Saturday, October 29, 2016

Announcing an Important Publication of a Celebratory Festschrift titled SHAR RO, to Honor Chögyal Namkhai Norbu



[Photo by Paulo Regis, Milan October 2016]




Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is considered among the foremost Tibetan masters of Dzogchen. His extraordinary range of publications span over fifty years and include numerous cultural, historical, and sacred writings. To read a full biography of him go to Rigpa Wikipedia here or his official biography here. This publication is a traditional honorific summation of his lifetime achievements.


Dear Colleagues, Students, and Friends of Professor Chögyal Namkhai Norbu,

We would like to invite you in a unique opportunity to participate and be named as donor in the publication of a celebratory Festschrift titled SHAR RO, a Tibetan verb signifying "to rise or manifest", honoring Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. The book will be presented to him on Sunday December 11th, 2016, the 35th anniversary of the existence of Merigar, the first center of the International Dzogchen Community established by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in Arcidosso, Italy. On that same festive weekend The Museum of Asian Art and Culture founded by him and his wife Rosa Namkhai Tolli and located in the Aldobrandesco Castle of Arcidosso will be inaugurated.

Festschrift is the term given to a book published in the world of academia in honor of a university professor whose achievements, teaching, and research in his specific field are recognized for their excellence. Generally, a volume of such kind consists of papers written by scholars who admire and/or have studied with the luminary. Our Festschrift is composed of eighteen papers focused on Tibetology written by scholars and collected and edited by Donatella Rossi and Charles Jamyang Oliphant.

You have the unique opportunity to share in the offering of this Festschrift, a beautiful book of about 400 pages with an embossed cloth hardcover, honoring Chögyal Namkhai Norbu for his lifetime achievements. By purchasing a copy you will have your own name or the name of someone of your choice appear in the Tabula Gratulatoria, a list of donors traditionally present in such a publication, printed at the beginning of the book.

All proceeds from participation in this project will go toward the construction of the Gompa or Meditation Hall at Dzamlinggar, a major current project ofChögyal Namkhai Norbu and the heart of the International Dzogchen Community located in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, Spain
To contribute and have your name appear among the book’s donors, please proceed as follows:


Make a payment for European countries, US$ 50.00; for other countries, US$ 60.00 (prices include shipping costs) either by Paypal to the email pe@garudabooks.ch or by bank transfer to: 

Deutsche Bank Waldshut, IBAN DE15 6837 0024 0110 7937 00, BIC DEUTDEDB683.

Please send by 5th of November to the same email pe@garudabooks.ch your name, postal address, and phone number for delivery of the book. Also include for the Tabula Gratulatoria entry, on a separate line the donor‘s full name and city of residence as they should appear, i.e., John Baker, Boston. - The book will be shipped by mid-December 2016.

We are glad to offer the opportunity for all to participate in this celebration of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his achievements and to simultaneously contribute to one of the projects most dear to his heart. Thank you for your kind attention.

Garuda Verlag
Peter Eisenegger
Bernstrasse 2
CH 8964 RudolfstettenSwitzerland
pe@garudabooks.ch

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Khandroling Paper Cooperative Forthcoming Events



Some upcoming events at Khandroling Paper Cooperative for November. Click on the links below for further information

October 30, 2016 OPEN HOUSE and Installation of a traditional Dia de los Muertos Altar, 4:00 PM-9:00 PM in the basement studio at Tsegyalgar East. Come meet some of our members and friends. Refreshments served. It's a puja night so drop by before or after.

November 6, 2016 Khandroling Paper Cooperative will participate in the 4th annual CHEAP ART FAIR in South Deerfield, MA based on the Bread and Puppet model that art is food for everyone. All works $15 or less. This is a fundraiser for the paper cooperative to cover material costs. A great venue for holiday gifts

November 10, 2016 First Meeting of the MINDFULNESS OF ORIGAMI CLUB meeting Second Thursday of every month to make origami lotus flowers for the 250th anniversary of Conway float. {Distance Karma Yoga may be possible]

OPEN STUDIOS MEET most Sunday afternoons and Tuesday mornings.
Check our blog at http://www.khandrolingpapers.blogspot.com for updates, articles of interest and information about us.




