from Jane on the 4th of July

Fourth of July in tropical Pokhara: the entire region is a lit firework. Sizzle-heat.

I had no idea it WAS the 4th of July today until I was wondering today's date for this post, and now, I think of fireworks in my back yard, with Jenna, and with my friends and my neighbors, the Bowyer family, and Sammy and Izzy Robbins and their family, and Iris and Emerson being the firework masters on the lawn near the apple tree, just outside my painting room.

I love fireworks, and have always tried to afford them. I love what Truman Capote said, that fireworks were his favorite art form. But as we would shoot off sometimes two hours' worth in my back yard, I always felt a little conflicted, enthralled by the fizz of colors, but also sorry for the sleeping birds, who lose their magic at night, and can not fly, either from their fears, or toward their needs.

I will measure this 4th of July in threads instead of sparks.

Today, we visited the Tibetan Refugee Center on the back side of Pokhara, where there is a carpet workshop. I bought two small square carpets of Tibetan wool: a yak for my son (Emerson picked it out--rose, dull magenta, and tan) and a snow lion for my daughter (Iris will love the colors--apricots, sage, and pale blue). Both the yak and the snow lion will live in Charlottesville, in my children's apartments, this fall.

We saw the work-room where the carpets were hand-loomed. It was a Tibetan woman named Dawa (whose name means "moon") who packaged these purchases for me. She liked my necklaces.

In Martin Scorscese's film, Kundun, about the life of the Dalai Lama, I can never forget the scene when His Holiness has had to flee Lhasa and finally manage to reach safety at the Indian border. The handsome young Indian soldier who greets the young Dalai Lama approaches and says, "Excuse me, sir. May I ask: Are you the Lord Buddha?" And when the exhausted Dalai Lama finds the strength to reply, He answers: "I think I am like the moon, reflecting in water. When you see me, you see yourself."

See that film, with Philip Glass' gorgeous musical score, if you haven't. I weep each time I see it. Think of fireworks, fireflies, yaks, snow lions, the moon, the thread, and a free Tibet. Jane