DEHLI’S SIKH TEMPLE AND CARPET EMPORIUM

Often our meals are buffet style because it is easy to feed a large group. Our dinner last night was served to us. Steaming hot chicken, spaghetti and antipasto. This is an Indo style Italian place Ranvir chose to give us a break from Indian food.

I chuckled at this because it looks like Kathy is quite unsure of what is coming from behind.

But the main event today is a visit to the largest Sikh Temple in the world. 

Before you can enter the temple, they have a place outside of the grounds where visitors must cover their heads and either go barefoot or put on temple socks. Here Paul and Trish get covered.

Theo, Chris and Hugo.

We tend to regard this a bit humorously, but it is very important to respect the customs of the Hindu people and appreciate the enormity and generosity of this place.

The Holy Book is treated like a being. The priests ritually bring the Holy Book or Scroll out during the day, and  put it to bed at night. There are signs, no speaking; no photos. But people, Indians as well, use cell phones and take pictures. So, we do too, if a bit guiltily.

The koran is read 24 hours a day. Though more people are educated now than ever before, older people cannot read.

This is the bedroom where you can peek through the windows  and people here were especially reverent. One woman whispered to me, no photos. I put my camera away and took no more.

But this temple is special because it can feed thousands of people a day during holidays. And on any given hour, there is 250 to 300 people eating a meal, and another 200 or more in a waiting area, for their turn. This practice continues every day of the year from sunrise to sunset.

The men standing are dishing out food from a bucket onto each plate.

This gives you an idea of the enormity of the hall. Isn’t this an awesome accomplishment?

What is even more impressive is that the temple elders, and wealthy supporters and their families, voluntarily do the kitchen work. Here they are cutting up melon slices.

Some need seats because they come from homes that are furnished and no longer serve meals on the floor.

Carrots in India are red. This full tub with seasonings is waiting to be put in a cooker.

Bags of rice, beans and noodles are overseen by a watchful storekeeper.

A huge machine mixes and rolls the dough for nan.

Mothers and children work in shifts.

It takes a great deal of effort just to provide the bread.

Cooked and turned on a giant burner that can hold about 160 pieces of nan at a time.

Huge quantities.

Huge pots from which they fill the buckets of hot food for those waiting.

This bank of home-made gas burners make a giant stove.

A second area where food is heating to be poured into the pots as they empty.

Theo stands next to a great pot to give a perspective on size.

What I found equally impressive is the friendliness of the people. They work hard, and bend to the task, but they are cheerful and smiling. Not a grumble is heard.

We leave the temple with the ever resourceful Hugo, setting himself up as a traffic policeman so we could all safely cross the street to get to our bus. He supplies such levity and keeps everyone smiling.

Our next stop was this silk carpet emporium.

The beauty and the hand work that takes to make carpets like these is significant.

You look at a carpet like this and can’t help but ask, is this a painting?

I bought a silk carpet in Turkey and I was disappointed that this place was just a showroom. It did not show the process from  gathering the cocoons, expelling the larvae, to pulling the strands to make silk thread, and then watching the workers make the rug.

Even so, they have great beauty, and I bought one. The color from my camera is so different from the real thing that it is surprising.

As we left the showroom, two children were looking for handouts. They seem healthy. They have shoes. Ranvir tells us that children of poor families have free health care, and they can get food from the government. I sometimes wonder if the word actually gets to the people it is intended to serve. More tomorrow.

 

PROJECTS & PROGRESS.

I’m beastly busy as I get ready for my family & friends reunion over Independence Day weekend. Got the tubes out to be patched and blown up with the compressor.

Getting some long neglected yard clean-up done, since some people camp in tents under the trees. My old fruit ladder needs a new home. I hate to take it to the dump, but it is too heavy for me to use anymore.  Twelve feet high. Any takers?

No matter how busy I am, I have to take time for fun projects. It’s just my nature.  To do that, I gather everything on my table where I won’t put it aside. Like this old purse, dreary old khaki color, but with the amazing pockets handy for all items I like to carry, especially when I’m on the road with Jim and we are out for the day, hiking or wandering. My housemate can’t understand my logic of forcing myself to complete a project by leaving the mess, paints, papers, etc. on the table. It works for me.  I finally completed the paint job, a cat on one side, some background brown.

Sad and happy faces on the front pockets. And, I’m blaming this need to paint on my friend Pam Munn who got me painting again, and now I’ve got the itch.

The end pockets are still pretty plain, but a painting is never finished. I can always go back and add some decorations when I have more time. Ah, me. To foil oneself into fun projects.

Now, hopefully, I can make progress on shopping for a comparable car to replace my electric.  The possibility of a “total” is hovering.

