Baby Deer

This very new deer was cavorting after his sibling early this morning, a stressed out mom followed close behind. The maternal condition seems to cross all specie boundaries.

AND...as every year -

..the Wilson Volunteer Firemen's Chicken Fry.

The sign instructs POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING IS NOT ALLOWED. HAVE A GREAT TIME INSTEAD.
And as you can see, bringing your horse to the picnic is not a good idea either.

It is not possible to take a picture of the line for food. It is too long, snakes around and doubles back. All in all an estimated 4,000 people had their hands stamped, downed the chicken, potatoes, salad, rolls, homemade deserts between 12 and 3 pm this past Sunday. This indicates that we must have 4000 people living around here. Since this is a tad hard to believe I am thinking the number must be inflated by what is, on occasion, disdainfully spoken of as "summer people". No matter, it is a fine, fine country picnic in the real spirit of Jackson. I do love it.

UP to Dubois...

...for the Wind River Project party by beautiful Torrey Lake. A fine party!

UP Old Pass Road to the Top of the Pass

A walk today with Suzanne and dog, Sammy, to the top of the Pass. Glory, glory, glory!

And the MOOSE came back the very next day.

joliejam said:
moose pics never get old.

we seem to be home to at least three moose.

If You Are Missing Wyoming..and you know who you are!

Heavenly Hike

A beautiful hike close to heaven yesterday with very dear people and dog friends.

Obligatory Summer Moose Pics

Mama and baby moose stayed around here for the better part of a week. I think maybe the baby was born near the wetlands between the house and the cabin. There are lots of willows there - a sort of moose heaven.
Twice the moose and babe came to a bedroom window where they communed with Eddie. The baby was too small to get up to the window so Ed had to do his part in peering over.
It is pretty fascinating how brave all three animals are when there is good solid glass between them.

The Bird

from Joan L ~

Your little yellow bird (perfectly good photo!) is a male American
Goldfinch. They are so bright and pretty this time of year, but
change into drab feathers in winter.

A Walk in the Park

The glory of Grand Teton National Park, just up the road, can never be taken for granted. The problem, is suppose, if there is one, is that the pictures you take look like postcard shots. Can't be helped and for the bliss of just being in this beauty I will be forever satisfied with post card shots!

The Bird

from Ariel ~
western tanager
that's that bird - a female I think.
first noted by lewis and clark (the lewis I think)

I Know, I Know....

...I know that this is not a great photo for a nature photographer but, fortunately for me, I make no claim in that direction.

On my walk yesterday this little yellow bird - I dont even know bird names - went a ways with me, always flitting and hiding in the foliage next to the levee. I tried getting a picture of him several times but always ended up with a bunch of leaves obscuring any suggestion of bird.

Finally, as if he were saying ~ really, do I have to do EVERYTHING? ~ he hopped on some tall grasses only a couple of yards from me. So voila! I wont "quit my day job" but I am mighty happy with the above little yellow bird. Warbler?

Morning Walk

The path to the Snake River levee from our house starts behind the cabin in almost waist high wild flowers.

Just beyond the beginning of the path there is a little cluster of a flower I have never seen before. The bloom is delicate and sort of spiny. I have not seen this flower before- here or any place else.

The last image is right before you come to the river and is probably in the archives of this blog several times, I love this spot.

Gone Fishing

Where the wild things are is around our pond. This heron fished for about 30 minutes or so. When he makes his catch of tiny little fish it is faster that the eye - my eye - can see.

First wolf siting ever was on July 4, it was quick and there was no camera in my hand nor time to grab one.
Clever ducks bunched together in the middle of the pond making one large aquatic mass. The wolf did not seem impressed one way or another and wandered off through the willows.

Day 12 - and Finally Shangri La

From hospital to Kowloon Shangri La, a beautiful end to a trip full of "10,000 things" and a fine place to savor being upright on the earth. The flowers are from Stefano,the manager of the great Italian restaurant, Angelini, in the hotel.

End of story and NOW for Jackson, Wyoming USA - land of moose and mountain and where God surely summers.

Day 10 Sea Level

Arrived at Hong Kong Adventist Hospital at 1:30 a.m. of Day 10...nice digs that I appreciated very much!

Day 7- 8000 feet

Twelve oxygen sucking hours from onset to get to the ER ward of The People's Hospital in Lijang.
There are not words to express my gratitude to our friend H. who stayed by my side translating, caring for over 48 hrs, the time it took to arrange air evac. Geo Ex, the tour operator, was like-wise saving the day ( and me) with constant vigilance, advice and simply put making things happen that needed to happen. Cant say enough words of praise to H., Susan and Jim at Geo Ex.

I am eager to leave this chapter behind.

LEAVING LIJANG, LOVING AMERICA

Security, once on the tarmac, wss intense and not a little frightening. The memory of full body search, with 12 - 15 armed and uniformed agents gathered around the door of the ambulance, the additional procedure that involved the emptying of all of the doctors' luggage - medical equipment spread on the ground, pictures taken - leaves me on this 4th of July very very grateful for our country and the miracle of it's freedom.