MOST SUNDAYS - November 13, 20, 27 2016, 12:30 PM-2:00 PM
MOST TUESDAYS - November 8, 15, 22 2016, 10:30 AM-1:30 PM


Learn how to make paper, fundamentals of printmaking,and book arts


Call Jacqueline to confirm at 413-522-1125

[Logo by Harold Graves]




Introduction to Yantra Yoga with Naomi Zeitz in Asheville, North Carolina,


Introduction to Yantra Yoga with Naomi Zeit
in Asheville, North Carolina, at the Shambhala Center 
from October 21-23, 2016. 

The course was well organized by Wyatt Schaefer.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

The Somerville News Weekly Special Person of the Week: Mark Alston-Follansbee



Mark Alston-Follansbee, a familiar face and presence at Tsegyalgar East was recently featured in the Somerville News Weekly as a special person of the week.
By Frank Santangelo: 
Meet this week’s “Special Person of the Week:Mark Alston Folansbee Director of Somerville Homeless Coalition. Mark started talking to homeless people when he moved to this area in 1985 and something about them felt familiar to him.

He got upset when he learned that many of them were veterans, mostly from Vietnam. Mark had left college early in 1966 and immediately got drafted. He knew that the only reason that he wasn’t on the street too was because of the support he had from family and friends when he came back from Vietnam in 1968, even if he did lose many years of his life from the trauma that he had experienced.
 When Mark first started working with homeless people, he was convinced that we could solve this problem. Thirty years later, the problem is worse
To continue reading click on the link above.


Jim Raschick by Melinda Sacarob



Jim Raschick receiving at Tara Mandala empowerment by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, July2015, courtesy fo Tara Mandala Facebook page


While writing his book “Beyond the Box of Space and Time” Jim spent years trying to find the words to explain the 4th dimension. He very well may have found a shortcut to the 4th dimension thru ecstatic dance. On Sunday September 4th, Jim collapsed at the ecstatic dance with a smile on his face. He went into cardiac arrest and there were a number of people there who performed CPR on him for 20 minutes or so. He began breathing on his own again and was given the best medical care during the next 10 days. Our master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Anam Thuben and practitioners from all of the world practiced for Jim. Dutsi/Amrita pills were sent and the Song of Vajra played in his room. He appeared to his beloved Kaitlyn and let her know he was very surprised, happy and would not come back to his body. On the morning of September 14, 2016, Jim left his body.

Jim was like a brother to me, one of the most intelligent man I've ever known. We always considered him like the nutty professor he was so bright but sometimes he would not remember to tie his shoes. As an inventor he opened the first hot tub company- Mill Valley Hot tubs where he used ancient wooden wine barrels, where he stuffed up to 12 naked bodies into the tubs. He progressed to alternative energy and installed generating wind turbines in the front of a store in downtown Fairfax. He designed and help build an incredible dodecagon using sacred geometry on my land in Hawaii for the dance of the Vajra, Yantra yoga and tun practices. Also, as a filmmaker and photographer he delighted many.


He was a deeply spiritual man, he followed Chögyal Namkhai Norbu all over the world. A world explorer, inventor, architect, writer, dancer, a man who always made the best of the moment!

Dancing and smiling that huge smile we release your hand in the dance of life, keep on paving the way to the 4th dimension for us all!


Your Vajra Sister,Melinda SACAROB

Monday, October 24, 2016

Fall Karma Yoga Finished for October



Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out in the last two weekends to lend a hand and bring us food during the karma yoga work sessions! It was fun to work together and we accomplished a lot! We finished all the work on our list and one side of the cabin roof is all shingled.

