our inventory transects. [NOTE: Both of the policemen were extremely nice and very helpful. Still unclear as to whether they actually had bullets in their guns]. 

Imperial City Still Life

So, I was waiting to cross one of the shady, interior streets in the Imperial City to move from one complex of buildings to another, when this construction vehicle pulled up. And parked. Right in front of the gate. The red and yellow faded paint on the gate and the blue and grey of the truck, one in front of the other, made me pause, and then pull my camera out. [NOTE: Although they don't appear in the photo, there were a bunch of workers in coveralls with green pith helmets and shovels scurrying around all over the place when I took this].

Air Traffic

About 30,000 flights pass through European air space on a typical summer day. This visualization shows them all in just under two minutes. Provides a useful, albeit somewhat overwhelming, perspective for those who do a lot of international air travel. Helps explain the chaos that frequently goes with this mode of transportation. Definitely view full screen. [NOTE: Flight data is from June 21 of last year].