August 2

Through My Eyes

Saturday August 2

( Still at the home of the Dalai Lama. )

" Currency was not of much use in these far flung areas and most trade was conducted by barter. Thus my father would exchange the season's surplus for tea, sugar, cotton cloth, a few ornaments perhaps, and maybe some iron utensils. Occasionally he would come back with a new horse, which delighted him. He had a very good feel for them and had quite a reputation locally as a healer of horses.

The house I was born in was typical of our area of Tibet. It was built of stone and mud with a flat roof along three sides of a square. It's only unusual feature was the guttering, which was made from branches of juniper wood, gouged out to make a channel for rain water. Directly in front of it, between the two 'arms' or wings, there was a small yard in the middle of which was a tall flagpole. From this hung a banner, secured on top and bottom, on which were written innumerable prayers.

The animals were kept behind the house. Inside were six rooms: a kitchen, where we spent most of our time when indoors; a prayer room with a small altar, where we would all gather to make offerings at the beginning of the day; my parents' room; a spare room for any guests we might have; a storeroom for our provisions; and finally a byre for the cattle. There was no bedroom for us children. As a baby, I slept with my mother; then ,later,in the kitchen, by the stove. For furniture, we had no chairs or beds as such, but there were raised areas for sleeping in both my parents's room and the spare room. There were also a number of cupboards made of gaily painted wood. The floors were likewise wooden and neatly laid with planks.

My father was a man of medium height with a very quick temper. I remember pulling at his moustache once and being hit hared for my trouble. Yet he was a kind man too and he never bore grudges. An interesting story was told about him at the time of my birth. He had been ill for a number of weeks and was confined to his bed. No one knew what was wrong with him and people started to fear for his life. But on the day that I was born, he suddenly began to recover, for no obvious reason. It cannot have been the excitement at becoming a father since my mother had already given birth to eight children although only four had survived. ( Of necessity, farming families like ours believed in large families and my mother bore sixteen children in all, of whom seven lived.) At the time of writing, Lobasang Samten, my immediate elder brother, and Tsering Dolma, my eldest sister, are no longer living, but my two other older brothers, my younger sister and my younger brother are still alive and well. My mother was undoubtedly one of the kindest people I have ever known. She was truly wonderful and loved, I am quite certain, by all who knew her.( I promise to add more tomorrow...)

*( please click here to read of the day with me )

* This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth

Dalai Lama of Tibet.

( Please see my spinning for you!)

( Tahshi Deleh gentle beautiful one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? The garden of Kuan Yin ( you probably remember it ) is not far from the spirit tree I've been calling our spirit tree. I've cleared around the trees there. There are many wildflowers here so it's a natural garden of sorts at the moment. I'm publishing Through My Eyes to our infosite right now so that you will be able to see it along with me from there soon. I am trying to prepare to create space we will need later for a Windhorse project. I priced out getting more webspace on the server there and it was very costly.( a dollar per megabyte per month additional. Yikes!) Actually, if you would like, give this link a try and see what you think swift silent gentle beautiful one! http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.info/daybyday/index.htm. It's starts from the beginning so we will always have those days to look back on together( when we have time of course, there is much to be done!)

It's getting a bit late again so I'll pause for now and rest. We can read from the Tibetan book tomorrow after we read from Sarangerel's book together if you would like.

And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow

my one beautiful patient dream bright

long dark mane in sunlight

so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)


	Through My Eyes Saturday August 2 ( Still at the home of the Dalai Lama. ) " Currency was not of much use in these far flung areas and most trade was conducted by barter. Thus my father would exchange the season's surplus for tea, sugar, cotton cloth, a few ornaments perhaps, and maybe some iron utensils. Occasionally he would come back with a new horse, which delighted him. He had a very good feel for them and had quite a reputation locally as a healer of horses. The house I was born in was typical of our area of Tibet. It was built of stone and mud with a flat roof along three sides of a square. It's only unusual feature was the guttering, which was made from branches of juniper wood, gouged out to make a channel for rain water. Directly in front of it, between the two 'arms' or wings, there was a small yard in the middle of which was a tall flagpole. From this hung a banner, secured on top and bottom, on which were written innumerable prayers. The animals were kept behind the house. Inside were six rooms: a kitchen, where we spent most of our time when indoors; a prayer room with a small altar, where we would all gather to make offerings at the beginning of the day; my parents' room; a spare room for any guests we might have; a storeroom for our provisions; and finally a byre for the cattle. There was no bedroom for us children. As a baby, I slept with my mother; then ,later,in the kitchen, by the stove. For furniture, we had no chairs or beds as such, but there were raised areas for sleeping in both my parents's room and the spare room. There were also a number of cupboards made of gaily painted wood. The floors were likewise wooden and neatly laid with planks. My father was a man of medium height with a very quick temper. I remember pulling at his moustache once and being hit hared for my trouble. Yet he was a kind man too and he never bore grudges. An interesting story was told about him at the time of my birth. He had been ill for a number of weeks and was confined to his bed. No one knew what was wrong with him and people started to fear for his life. But on the day that I was born, he suddenly began to recover, for no obvious reason. It cannot have been the excitement at becoming a father since my mother had already given birth to eight children although only four had survived. ( Of necessity, farming families like ours believed in large families and my mother bore sixteen children in all, of whom seven lived.) At the time of writing, Lobasang Samten, my immediate elder brother, and Tsering Dolma, my eldest sister, are no longer living, but my two other older brothers, my younger sister and my younger brother are still alive and well. My mother was undoubtedly one of the kindest people I have ever known. She was truly wonderful and loved, I am quite certain, by all who knew her.( I promise to add more tomorrow...) ( please click here to read of the day with me ) This is from the book Freedom in Exile The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama by Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. ( Please see my spinning for you!) ( Tahshi Deleh gentle beautiful one! Kehrahng kusu debo yinpeh? The garden of Kuan Yin ( you probably remember it ) is not far from the spirit tree I've been calling our spirit tree. I've cleared around the trees there. There are many wildflowers here so it's a natural garden of sorts at the moment. I'm publishing Through My Eyes to our infosite right now so that you will be able to see it along with me from there soon. I am trying to prepare to create space we will need later for a Windhorse project. I priced out getting more webspace on the server there and it was very costly.( a dollar per megabyte per month additional. Yikes!) Actually, if you would like, give this link a try and see what you think swift silent gentle beautiful one! http://www.alanloreficeandcompany.info/daybyday/index.htm. It's starts from the beginning so we will always have those days to look back on together( when we have time of course, there is much to be done!) It's getting a bit late again so I'll pause for now and rest. We can read from the Tibetan book tomorrow after we read from Sarangerel's book together if you would like. And so, as always we'll continue two as one on to tomorrow my one beautiful patient dream bright long dark mane in sunlight so for now I bid goodnight...Simjah Nahngo!)