We will not meet next weekend 10/29 and 10/30 for karma yoga. Jeremy will be up there in the afternoons working on Rinpoche's cabin, if you would like to help him please contact him.

If you were unable to participate in this fall's karma yoga, it's okay, we'll meet again in the winter to help out at the Schoolhouse. Even if you are here for a visit or have some time to do karma yoga, contact Jeremy or myself and we can find a little something for you to do.

Thanks everyone!

Tashi delegs!
Sarale

Friday, October 21, 2016

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Lama Tsultrim Allione



Chögyal Namkhai Norbu at the teachings of H.H. Dalai Lama in Milano, Italy  

with Lama Tsultrim Allione

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Update on Karma Yoga from Sarale


Photo by Kathleen Fekete, 2016

Good news!  We had such a successful karma yoga weekend last weekend, accomplishing many tasks, that this weekend we will only have 1 day of karma yoga.  I will be at Khandroling Sunday, October 23,  9am - 5pm, to coordinate and help on projects to finish getting upper and lower Khandroling ready for winter.  It's amazing how much can be accomplished when we work together!

Working on Rinpoche's cabin will be the priority, so if you can help with that great!  Other tasks include splitting wood for retreat cabins, organizing tools and work space, plus more!
We have some funds available for lunch, please contact me if you are willing to cook or go shopping for the workers for Sunday lunch.

Thanks everyone!
Sarale


Photo by John Shannon, 2016

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Spreading the Ashes of Friends



This morning I read Miranda Shannon's account on the closed Tsegyalgar East Facebook Group about yesterday, Sunday October 16, at the end of a busy Karma Yoga weekend, when a number of us gathered to do a full moon Puja/Shitro to benefit those who died recently in our community, and to spread Nary's ashes. It was a beautiful, warm and peaceful day. Attached are a number of pictures taken by John Shannon. 






                                                                                                                                                                                      


Friday, October 14, 2016

First Level Vajra Dance Supervision of the Dance of the Three Vajras with Ed Hayes


First Level Vajra Dance Supervision of the Dance of the Three Vajras 
 with Ed Hayes via Skype with Prima Mai on October 8-9, 2016

Front row left to right:

Joyce, Ed, Cindy, Anna, Gleitia
Second row:
Kathleen, Prima Mai (on the screen) Kyu, Adriane, Marina

Last row:
Gerald, Johanna



Reprinted from the Mirror, Newspaper of the International Dzogchen Community

Photo by Naomi Zeitz

Monday, October 10, 2016

Offering the Body: The Tibetan Practice of Chöd/ A Poem by Mary Gilliand Published in the Tampa Review


The eagle does its day job
feasting on what’s left by crow and vulture.
Anything I’d planned to do is over.

As my head nods its usual consent
to imaginary promises and dreams
my corpse appears before me.

Time’s come to set my mind
to ribbon flesh, chop small, pile it in a dish
made from the cranial bones.

I scout the stinking ground for anything
to start the fire, use my own desire.
The skull cup, on its tripod, enlarges as it heats.

Half-moon on a finger
pokes from the pile of blood and bones
simmering to stew, to nectar.

All who are wise, the ordinary, furred,
obstructors, germs of sickness—
may their bodies, minds, be sated.

From every distance and dimension, beings
afraid, unsatisfied, or blessed, feast to satisfaction—
devils, angels, animals, everyone I owe.

I see no stopping to the world
but there is respite from the demons
that arise daily in the head.

That this ritual could do the same thing twice—
my awareness cuts that thought. O, I cherished
this poor body. I quake. Invite. [End Page 90]

Now, knife the ritual words      in vast space
reduced to dust     mounded like clouds
clinging                     dearly held      to let in silence.

