Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The beauty of eternity and its traditions

A precious soul and new friend recently lost her saintly mom. This friend is closely associated has been blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to communicate Tibetan spirituality through sacred song

Please familiarize yourself with Yungchen's art and music here.

I learned some of the Tibetan tradition of transition from life to life, and was blessed to offer prayers Sunday by Sunday for the 49 days that is traditionally prescribed for such times. Tibetan Lamas from throughout the region offered puja during these 49 days. On the final Sunday, I was joined by my daughter Marissa, and my work assistant Kanae San. Here is a small slide show of our visit:



Here also is a small video of the prayers:

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Family trip to Newport, Rhode Island

We 5 took off for a little over 24 hours and spent an overnight in Newport, Rhode Island (August 28 and 29). It is about a 3.5 hour drive from our home in Queens, in a way a perfect distance. We were clearly "away," but didn't have to torture ourselves to get there.

I was lucky that my internet hunt resulted in delightful accommodations. We stayed at a bed and breakfast known as The Wynstone (I recommend it, by the way). Click on this picture to learn more about it.

The town is perfectly charming and welcoming. For what little we did it seemed affordable. It is roaringly historcial, but also has plenty of lively activity. You can rent anything from bikes to those little sea-top motorcycles (whatever they're called). Plenty of sea food around. Lot's is in walking distance. We managed quaint dining in the marina on one side of town, all the way to laying out on a sandy beach on the other, and never touched our car from the moment we first set it to rest and unloaded our bags.

The family hung together at times and hung in pieces and parts at others, so it's good family town for all versions and phases of family. I guess I could go on, but hopefully this gives some idea. Here's a slide show of a little of the trip.