Father Spirit: the Messenger

Hey Friends,

Dad is a bit of a celebrity back at Rosewood now and mentioned he is comfortable there. Postproduction is moving forward; Aman has nearly finished transcribing the conversations we caught on the 60 hours of footage shot in India. I’m looking forward to reading through the dialog we’ve got on tape and glad for the opportunity to write. Building a narrative backbone is a welcome challenge, and I’m gaining clarity on what themes I hope to support and flesh out with voice-overs.

Glass Half Full
 
“Your husband’s in the emergency room.”
My mind jump-starts to scenes of gloom.
He choked upon a piece of meat.
They could not get his heart to beat,
But he’s OK; he’s come around.
We need you to come in to town.
We’re going to do some chest X-rays.
Pneumonia is a risk, they say.
I go get dressed in disbelief;
But that he’s fine is some relief.
 
Well, here we go; it’s now begun—
The latter stage of Huntington’s.*
We’ve battled this for ten, long years,
Through sorrow, change and many tears.
‘Twas rooted in his fam’ly tree,
Unknown to him, unknown to me.
Ou

I know all of us have been busy with family and friends. But here is another video to whet your appetite.

In typical India fashion the current flows via a snarled tangle of electrical wires dangling haphazardly, but here at “Mammas” I notice clean couplings and spliced wires all precisely twisted. Sitting in this tidy alcove I muse on the past weeks and the range of my experience.

Guest house culture is calm, worlds away from roaring trucks and bustling streets bursting with busyness. I returned from Varanasi the 3rd, and hanging out here has been good respite. The afternoon of the 4th I reconnected with Felix while settling into this neat place.

Hail pours from an angry sky as the unseasonably severe storm rumbles thunderously about the mountain tops. Meanwhile Jess, Pop and I enjoy steaming chilly chicken and paneer korma relishing our decision to listen to Gidhari. We tripled our way up into the mountains on the Enfield to visit our friend in Dhanaulti, and he convinced us to stay on an extra day at the guest house I think of as his. We’d complied on a whim, but had we not a miserable ride would have awaited once the weather turned. Issy took the three of us over a hundred km’s and up more then 6000 ft without breaking stride.

Hey everybody,
we’ve been away for a while but we’ve got good news. We have couple of new clips for you. Sit back, watch and have fun. And let us know what you think.
Bikku

Jai Masih ki,

Towering walls of rock funnel us forward as we make good time through the boulder fields of Lahaul Valley. Heading northeast on a what’s been used as a Himalayan rally circuit, I chat with dad about southern exposure. The stark contrast between slopes strikes me. To our left the rocks are bare as bones, but burnishing a bright white coat the covered cliffs on our right burn brighter despite the shadows.

Winding our way up towards the Kunzum Pass, we cross ice crusted streams while spray from falling glacier runoff coats my face.

Hi All,
It seems a rainbow has shattered here in Dun and its shards have coated with colors enough to make an Oompa Loompa blush. Combine the lights of Christmas with the fire of the 4th and you’ve got some idea of the flashing, bursting, bonanza of brilliance that culminates the second night of Diwali.

Dad, Jess and I arrived here from Nepal the 14th and tomorrow we make our way up out of the flashing bright and into the white capped mountains of Himachal Pradesh.

Hey Friends, Dad and I’ve been in the garden by the lake for nearly a month now (glad everyone has enjoyed the bike videos from back before we came here). In this place we live life slowly. This is definitely the most simplified environment I’ve ever looked after Dad within, and in some ways it is the least challenging. My friend Shiva is tireless. He takes care of all the cooking, laundry and Easy handles what cleaning he doesn’t do. I’m not really responsible for anything aside from Dad. He made it up all 200 stone steps recently without me carrying him at all!