For all that is perceived, flesh or consciousness,
appears then disappears, image in a mirror—
red drop, a fingernail, a ball of hair. [End Page 91]

Reprinted from the Tampa Review


Mary Gilliland, author of the forthcoming poetry memoir We Are All Immortals, has taught writing at Cornell University and at Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, the Dalai Lama’s seat in North America. She has been Stanley Kunitz Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and a featured poet at the International Al Jazeera Film Festival in Doha. Her poetry has also appeared in AGNI, Hotel Amerika, Notre Dame Review, Poetry, Stand, and The NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing. Mary has been a Chöd practitioner since 1992.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Need We Say More......A Road is a Road is a Road..........


From the Stupa to the Vajra Hall


From Mary Lyons parking lot to the pond


Above Photos by Marit Cranmer


Top of the hill looking down, photo by Joe Zurylo



Turn looking up to the Vajra Hall, photo by Joe Zurylo

Saturday, October 8, 2016

IMPORTANT: Karma Yoga Schedule for Khandroling Winter Preparation


Photo by Paula Barry

Sarale Lizdas has generously offered, as usual, her willingness and efforts to organize karma yoga weekends to help our Geko prepare Khandroling for winter (yes, it is really coming). There is also possibility to stay in the dormitory in exchange for karma yoga if you are coming from farther away. We can also include some practice collectively in the weekend.

Please see below for activities and dates.
Fall weather is here and there is much to do on Khandroling to prepare the land for winter. I have been speaking with Jeremy, and as a way to support him and finish up the projects for the season, I am organizing 3 karma yoga weekends for Oct, once the road is paved. Nary used to help with many of these activities, so now our Gekod needs some extra support and hands on the ground. What a great opportunity to come together as a community and help each other out!

Anyone is welcome and everyone has something to contribute.

These are the weekend dates:

Sat - Sun Oct 15 & 16
Sat - Sun Oct 22 & 23
Sat - Sun Oct 29 & 30

Activities:
Getting the roof of Rinpoche's cabin finished is the priority, if anyone can help in any capacity with that project it would be much appreciated. I will coordinate other workers for other tasks so Jeremy can focus on the roof.

Other activities include: Packing up pond kitchen, taking down screened in kitchen tent, putting tools away, walking around land to collect tools, tidying up Vajra Hall for the winter, putting away prayer flag poles, chopping wood, and more! If you are unable to help with the more physical jobs maybe you could use a car to transport things back to schoolhouse or lower khandroling, collect money and cook food for workers, make coffee, make a fire in the fire pit or maybe someone has another idea.


Steve Landsberg driven to Rinpoche's cabin by Sarale in the AV

Please send all inquires to Sarale instead of Jeremy, via email: slizdas@gmail.com

Thanks everyone!

Saralé

The Road IS Happening/Thanks to your Support

Here at Tsegyalgar East most of us living nearby are rarely idle. Between Khandroling and the Yellow Schoolhouse numerous events take place each week. 

One of the major fundraisers/projects this year at Tsegyalgar East was to support the paving of the road at Upper Khandroling from the Mary Lyons Parking Lot to the top of the hill. Not only will this allow visitors and participants to have direct access to the Vajra Hall that houses the Universal mandala but also allow heavy equipment to have greater access to maintain our infrastructure. 

The heavy equipment is now at work as you can see here---It's Happening!



Dump truck unloading gravel for pavement sub-grade

Many Thanks to the donors who made this important project happen but we still need additional funds to develop upper Khandroling further--from a well to composting toilets in the cabins. Please contact yellowgakyil@tsegyalgar.org for further information or to make your restricted donation.



New paving on road looking up from the gate in the parking lot




PHOTOS by Joe Zurylo, 2016

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

POETRYMIND Reading in Easthampton, October 13, 2016 6:00 PM-8:00 PM


Poetrymind poets will read work in Easthampton in the gallery exhibiting Community and Khandroling Paper Cooperative and Dzogchen Community member, Sheryl Jaffe's show, BASHO'S POND

WHERE: Easthampton Arts Walk
Mill 180 Park, Easthampton 413-527-0311
180 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, MA 01022                                       

Mill 180 is the building next to Eastworks. http://www.mill180park.com/
Eastworks is at 116 Pleasant St.


