<---Some lady at the beauty parlor.

Goddess of Knowledge ~ Saraswati

Our main route: Delhi, Agra/Jaipur, Varanasi

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Okay folks, this is my blog. I've never done it before, so batten down the hatches. Carolyn and I are headed out of town on Saturday, and plan to have a regular adventure of the Mark Twain ilk.

"Namaste," by the way, is a gentle Hindi greeting.

For those of you who don't know, we have Facebook to thank for this rickshaw bandwagon, because that's where I found Carolyn, after 30 -yes 30- years! We all (the four of us high school girlfriends who have reconnected) turned 50 this year, and we all are just the girls we used to be. Funny, how nothing really changes...and how new windows of opportunity open right out of the blue, and let us fly right into them with full abandon and wonder. Finding the others- Gwen and Sal- and even a couple of others - Janet and Terry, has been a sweet blessing, and has enrichened my life. I have met with them all over the summer, and nothing seems to have changed- except for everything, if you know what I mean.

So, that's the history of this trip. My mission for the next several days is not to bore you, but to whet your whistle for India~ to get you to smack your lips and wonder if it might be something which would some day interest you. Jeff loved it years ago, and I hope to love it today.

As you probably know, this is not my typical travel fare. But Africa did not avail itself to me this summer, and Carolyn did! That reminds me, though, I just received three pieces of Shona sculpture from Zimbabwe, which are for sale. Mom & Dad quickly purchased the fourth one, which is gracefully beckoning to passers by from beyond the bending marigolds in Mom's garden. They are approximately 10-14" high or wide, and are pieces with a "womanhood" theme. With the sales of these pieces, Anthony, an artist I met there 10 years ago when he was a ripe young 16, will be able to purchase more rock out of which to create new visions of crude and sensuous loveliness. The pieces are somewhere between $100-200 each, with the emphasis on the $100, if I have anything to do with it. If you like one of them, send a note and I'll reserve it for you. He should be sending more smaller pieces later in the year. I don't know how I got to be his agent, but I'll do what I can in the name of art. It was in a vocational school for artists that I met him, and he still toils away at his love, despite the gruesome times of that country. So, I hand it to him. I can support a man who loves his life's work, and out of whom such beauty comes.

Well, I can't seem to get any more pics to load, so I'll feature the three of them on the next one.