Day 6 12,000 ft

Arrived in Gyalthang at 12,000 ft in the afternoon. The day was blustery and cold. We had no idea as we drove through the outskirts of this town marveling at the Tibetan houses * and even more at the bright red Communist Youth flags in from out the houses that we would be retracing the route, I in great misery, the next morning.

The hotel staff of the Banyan Tree was welcome with sweet ginger tea on our arrival. Still, despite the elegance of the lodging ( seem above ) the place had on again off again government electricity and as a result it was very very cold.

The H.A.C.E. most likely started on arrival with a bad headache but it was not until the wee hours of Day 7 that it struck for real. I was one sick tourist with s single goal: get to lower altitude.

* our lodging was made from typical Titetan houses. You can see an example in the background of the image of the chorten.

Day 6 Heading North

A brief walk about in Shigu town, a one street village. At the end of the street we came upon a very small canola operation shown above.
About canola excerpted from Wikipedia:
Canola was developed through conventional plant breeding from rapeseed, an oilseed plant already used in ancient civilization. The word "rape" in rapeseed comes from the Latin word "rapum," meaning turnip. Turnip, rutabaga, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, mustard and many other vegetables are related to the two canola varieties commonly grown, which are cultivars of Brassica napus and Brassica rapa. The negative associations due to the homophone "rape" resulted in creation of the more marketing-friendly name "Canola". The change in name also serves to distinguish it from regular rapeseed oil, which has much higher erucic acid content.

As the Yantze moves on it's northward way it encounters the Leaping Tiger Gorge, seen from a distance above. It was seen from a distance because not only did this spectacular ( I am told) gorge display, after a hefty hike, a magnificent view but its view was significantly blocked by busloads of tourists. We spied the bus barn for saidsame tourists and decided to be content with the above.

From here we traveled on even further and longer upwards towards Gyalthang, renamed Shangri La by the Chinese government - a misnomer if there ever was one. This pov is based entirely on my own very nearly catastrophic time in this place. If it is indeed Shangri La I will do without.

Day 6 Heading North

Here is the Yangtse River. This wide muddy river, originates from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At Shigu Town it makes its famous V-turning from it's southward journey to flow toward northeast. People call this section the "first bend of the Yangtze River."

Shigu is situated 50 ARDUOUS* kilometers from Lijiang. It was named after a stone tablet in the shape of a drum recording the merits of a headman in Lijiang during the Ming Dynasty. On the bank of the river there is a memorial hall of the Long March fo the Red Army.


*The truck above is, along with smaller and much larger versions, very like the many vehicles that we followed on the mountain road from Lijang to Shigu. These vehicles put put put along putting out ferocious fumes and then out of nowhere an " INSANE Idiot" ( quote is directly from our car and uttered often ) would fly either past or towards us in a shiny and sleek expensive car.

A Purchase On What we Thought was Our Last Day in Lijang

With a notion that we needed to buy SOMETHING in China ( where everything is made but where other than the indigo we'd seen nothing we wanted to buy), we went back to beautiful Old Town in search of good chinese tea.

There are many tea shops in Old Town but H knew of one that was finer than most and, if ceremony counts, this shop was truly fine. Pouring and brewing and tasting was an art in this shop.

We ended up buying a tin of a great tea but because of the process of making it...a good bit of soaking and pouring out the soaking water, and I cant remember how many times this is done, only that it is important...I have been a little timid about trying it. The tin is very pretty though!

a visit with a Shaman

The title of shaman is passed on from father to son ( never a daughter) but nevertheless it takes twenty years of practice in it's arts before the title is earned. This Naxi shaman, sanctioned as such by the government, is the only one in Lijang, There are about 4 - 5 others in the area.
A Naxi shaman must be expert in the fields of:
witchcraft
handicraft
Naxi literature
Herbal medicine
Naxi history
musical instruments
calligraphy
painting

We only were privy to a glimpse of the latter, painting. As you can see above, the shaman is well gifted in that. The brick on his wrist is to keep his hand steady. He showed us several publications where his work has been featured and we both got a sense that he was well respected in the country as well as in the town of Lijang.

I asked him about black magic and was told that black and white magic may either or both be used to cure an illness. Herbs, musical instruments and fire may be used to rid evil spirits.
We were told that witchcraft is rarely practiced in the town although it is common in rural areas.

The shaman was a humble and soft spoken man. There was no flamboyance about him at all rather a steadiness that created a calm aura. Despite a truly vicious dog that protected his gate, we left his house with a sense of having met a lovely person.

A visit with a Shaman

A visit to a Naxi shaman was a real treat. i will tell you more about shamanism in the next post.
Above, this gifted man, is making a painting for us based on the Naxi symbols. The finished piece that he is holding up is not the one he made for us but a scroll mounted work for exhibition.
If you look carefully at the third image you will see an animal head that looks very like a reoccurring
image in some works by Picasso. Interesting eh?
The ancient symbols in the painting he made for us represent ~

happy family
bounty
good health
long life

Cant beat that Picasso!