WHEN: October 13, 2016 6:00-8:00 PM

Poetrymind Readers meet each month in Shelburne Falls for a monthly Meditation and Poetry Writers Group you can read about here at http://www.tsetso.blogspot.com 



Photo of Poetrymind monthly meditation and writers group by Jacqueline Gens


Joe Arak has been writing poems on the back of envelopes, cereal boxes and in notebooks with unnumbered pages for many years. He currently runs a marketing business based in Amherst, meditates at Shambhala Center in Northampton, and looks for poetry wherever his mind takes him.

Terry Carter - I am a visual/performance artist, and made up my first poem around six. My mother wrote it down as I dictated. As a young adult I did extensive traveling throughout the U.S creating images & prose in my sketch book as I traveled and experienced the world. During that period I attended a couple semesters at Naropa Institute in Boulder Colorado. It was at Naropa I got first hand exposure , often sitting in on the readings of such great Beat Poets as Diane DiPrima, William Burroughs , and Allen Ginsberg . In resuming my love of prose I've attended classes & workshops taught by regional poets including Verandah Porche, and Jacqueline Gens. In my later work I often attempt addressing political merged with personal , and contemporary social issues.

Jacqueline Gens is the co-founder of the New England College MFA program in poetry, the first poetry only MFA program in the US, which she co-directed for a decade. For many years she worked for the late poet Allen Ginsberg and at the Naropa University. Now retired she conducts meditation and writing workshops and is an avid blogger at Poetrymind in addition to overseeing the Khandroling Paper Cooperative, a unique artist collaborative emphasizing contemplative arts affiliated with the Dzogchen Community located in Western Massachusetts..

Kichung Lizee
is a Korean-born American artist and Buddhist practitioner who uniquely blends Eastern calligraphy and Western thematic materials. She has taught and exhibited internationally and curated many exhibits bringing together Eastern calligraphers and Western artists. She was honored with a special award in 2008 at the Seoul International Calligraphy Biennale, Korea, and has been a featured artist at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, the Jordan Schnitzler Museum of Art, Eugene, OR, and the Turchin Center for Visual Arts, Boone, NC. She makes her home in Western Mass.


Barbara Paparazzo has an MFA in Poetry from New England College and has published poetry in numerous journals.  Her chapbook The Red Silk Scarf is from Shivastan Press.

Other readers include Jim Bauerlein.


Join us for a frog's view of Basho's Pond and sound of Haiku and other poems for a lively evening. Mill 180 Park is East works newest venue with hydroponic plants, a gallery, a bar, and indoor Urban green for kids and adults. 





SOME of Sheryl's imagery in the Gallery Photos by Kathleen Mulligan and Naomi Zeitz

Yantra Yoga An Introduction to the Tibetan Yoga of Movement Taught by Naomi Zeitz in Ashville, NC, October 21-23, 2016


Monday, October 3, 2016

In Loving Memory of Nary/Post your Comments


Photo compilation by Laila Reiss

For Nary
No! Wait! Don't go yet What about the raspberries?
Will they taste as sweet?
We will think of you
In all the summers to come,
Their juice on our lips.
from Paula Barry on Facebook




[Nary's raspberries on lower Khandroling Farm, summer 2016, photo by Jacqueline Gens]


'Uncle Nary' was so good with kids. Our little Goma Devi also had a sweet connection with him. They would check in and chat everytime they would see each other around the Gar or Khandroling. Goma keeps the little jade buddha, that he gifted her for her 4h birthday, on her bookshelf here in Hawaii.

