A quick end of a course and...

We stopped in Joshua tree for another small portion of a Vipassana course. It was wonderful to be in the desert and see these unique trees all around-- do a google search to see what I'm talking about if you haven't already. There were nearly 200 people at this course, and at this time, about 600 total people sitting in California (including North Fork and Occidental) and nearly 80 servers... can you imagine! I have never worked such a big course and a task such as cleaning tables after mealtimes or preparing salad took take a single person an hour or even more.

We came a day late due to a heavy rainstorm that knocked out the power for about 17 hours. Luckily they perservered and even chopped vegetables by candlelight. One Israeli told a humorous story about bringing a menorah but deciding not to light it due to it (quite obviously) being a rite or ritual. Then, on the last night of Hanukah, the power was out, so all nine candles were used in the dorm anyway for practical purposes... hmmm.... Here are a couple caricatures my Israeli friend drew of me-- this used to be his livelihood and now he's a cartoonist-- you be the judge of how lifelike either are...

Unfortunately I did get one of the bugs floating around, hence few photos for the ride home-- I was in pretty miserable shape, observing sensations as I could. Stopped in the same place in Alberquerque and went to the same family owned Mexican restaurant that was just fantastic, and could barely talk half the time due to the nine-part band that serenaded us and other tables! As for now, I'm just trying to get cured before my next depature gets underway-- and a recent and painful visit to the dentist is not helping matters!

And here is a photo of my mom at another famous old time hotel, El Rancho Lodge, with dozens of signs portraits from 1940s and 50s era stars of the silver screen...