We're back in the good old world... and back in the USA. Easy travels, happy memories... now it's time to get back to our true mission, which is helping the 38 children we support in Gadavari, near Kathmandu, Nepal.
We have volunteered at Ama Ghar, a home for children managed by our old friend Bonnie Ellison, for the past 7 years, and are planning to go back again in October. In addition, I have deepened this commitment with a position on the Board of the Ama Foundation, a grassroots, US-based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Ama Foundation is the sole source of funds for Ama Ghar, a loving home for 38 of Nepal's most underprivileged children. To learn more about Ama Ghar, check out our You Tube video excerpt from Matt Heffelfinger's award-winning film, "The Children of Ama Ghar".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2YFrft23hQ
These children are amazing - I think they speak for themselves when you watch the film. It's a wonderful experience to see the transformation from the cringing, frightened, traumatized children who arrive at our gate, to confident, happy, playful children who go off to school with a smile every day. They all attend English-speaking schools and are learning computer skills so that they will be able to leave Ama Ghar, support themelves, and live productive lives as good Nepali citizens. We are very proud of our three oldest children, who have "graduated" from Ama Ghar: one is employed as a nurse at Patan Hospital, one is working in a day care center in Kathmandu, and one is in medical school training to become an MD.
In addition, we are in the process of building a new home for Ama Ghar - which is currently based in a rental house. At the new home, we will be able to care for 75 children (double the current number) and have a community center where local villagers will be able to come for information and education as well. We've purchased the land, approved architectural plans, and completed the foundation - but we won't be able to finalize the house without a little help from our friends.
A dollar goes a long way in Nepal - if you could donate even a small amount, it would really help Dick and I on our goal of raising $5,000 for Ama Ghar this year. We have already contributed $1,500 - only $3,500 to go!
There are two easy ways to donate: by check or through Network for Good. And there's a bonus! Anyone who donates $50 or more through the Clifton/Hyman fund (!) will get an unframed print of their choice from Dick's Flickr files... we'll contact you to make a selection as soon as your donation is registered.
Network for Good is one of the most respected online giving portals, so by clicking on the button below, you can safely and securely make a gift from your credit or debit card, and even make it a recurring monthly pledge. Just go to our website at www.ama-foundation.org, or go directly to Network for Good and search for Ama Ghar.
If you would prefer to mail a check, our mailing address is:
Ama Foundation
PO Box 7075
1831 Solano Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94707
Be sure to mention on your check or NFG form that you're part of the Clifton/Hyman fund drive! Thanks in advance for your help and support - and I promise the next blog entry will be fun - I won't ask you for a thing!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
A Sweet Ending
It's always good to end with a little something sweet, right? So let's end this two-month buffet of French delights with - what else - chocolate!
M. Charles Bataille is the artisan chocolatier of Belleme, who creates chocolates so beautiful that it seems a crime against art to eat them... however, we've managed to get over our guilt and bite right in... indescribable. Made of the freshest cream, the most voluptuous chocolate (up to 80% cocoa) and only-in-Normandy butter, these delectables are meant to be savored, like a long, lazy afternoon.
We walked over to M. Bataille's today after our last visit to our local Thursday morning market in Belleme. We're already feeling nostalgic for it, as it gets livelier every week, as summer deepens and more visitors arrive. Now it's not only the butchers, cheese vendors, produce stands and boulangeries, but also wispy cotton clothing, summer-y bangles, watches, and flowers, flowers, flowers... all in the shadow of the old eglise.
We have a very happy ending as far as Dick is concerned as well, since we went on a highly successful photo safari on Tuesday. The sky was dramatic - it was raining off and on, but very warm and sunny (figure that out)... we came upon a herd of Percheron mares and foals, which is particularly striking because the mares are white, but the foals are born dark. He finally got what he considers to be a Flickr-worthy Percheron photo - at last.
Through the grace of Frequent Flier Miles and the generosity of our friends, we haven't yet spent all the severance, so we'll be enjoying another month in the Bay Area, starting Monday. So we'll be Back in the Good Old World in a week or so... to be continued!
M. Charles Bataille is the artisan chocolatier of Belleme, who creates chocolates so beautiful that it seems a crime against art to eat them... however, we've managed to get over our guilt and bite right in... indescribable. Made of the freshest cream, the most voluptuous chocolate (up to 80% cocoa) and only-in-Normandy butter, these delectables are meant to be savored, like a long, lazy afternoon.
