Happy Sleepy Tumble and Surf patch based on a drawing by Marc Ngui.

Marc had this patch made in Arambol, Goa, India, back in January 2009. It’s about 6 inches wide, and it is machine embroidered. I sewed it onto one of our bags while we were travelling, to repair where it was torn.

The workmanship on this patch is really rough and completely omits some of the details that were in the drawing. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time getting my hand embroidery skills off the ground, and I look forward to remaking this patch by hand.

View from the hotel where I stayed in April 2008.

The Everest Range in pre-dawn silhouette

Herding goats down the mountain

Corn seedlings grow in terraced mountain fields.

More photos from trekkin in Nepal in the Flickr set.

Red and pink saris worn by married women on Mother's Day in Nepal, 2009.

On Mother’s Day in Nepal, married daughters wear read (or other bright colour close to red) and buy fruit and sweets in the market as well as other presents and go to visit their mothers.

Only mothers with married daughters celebrate Mother’s Day in Nepal!

Although the birth of a son is cause for much more celegration than the birth of a daughter, mothers who have only sons do not
celebrate Mother’s Day, same as mothers of unwed daughters.

More photos from Kathmandu Valley in the Flickr photo set.

How lovely death can be, and how much more interesting than birth.

The Italians came and built a wood burning stove. The mozzarella is locally made, the olives are imported. I don’t know who originally brought the arugula seeds. Most of the ingredients are organic.

The pizza cost CAN$3 and was pretty good (ie. excellent by most people’s standards which are not as stratospheric as mine).

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Customers wearing lungi in front of the village butcher in the early morning light, Auroville, India. (Click image to view larger)

A lungi is sort of a dohti, which is the men’s version of the sari and widely worn in the south of India. A cotton fabric of table cloth thickness is wrapped around the waist and reaches the ground, except then it’s picked up from the bottom and doubled up, bottom wrapped around the waist again to make a thigh to knee length skirty thing.

Some guys wear underwear, or even shorts, but maybe that’s cheating?

Anyway, when a good breeze picks up or a leap up the train platform is required or a restless nap… Well, then the lungi shifts up up and the lingam and accompanying tackle might be all on view. Actually, though, that happens surprisingly seldom, considering how many lungi, breezes, naps and jumps off and onto platforms there are.

Red earth road under construction. Auroville, India.

The natural colours in south India were just fantastic. This red earth in Auroville was used directly to stucco walls, resulting in buildings that perfectly matched their surroundings.

View from the bed from a room in the guesthouse. The mosquito screening pixellates the green of the trees and the orange-red of the roof overhang that has been plastered with the earth that the guesthouse sits on.

Red orange colour palette.