BOOM!
Suddenly my life exploded. Within one month of returning to San Francisco in May, I sat a 5-day silent meditation retreat, bought a home, and moved…in addition to working with my business clients, meeting friends, celebrating birthdays, returning to yoga, and dancing...
Finding My Joy
Nepalis generally don't hesitate to state the obvious with friends and family -- and they're rather observant. They greet me and appraise with me (with affection). If I've gained weight since my last visit, they tell me I'm a little fatter than last year. If I've...
Purple vs. Pink
Maya informs me that her favorite color is now purple. She explores my suitcase, finds a stash of bindis, and selects a purple one to wear on her forehead in the morning. However, she is wearing all pink outfits, from shirt to shoes, two days in a row, so I suspect...
Marrying A Fruit
While in Kathmandu between trips, I happened upon a ubiquitous and yet unusual Newari ritual: marriage of young girls to a bael fruit. Yes, full marriage regalia--clothes, jewelry, ceremony--to wed a fruit. But it all makes sense... Hindus have a traditional practice...
Everest Base Camp 2014
Tomorrow I begin my second trek of the season, my 20th trip to Everest Base Camp. This year, the mountains are no less spectacular than when I first saw them, but I am bereft of new description. The extreme geography is comfortingly familiar, the dirt trails well-worn...
Karma (The Hindu Variety)
What did you have for dinner on Sept 28, 1997? Don't you know? We obviously can't hold every experience in memory, but every experience or action leaves a residual vibration in our subconscious and continues to be a part of us and to affect who we are. These...
Recalibrate and Return
Reposting with photos corrected... Spring comes, and I begin my regular pilgrimage towards the highest peaks on earth. About 35 hours from home on one side of the planet to a hotel on the other. Across the ocean, time pauses in Hong Kong airport. Layovers are like...
Streets of Kathmandu
The streets of Kathmandu are entirely empty at 11pm when I arrive, and you might think it a peaceful town. In the morning, the mayhem returns--horns beeping and blaring, bells ringing, motorcycles revving, pressure cookers hissing, hawkers calling out, children...
Changing Lives Nepal — 2013 Accomplishments
Dear Donors & Friends, Changing Lives Nepal is wrapping up the year with lots of good news! Your continued donations are making a difference in Nepal, a country where people still struggle daily with malnutrition, illiteracy, poverty, political problems, an...
Sequoia to San Francisco
It's a whole new day. I cut further south to cross the Sierras on a more reliable road and return to the land of trees. In arid lands, they call this a tree: In lands abundant with water, we call this a tree: The transition between the two today is marked by a valley...
A Champion and A Fool
This is not good. This is a picture of little Santa Fe stuck on a patch of ice. After dark. In the Sequoia wilderness. In my defense, I wasn't careless in heading down this road. It was well-marked on the map, crosses through the National Forest, and had no signs...
Death Valley
People will tell you that the desert is alive--the biological life of the "crust", the reptiles birds insects, the essential scrub and cacti. That's true, and I appreciate the biodiversity, but Death Valley didn't get its name from being abundant with life. It's a...