We walked over to M. Bataille's today after our last visit to our local Thursday morning market in Belleme. We're already feeling nostalgic for it, as it gets livelier every week, as summer deepens and more visitors arrive. Now it's not only the butchers, cheese vendors, produce stands and boulangeries, but also wispy cotton clothing, summer-y bangles, watches, and flowers, flowers, flowers... all in the shadow of the old eglise.
We have a very happy ending as far as Dick is concerned as well, since we went on a highly successful photo safari on Tuesday. The sky was dramatic - it was raining off and on, but very warm and sunny (figure that out)... we came upon a herd of Percheron mares and foals, which is particularly striking because the mares are white, but the foals are born dark. He finally got what he considers to be a Flickr-worthy Percheron photo - at last.
Through the grace of Frequent Flier Miles and the generosity of our friends, we haven't yet spent all the severance, so we'll be enjoying another month in the Bay Area, starting Monday. So we'll be Back in the Good Old World in a week or so... to be continued!
Monday, July 13, 2009
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...
First of all, a report on the success of my French phone call: I did, indeed, make reservations for the Promenade - perfectly. Except that I thought a "promenade" would be horses promenading around... au contraire - we were the ones who were promenaded - in a horsedrawn cart with a group of very lovely people, on a tour of old Nogent. It was extremely charming and informative - and our fellow promenaders were so sweet. One lady came up to me and said, "You are American, yes? We love Americans here!" And the children were adorable, as always, particularly the sisters Matilde (age 9) and Berenice (age 4). Berenice fell asleep sucking her thumb about halfway through the ride, while our cart driver, pictured top left, never stopped talking...
At any rate, this seems to be the way things work for us, in travel and in life. We think we have things all figured out, then when it doesn't work, we give up on it... and when we give up on trying to control things, we see them in a whole new way.
For example, we used to think that Mortagne (one of the larger towns near here) was kind of an ugly industrial area, based on traveling by it on the main road. But after M&J told us it was their favorite, we went into the center of town and discovered a picturesque and fascinating city. The market in Mortagne is a Saturday morning "must" now - we have even made friends with a paella vendor who spent a couple of years in Michigan near the town where I grew up - he and his delicious paella are pictured at left... along with glorious roses and a beautiful little girl - all at Mortagne market.
Saturday night brought another visit to the Mortagne area for a musical performance - this time cello, piano and violin, playing Hayden, Ravel and Schubert in a glorious Romanesque church. The music soared to the vaulted ceilings, reaching to the gilded pink and white cherubs atop the 18th century altarpiece... achingly beautiful.
In another instance of happiness arriving when you give up control, remember the collie belonging to Madame Souchet, the keeper of the keys for the local tennis court? When we first got here, she (the dog, not Madame) used to chase me to the gate, snapping at my heels. Now she has seen me so often that she gets all excited and happy and tail-waggy when I show up... gratifying.
So we'll continue to stumble happily through our travels, which sadly will end next week when we head back to the USA, but we won't ever be the same again. James Joyce said, "I am a part of all that I have met"... Every day and every person we meet change us, and these days of getting happily lost have been transformational.
At any rate, this seems to be the way things work for us, in travel and in life. We think we have things all figured out, then when it doesn't work, we give up on it... and when we give up on trying to control things, we see them in a whole new way.
For example, we used to think that Mortagne (one of the larger towns near here) was kind of an ugly industrial area, based on traveling by it on the main road. But after M&J told us it was their favorite, we went into the center of town and discovered a picturesque and fascinating city. The market in Mortagne is a Saturday morning "must" now - we have even made friends with a paella vendor who spent a couple of years in Michigan near the town where I grew up - he and his delicious paella are pictured at left... along with glorious roses and a beautiful little girl - all at Mortagne market.
Saturday night brought another visit to the Mortagne area for a musical performance - this time cello, piano and violin, playing Hayden, Ravel and Schubert in a glorious Romanesque church. The music soared to the vaulted ceilings, reaching to the gilded pink and white cherubs atop the 18th century altarpiece... achingly beautiful.
In another instance of happiness arriving when you give up control, remember the collie belonging to Madame Souchet, the keeper of the keys for the local tennis court? When we first got here, she (the dog, not Madame) used to chase me to the gate, snapping at my heels. Now she has seen me so often that she gets all excited and happy and tail-waggy when I show up... gratifying.