When we first heard Nary was in the hospital dying Goma was sad, but today when she learned that he had left his body, this was her response: "It is fine. He is going high into the sky to receive many more teachings from the Buddhas now. And maybe he will come back as a little child." :) I love how Nary was able to enter everyones dimension - young and old. Have a safe journey.--Laila Reis

Goodbye this time around, Nary.

Nary Mitchell had a very beautiful and peaceful passage around 2pmSeptember 29, 2016, at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield MA. He was surrounded by his loving, warm and kind family and many loving practitioners. We shared stories of Nary's life, his childhood, his deep relationship with the earth, trees, oranges and things that grow, and his many incarnations - more warmth and sweetness could not have been asked for. We all sang the Song of Vajra after the life support was removed. Good journey our dear Nary. We love you still.  --Naomi Zeitz


Reflections on Nary:
Big Mind, Big Heart

I first got to know Nary through Santi Maha Sangha Base classes, although I'm not sure why he attended them. There was probably nothing I taught that he didn't already hold in that vast mind of his, which retained all knowledge. I also appreciated his sweetness, and how, in class when I'd move to calm his effusive outflow of information, he'd smile and gently acquiesce. I eventually understood how he balanced that tremendous energy of his brain with simple physical labor, quietly and continuously contributing toward the stability of our gar.

Although I miss his presence very much, I can only imagine his big heart and mind, unleashed from the restraints of his physical body. --Lynn Newdome





Nary helping us assemble the motor for the "Critter" our Hollander Beater
Photo by Jacqueline Gens, October 2012

From the outset of Khandroling Paper Cooperative back in 2012, Nary was a great friend to us. He was the brawn behind our operations assisting us in numerous demos and open studios, workshops and event set-ups. Over the years, I was able to share an ongoing conversation with Nary on some of my favorite topics--everything from conspiracy theories to alien societies. He was a fountain of esoteric knowledge borne out of voracious reading.  Our KPC members loved hanging out with him. 



Nary on Lower Khandroling with KPC folks and visiting Nepalese artist Milan Rai,
Left to right: Nary, Sheryl Jaffe, Milan Rai and Kathryn O'Connor
photo by Jacqueline Gens

One of the last conversations I had with Nary was a consultation about an apricot seed from Tibet that Chogyal Namkhai Norbu had given me over a decade ago which Rinpoche said I should plant at Tsegyalgar. I asked Nary if that seed was still viable and he said that it could "awaken"  through a process of cooling it in the refrigerator and then peeing away the outer covering. We shall see. 



[Nary's small hugel Kulture bed on Lower Khandroling Farm, 
Summer 2016, photo by Jacqueline Gens]

Nary's vision for the land was in the moment with his many creations and graceful attentions - a bent arbor supporting a fragile shoot;  a hugel kulture mound of glossy edible greens;  small magical edifices here and there bringing order out of a riotous New England landscape. Thank you Nary for your proliferation of inspired seeds in our midst. --Jacqueline Gens

We only met Nary fairly recently, maybe 6 months ago. He housesat for us while we were away and took care of our dog Cooper and our plants (both inside and outside). His wisdom and tenderness with plants was astounding. While we were away he found odd and end starts around our property and planted them in the garden just so they would have a chance. One of these is a lovely grape vine that we enjoyed tremendously all summer and we now think of as a living memorial to Nary. Of course, Cooper adored him too -- he bought him hot dogs for treats! We will miss him. ---Barbara & Woody Paparazzo



[Tatiana, Max, Miranda and, of course, Nary in discourse. Photo by John Shannon]

Nary and the Shannons
"On Thursday, one of the most amazing and sweetest men I knew left this world. Nary, I will always remember the great memories we shared together. You meant a lot to me, and I thank you for all the lessons you taught me. I will never forget you, my friend. R.I.P Nary <3 #love #remembrance" --Liam Shannon


Nary, my friend, I am so lucky to have known you for so long.
Whether you knew Nary for years or just a few hours, he quickly became a fast friend. He was always ready to share his vast knowledge (our children referred to him as Narypedia), teach, help and encourage us every step of the way, inclusive of colorful long narratives he curtailed when requested. Nary nurtured life. 