 

 

 

 

ANOTHER LAZY DAY

Look at that grumpy guy. I interrupted his reading. We were supposed to meet Jim’s friend, Bill Dob, but that fell through so we again enjoyed the weather and the park. I walked the two miles in 30 minutes at the recreation center with the Leslie Sansone video. I like it. It also gives some upper body movements that are beneficial and definitely gets your heart pumping.

This park is really beautiful with so many palm trees. Painting them will be a challenge but I took 40 pictures of palm trees yesterday with that idea in mind.

And this morning, I’m blogging on my new system 7 computer. I spent several hours learning the difference between the old one and the new one. This computer has programs that came free with the computer, some interesting stuff that I explored as well.

The palms have such individual character when you really look at them.

My friend Pam says you have to think of them as living beings, which they are.

..

 

Today is laundry day, and packing to return to Murphys. We move to within range of the airport at Ontario tomorrow. Hope we have a signal.

 

 

TIME OUT.

I didn’t do anything yesterday but swim, read, paint and eat. I wanted to go to a polo game in Indio, but Jim wasn’t up to driving anywhere so we just stayed home. The above sculpture I thought of naming Back Pain, or  Writers Block, and then decided on Constipated as in our activities were constipated yesterday. (This sculpture is in a Reno arts gallery.)

This unusual bench came from the same gallery. The first word of the bench spells Inhale.

And, again from that gallery, this is a water “dish”. Rain collects in a circular trough near the center and holds water for birds or other small critters. Their “rock” collection is unusual.

Since my bike was stolen, I’ve been think a lot about bikes and this painting is one I liked really well but I’ve forgotten where this painting hangs.

I’m a fan of Rene Wiley and she recently did a series of paintings on bikes that I liked so I’ll post a few of them. Her gallery is in Galveston, Texas on Post Office Street.

Her paintings are for sale on-line, as well.  This is Green Cruiser.

Colorful Cruiser.

Blue Cruiser.

I think I’ll try to paint bikes, though yesterday I started with palm trees. The only problem is, I have yet to get another brush. Maybe today.

I’m hoping to do the Walking Off Pounds program again today at 9:00. The snacks I ate yesterday should disappear today, right?

COWBOY JACK JOHNSON

Thousand Trails has so many forms of exercise to participate in, I think there may be a conspiracy to keep us fit. Water aerobics, water volley ball, zumba and yesterday, I tried Walking Off Pounds. The idea is to walk in place, do some leg kicks and change directions in a twist and arm movements and stretches as the tempo gradually increases. Definitely a cardio workout, no rests, no stops, just constant motion. You walk the equivalent of two miles at a fast clip, in place. I liked it. I found it easier on my joints than walking with the speed walkers outside. The instructor, Lelslie Sansone, I believe is her name has videos on-line. Worth doing.

Saturday night entertainment, from 7:00 to 9:00 is Cowboy Jack. We just saw him in the Indio Playhouse impersonating Hank Williams, which was a good show. But, Jack, by himself, even without his band, is excellent.

He does Johnny Cash, Waylen Jennings, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Credence Clearwater and others. He is entertaining. Each time I hear him, I learn a bit more about the man. He announced that on Valentines Day, he and his wife Peggy celebrated 34 years of marriage. He has made a living as a musician almost all of his life. He’s done the Opry, Vegas and all over the US plus, he has played in Australia, Ireland, and Austria. I expect that list is incomplete, he just mentioned those venues during his patter.

He was an army brat and lived all over the place, but he lives in Vista, California, near the beach, his roots by choice. He met his wife on that beach while he was playing Peggy Dee, a Bob Dylan number. He noticed this woman watching and listening to him and when the song was over, she said, “I’m a Peggy, too.”  They were married seven months later. He wrote a song about her and played it for us.  I have to thank Thousand Trails for having Cowboy Jack on their entertainment list. If you get a chance…go for it.

I started a new painting; palm trees the obvious choice, but with only one brush, a half-inch wide, details can be very limited. New brushes soon!

TRAVEL JOYS.

Another painting lesson with my friend Pam left me energized and excited. Now, let us see if I can do this at home on my own? Maybe I can find another friend to paint with. Would we have done this if we weren’t in one place on the road where I could visit her two days in a row? No. Pam lived in Mountain Ranch, and I live in Murphys.

Around 2:00 in the afternoon, our friends, Pat and Bruce Borad drove up from Jamul to spend a couple of days. They were having their driveway re-surfaced and brought Diego with them, a sweet dog. He had never ridden past the Vets and was very well behaved in the car.

Bruce is an attorney, but quit practicing for his first love, teaching. He teaches a computer class, but is retired as of yesterday. Hey, just in time to fix my computer glitches and give me legal advice. Everyone should have a friend like Bruce. We had a nice dinner at Coco’s, close by.  We talked so much catching up I nearly forgot to take any pictures at all.  I guess that is a good sign that I’m enjoying the company of very dear friends. The years since I’ve seen them slip away like we had just seen each other yesterday. I love it.