So we'll continue to stumble happily through our travels, which sadly will end next week when we head back to the USA, but we won't ever be the same again. James Joyce said, "I am a part of all that I have met"... Every day and every person we meet change us, and these days of getting happily lost have been transformational.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Big News from the Land of Indolence
Yesterday was a VERY big day for us... Dick got his first publication via Flickr! His photo of Bob Bryan at the French Open is going to be used on Shmap.com, a new map site (you can upload to your computer or your phone... very cool) to illustrate the location of Roland Garros on their Paris map. Onward and upward!
And, this may seem less important to others, but I find it thrilling: I had an entire 10-minute phone conversation in French yesterday, and no one laughed (well, maybe a little) or reverted to English. Of course, what I think I did was make reservations for the horse show today at Chateau St. Jean - if we get there and find out I actually signed up to muck out the stalls, we'll know I need to do a bit more work.
Photo at top left is of the Chateau. We went there on Tuesday to check our their art exhibit (very nice!) and take a small tour... found out they are having a show today with Percherons, so I was hooked...
Then on the way back, we made a stop to visit our local Percherons. These guys weigh about 1500 pounds, but they are the biggest babies you can imagine... they close their eyes and kind of drift off when you give them a good scratch. Actually, Dick does this, too, but he doesn't weigh 1500 pounds - yet - give the cheese a chance.
You'll see the big wussies in the photos at left - and hopefully we'll have some beautiful "horses at the Chateau" photos for you in our next post. Bonne weekend!
And, this may seem less important to others, but I find it thrilling: I had an entire 10-minute phone conversation in French yesterday, and no one laughed (well, maybe a little) or reverted to English. Of course, what I think I did was make reservations for the horse show today at Chateau St. Jean - if we get there and find out I actually signed up to muck out the stalls, we'll know I need to do a bit more work.
Photo at top left is of the Chateau. We went there on Tuesday to check our their art exhibit (very nice!) and take a small tour... found out they are having a show today with Percherons, so I was hooked...
Then on the way back, we made a stop to visit our local Percherons. These guys weigh about 1500 pounds, but they are the biggest babies you can imagine... they close their eyes and kind of drift off when you give them a good scratch. Actually, Dick does this, too, but he doesn't weigh 1500 pounds - yet - give the cheese a chance.
You'll see the big wussies in the photos at left - and hopefully we'll have some beautiful "horses at the Chateau" photos for you in our next post. Bonne weekend!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Ten Reasons to Spend Summer in Le Perche
1. You can walk to a tennis court and play for 2.50 Euros
2. Produce tastes twice as good as Whole Foods’ for half the price
3. You don’t have to wear a watch – the church bells always tell you what time it is
4. Camembert and Calvados
5. Rolling fields of sunflowers and poppies
6. The fetes that happen every weekend
7. Nobody is “too cool for words” – everybody greets you with “Bonjour, M’sieur-dame!”
8. You can read an entire book in one sitting – and you’re not even on an airplane
9. Two hour lunches, long afternoons, and sunset at 10 PM
10. You can watch two complete Grand Slams without once having to listen to Brad Gilbert
And speaking of Grand Slams, we watched Wimbledon at Cafe du Midi with other tennis enthusiasts - all rooting for Roh-ZHAIR Fed-air-AIR - and we were happy he won, though heartbroken for Andy. Maybe the US Open?
2. Produce tastes twice as good as Whole Foods’ for half the price
3. You don’t have to wear a watch – the church bells always tell you what time it is
4. Camembert and Calvados
5. Rolling fields of sunflowers and poppies
6. The fetes that happen every weekend
7. Nobody is “too cool for words” – everybody greets you with “Bonjour, M’sieur-dame!”
8. You can read an entire book in one sitting – and you’re not even on an airplane
9. Two hour lunches, long afternoons, and sunset at 10 PM
10. You can watch two complete Grand Slams without once having to listen to Brad Gilbert
And speaking of Grand Slams, we watched Wimbledon at Cafe du Midi with other tennis enthusiasts - all rooting for Roh-ZHAIR Fed-air-AIR - and we were happy he won, though heartbroken for Andy. Maybe the US Open?
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Real LeMans
We had another wonderful walk through history yesterday when we visited LeMans. Up to this point, my only piece of information about LeMans was that they have the 24-hour car races there every other year or so... and my impression was that it was just a big modern city.
What did we discover on our visit? That the City, the provincial government and the government of France have invested in a total restoration of the old Plantagenet City. The city is named for the Plantagent dynasty which began here in 1128, with Geoffrey The Handsome, Count of Anjou, who used to decorate his hat with "genet" - a sprig of the broom plant... he "planted" the "genet" in his hat.