Nary was a wild yogi, and a quiet force to be reckoned with. His work ethic was unsurpassed, and his contributions to our community were of massive scale. Nary leaves us great beauty through his countless plantings around the schoolhouse, lower Khandroling and Vajra Hall, and evidence of his great strength and tireless efforts through his work on Vajra Hall and all the other too numerous projects to mention. Work and service to the community was Nary's practice, and he achieved it gloriously. 

This past week, I heard a myriad of Nary stories and numerous mentions of "how he was like an uncle/brother to me."  Nary was a gift to us all, and his presence will be greatly missed. --Miranda Shannon

Nary in Baja circa 2005 doing what he did best....work on the land -courtesy of Laurel Bellon Facebook. 




Some earlier manifestations of Nary's magic as recorded in this blog since 2012:



An assemblage of plants behind the Yellow Schoolhouse


Nary inoculating birch logs with mushroom near the Vajra Hall


A wild flower stand on Upper Khandroling


Nary bought and erected this Greenhouse for the Lower Khandroling Farm


Nary at the newly erected Upper Khandroling Gateway sign designed by Kathy McGrane


Putting all those wood chips to good use after the clear cut on Upper Khandroling

Photos by Jacqueline Gens (2012-2016)


Helen Baker on Nary:



Helen Baker of Baker's Country Store laughing when speaking of all 
the interesting Community
 people she has met over the years

Earlier today, I stopped by Baker's Country Store in Conway, MA for lunch as this is one of my 'long' days in the yellow schoolhouse-- papermaking with friends in the morning; a little karma yoga in the basement (our KPC adopted site); a round of practice in the Gonpa, later a puja happening. Most days lots of comings and goings.  Baker's is the Conway town hub and also our community go to when we need a quick snack or meal. Many people in our international community have walked through it's doors.

On this day, I spoke with Helen Baker about Nary's death. She heard the call come in at the fire station  (her husband being fire chief) not knowing it was about Nary when he first collapsed on Khandroling but then later heard that it was him for whom the initial multi-town distress call came in. Multiple towns repondd to Jeremy's sumons for help.  She was very sad to hear this-- as she said, because she was very fond of Nary. 

According to Helen,  Nary was a frequent customer at the Baker's Country Store arriving most every evening to make a few purchases just as she was closing the store. More often than not, she was in the process of locking up  when he showed up usually with a joke pointing to his watch. She said she was more than happy to accommodate him because of his warm-hearted and good natured approach and that she already missed him.    

Just one more small snapshot of Nary's impact on people and his rare quality of wholesome goodness emanating outwards.  Thanks Nary for all whom you touched in our midst! ---Text and Photo in 2014 by Jacqueline Gens



                      Neal Murray sent over this photo that Nary took of Joe Zurylo working in the Tsegyalgar road sign last year. Needless to say, even small projects like this require a high degree of collaboration, attention to detail, and effort. Nary was always ready to participate.

"Found some shots that Nary took of Joe building the Khandroling sign "house" on the memory card of the camera I loaned to Nary (actually gave, but given back to me by his brother)".  --Neal Murray    


   
Our most recent recollection comes from Justin Hudgins. a young man studying Tibetan, who came one summer for our volunteer encampment program on Khandroling. [Seen above in a picture with a friend by the pond]. 

Here's his recollection of Nary--


"As difficult as Nary could be at times, I appreciated his mentoring when I was volunteering at Tsegyalgar for that summer. I valued his perspective and his advice, his wisdom and guidance. It was fun listening to his stories in the schoolhouse kitchen and his theories about aliens and ancient civilizations, as outlandish as they were most of the time.

I'll miss him and I'm sure things will feel very different without him the next time I visit Tsegyalgar."