Saturday - Time to Catch Up

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Yesterday was a day to relax a little and also to get some work done. I spent part of the afternoon in a tea shop reviewing images of paintings and murals collected by a colleague. That was actually a good opportunity to work on the outlines and content for the upcoming classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm feeling much more comfortable about the next two classes. All of the work except the image selection and Chinese translation of the principal topics and names is now done. Because of the shortness of time and the number of subjects I will likely include the discussion of 'Drala' Appearance into the Tuesday night topic.

The weather yeserday was good with some low overcast but it brightened up in the afternoon. Today is much darker and I am thinking that the rain is not far away. At this time of year the weather is typically warm with a few days or a week of pleasant weather followed by a day or two of rain to cool everything off and clean the streets. In July and August - the rainy season - it will rain almost everyday and when it does clear it becomes very hot. I have not been in Chengdu during those months since 2004.

Last night was spent with a Tibetan art historian talking about a range of subjects. We have several areas of interest in common principally to identify the great artists of the various regions of Dege in Sichuan Province.

Today will be more relaxed with only one appointment to see a Tibetan teacher from Lingtsang. He is Drugpa Kagyu and the senior teacher of that region. Hopefully I will be able to ask some questions about Gesar and his various forms found in paintings. The subject of Gesar as represented in art is new to me and on the HAR website only a sketch of the topic is offered. Gesar and Drala Appearance will be included in Thursday nights class. The outline and content is already prepared but not the Chinese translation as yet.

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