But the real origins of the city are even older. There still remains a fortified Roman wall, built in 280, which has protected and defined this old quarter of the city for 15 centuries, and Roman thermal baths that look like they were a lot of fun!
The real blossoming of LeMans came during the Renaissance, and that's when its most charming buildings were erected... the Plantagenet City is often used as a movie set, and it's obvious why that is so when you wander the streets. They were happily uncrowded on Friday, as it's not truly high season yet, and we browsed charming antique shops, discovered an entire street devoted to the maintenance of musical instruments, from mandolins and lutes to pianos... and of course, ate a fantastic French mid-day meal of smoked salmon pate, duck and homemade ice cream for dessert!
What did we discover on our visit? That the City, the provincial government and the government of France have invested in a total restoration of the old Plantagenet City. The city is named for the Plantagent dynasty which began here in 1128, with Geoffrey The Handsome, Count of Anjou, who used to decorate his hat with "genet" - a sprig of the broom plant... he "planted" the "genet" in his hat.
But the real origins of the city are even older. There still remains a fortified Roman wall, built in 280, which has protected and defined this old quarter of the city for 15 centuries, and Roman thermal baths that look like they were a lot of fun!
The real blossoming of LeMans came during the Renaissance, and that's when its most charming buildings were erected... the Plantagenet City is often used as a movie set, and it's obvious why that is so when you wander the streets. They were happily uncrowded on Friday, as it's not truly high season yet, and we browsed charming antique shops, discovered an entire street devoted to the maintenance of musical instruments, from mandolins and lutes to pianos... and of course, ate a fantastic French mid-day meal of smoked salmon pate, duck and homemade ice cream for dessert!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Versailles for Horses
Like many young girls, I was horse-crazy... my favorite vacation was the spring that my parents drove us to Kentucky to visit Churchill Downs and the breeding stables in the blue grass country. So it's no wonder that when given a chance to visit what its architect designed to be a Versailles for horses - the French National Stud Farm at Haras du Pin, I was in the car with my seat belt buckled before you could say "le cheval".
People in Normandy are rightfully proud of their horses, and particularly of the two breeds that originated here: the Percheron and the Cob Normandy. At Haras du Pin, the best of the best stallions of these two breeds, plus Arabians, trotting horses, and thoroughbreds (the French call these "Anglais") live a pampered, posh life that is not dissimilar to that of The Sun King and his court...they're fed the finest food, they're groomed until they glow, and, of course, they get all the prettiest girls. Despite this spoiled life, they're quite mellow and enjoy having visitors - probably because their human visitors all stand in front of the stalls cooing and tell these apparitions, in various languages, how incredibly beautiful they are!
And, of course, there are always a few jokers, like the trotting horse pictured at left who likes to stick out his tongue and then if you don't pay attention, he pretends he's going to bite. The last time we were here, he actually let us play with his tongue (e-e-e-e-w) but they've gotten a bit more strict about visitor interaction now and we weren't allowed to touch.
We took a tour of the grounds and met most of the grand stallions as well as visiting the carriage room and tack room... a wonderful experience, but not good enough to satisfy that little farm girl who wants to see more horses... so we're going back next week for the European Cart Horse Championships. Allez!
People in Normandy are rightfully proud of their horses, and particularly of the two breeds that originated here: the Percheron and the Cob Normandy. At Haras du Pin, the best of the best stallions of these two breeds, plus Arabians, trotting horses, and thoroughbreds (the French call these "Anglais") live a pampered, posh life that is not dissimilar to that of The Sun King and his court...they're fed the finest food, they're groomed until they glow, and, of course, they get all the prettiest girls. Despite this spoiled life, they're quite mellow and enjoy having visitors - probably because their human visitors all stand in front of the stalls cooing and tell these apparitions, in various languages, how incredibly beautiful they are!
And, of course, there are always a few jokers, like the trotting horse pictured at left who likes to stick out his tongue and then if you don't pay attention, he pretends he's going to bite. The last time we were here, he actually let us play with his tongue (e-e-e-e-w) but they've gotten a bit more strict about visitor interaction now and we weren't allowed to touch.
We took a tour of the grounds and met most of the grand stallions as well as visiting the carriage room and tack room... a wonderful experience, but not good enough to satisfy that little farm girl who wants to see more horses... so we're going back next week for the European Cart Horse Championships. Allez!
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