the alps

today i visited the alps for the first time. i was in the andes when i was in argentina doing my study abroad. in fact noha, a friend also on the study abroad, and i hitched hicked from the argentina side to chile across the alps... i so dont recommend anyone do that. i also spent time in the andes when i lived in peru for 2 years, and on my trips to bolivia as far back as when i was 12. but it was only when i got to the himalayas that i could really appreciate the mountains. i initially travelled in india to different himalayan destinations with indians who are absolutely passionate about those mountains. their respect and love for them taught me a lot. and today... i visited the alps.

we went to isola, a village cum ski resort just 1.5 hours from nice. nisarga loves skiing here, and although im not a skiier, and dont have much desire to be one, i have agreed, enthusiastically!, to come back here with him. he can ski all day and i will simply be.

we sat and listened to the spring water gushing past. with the sun in our faces and the cool breeze caressing the rest of us. there was lots of snow left considering it's almost june. the sky a perfect blue!

as i look at these pictures it looks like we are standing in front of a fake picture, like they do in hollywood or bollywood. but it's not!!! it's soooo real. and beautiful.

the dobosz brothers

i am not referring to eryk and dominic, im refering to eryk's father and uncle!!! now that's a duo. nisarga's uncle came to nice and suprised him, from zuric, and it was the first time they were seeing each other in over 2 years.

over lunch, couscous at that, they joked that they would come to greece and join us and cause trouble. i said sure, fine, no problem, as long as they came after my mother and brother left, just in case that meant nisarga's rating dropped a few notches with my fam. they agreed!

they are a circus!!! but then again, who's family isn't. in less then a week he'll have to put up with mine. and since they have a common language, english, he'll really be roped in. ahhhh... family!

but i really am grateful! his brother left us his apartment and car for 5 days. a fridge stocked with vegetables, fruit, champagne, cheese.... The apartment has internet, a bathtub and is right in front of the ocean. hello!!!!! it's our annual honeymoon getaway.

thank you all dobosz brothers

family vacation part 1 (his side): nice

i remember last year on the plane from london to nice. i was so nervous. i was to see nisarga again, after a month of physical seperation, but speaking on the phone constantly. we had only been together for a couple of weeks before seperating. and this would be the first time i saw him out of our little himalayan retreat. that was almost a year ago.

i'm so grateful he invited me here to begin with. and im happy to return with him, after a year of getting to know each other better, and ourselves. i'm so in love! of course being in southern france doesnt hurt the mood!

this time we return for his birthday. nisarga made it clear he wanted to spend it with family so we arrived late night the night before his birthday. we spent his birthday sleeping in, having brunch at home prepared by him and his father. the beach in the afternoon. mulles for dinner at the port with his father. precious!

and you know what else? i saw the reflection of the ocean in the wings of seagulls at the beach. aqua marine wings!!! so beautiful, transcient, delicate.

iamsterdam

Although i freaked out plenty, and nisarga some, about not finding someone to stay with in Amsterdam... of course it worked out just fine at the last minute. And when i say last minute i mean during the last 24 hours. We found a hostel on line the night before leaving, located in the center of town, for 29€ including taxes. As it turned out there were no taxes because it was an illegal place without a sign even, but we didnt care a bit. We had a comfortable bed in a quite and clean room. The next day we moved to Arthur’s place. He is a friend of guess who?... Anita!!! She wins the lifetime achievement award for rescuer and saviour hands down. Mother Theresa had nothing on her. Artur was leaving town for a couple of weeks and said we could stay at his place while he was out. He gave us keys and instructions and went on his way. We were left with food in the fridge, a beautiful and spacious loft right in front of a canal, also very centrally located, internet, a piano and a terrace. Wow!!! What a way to start our Europe trip this summer.

We had amazing cheese and made yummy salads and sandwiches. We checked email and talked on skype. We did yoga and lingered around in bed. And very seriously wondered why in the world we were not staying on in Amsterdam until June 6^th, the day before Arthur was due to return. Family commitments! Dam them.

nisarga discovered he MUST have been a musician, a very good one, in a previous life. He sat at the piano and started playing. And playing and playing and playing. It sounded good and lasted for over an hour. Amazing!!! He had already done this at the end of April with a wooden flute in India. Wow!!!

We walked and walked and walked. It was chilly but we put on all our layers and explored. It really helped that it was bright by 5am and dark only at 1030pm!!! So much daylight... the possibilities are endless. Well, ok, a bit more limited since we didnt leave the house until 3 or 4 or 5pm, but still. Nisarga was eager to checkout the red light district and do some window shopping, by day and night. Apparently it had left a big impression on some of his friends back in the UK. As far as the world renowned Van Gogh museum, the tulips which were in full blossom (it’s only season for 2 months), or a cruise along the canals... um... we skipped all that actually. Instead we bought a joint at the cafe shop and ... well, actually, the rest of the day was quite a haze. After hours of wondering around, we somehow made it back home... thankfully. We learned our lesson however. The next day we took our J to go! After walking around, watching people wizz by on boats or bikes mostly, and saying good bye to the city we went home to arthur’s, made a yummy dinner, and smoked on the terrace. We watched the clouds above us and described what we saw.

It was Nisarga’s first time in Amsterdam and my second. We loved it. Nisarga even said it’s a city he could live in. I was amazed how pedestrians, bikers, baby carriages (the city seems to be full of todlers), cars and trams all shared the same space... without any accidents or horns! How refreshing.

Byebye Amsterdam... we’ll be back.

its the most wonderful time of the year...

sounds like that christmas song you've heard so many times right? no! it's mango season!!!! yes. MANGOzzzzzz. and since we leave before june, we just mad it. and they are everywhere and they are soooo good, and juicy, and oh my god!!!

ok... here's a lesson in how to eat one, nisarga style (who got it from richie who got it from his mother who probably got it from her mother and somewhere along the line they got it from god himself im sure)


step one: cut the mango along the side against the "stone" (the english are funny, the seed)



step two: cut that piece as if you were drawing a grid



step three: eat the grid!!!



step four: repeat on other side of stone/ seed



step five: suck the stone/seed until your face remains in a pucker permanently!



step six: lick your fingers

repeat repeat repeat!!!

there is a mouse trap in the house....

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.What food might this contain?' The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!'The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, 'Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.'

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, 'There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!'The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.Be assured you are in my prayers.'

The mouse turned to the cow and said 'There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!'The cow said, 'Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.'

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital , and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life.

EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY and OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

clairvoyance prayer

"I hereby ask and pray with all my heart and soul and mind and might for your divine intervention in helping me now to open fully to my clairvoyance and to fully open my channel so I may speak with the masters directly. I hereby make my request as an initiate of the Spiritual Hierarchy and as an ascended master for the divine, miraculous intervention of the God-force and my own monad to open these faculties within me. I wish now to be able to spiritually see, to spiritually hear, to allow the masters to speak through me, and guide me. I hereby give my complete permission for YOU to do whatever you have to do to accomplish this task. I ask for these things so I can expand my ability to serve. I thank you and accept these things as being done in the name of the Christ,Budha,Osho,Saint Germain.Amen”.

cosmic love to all through eye of kanaloa