just a few quick thoughts from the south coast of india along the bay of bengal. We awoke early and walked on the beach. fisherman in boats made from logs strapped together were paddling into shore waiting for breaks between sets of the 2-3 foot swell. There were hundreds of them, and one man holding a baby approached us and asked if we cared to take a ride. My father and I couldn't say no. For a 150 ruppees a piece we had a local fisherman hand us two paddles, which were just planks of wood and mostly for show, ask us to climb aboard and sit while his friends pushed us into the shallow water. The power for the boat comes from the most dangerous looking outboard motor i've ever seen. It's just an engine with a long shaft and a whirling proppeller on the end looking much like a giant weed whacker. When he pulls the cord the prop starts spinning, no neutral, no safety measures, and the thing was pointed straight up in the air. He dunks it in the water and hits the gas. we blast through the whitewater of 3 or 4 two footers on our way out past the break. It was fantastic. good to be in the water again.
We spent two nights in pondicherry which is an old french colony. the architecture and flavor, the food and promenades felt like a worn mediteranean tourist town deserted in the off season. Tonight we are staying in a beach resort up the coast and tomorrow we fly to Kerala, the southern most portion of our trip on the west side of india. I'm having so much fun.

i've been hiking through the ruins at hampi all
morning in karnataka, southwestern india. This place
it magnificent. Approaching the ruins you drive
through fields of palm and banana trees, then rocky
boulders begin to rise up from the flatlands. It
reminds me of the boulders in joshua tree or utah.
Among the boulders are the ruins of hindu temples
built between the 9th and 14th centuries. At one point
hampi was the second richest kingdom in the world
after rome. The sculptures are wonderful of vishnu,
kali, and ganish and monkeys crawl up and the ruins
and lay around in the morning sun. there was an
elephant in one of the temples painted in vibrant
colors by his caretaker. I handed the elephant a ten
rupee coin which he excepted, and then he blessed me
by rubbing his wet trunk on my head. i feel so lucky.

For those of you who will be seeing max today, and
that should be all of you in SF. it's his birthday.
wish him a happy one for me. happy birthday from mom,
forward this to dalmen as well because carol has
forgotten her password to email. it's taken 30 minutes
to bring up yahoo anyhow.

We have been having an incredible experience. the most
mindblowing thing about india is how you get from
place to place. If there is ever more then a foot
between cars a family of four on a vespa will slip
through the gap, yet it seems to work relatively well
except for the 3 or 4 overturned vehicles we've
passed.

Some of the more unusual things we've seen so far have
been a women laboring with a huge basket of dirt on
her head while talking on her cell phone, and the 10
year old boy who had a furry black bear on a rope who
stood in the middle of the highway while we were doing
about 45 miles an hour. He didn't even flinch. we
quickly braked and swerved around him. This place is
incredible. We saw the taj mahal at sunrise and it is
fantastic. we've also been followed by masses of
people everytime we set foot outside. In all the chaos
the people are so happy and friendly. It gives you a
profound perspective on life. Hope you are all well.

Here are the beautiful white flowers in the front garden of the the quivira winery. I took a 16 shot burst and alphaed them together with a rollover. Then i sat down and tasted some wine. what a beautiful fall day. The grape leaves were turning a wide range of oranges, yellows, and reds. Nice to spend the day with friends and watch the turn of the seasons.

Just returned from Francis's art opening in the wine country at the roshambo winery The place is beautiful and really complimented francis's work. We rented a house and stayed near the russian river. The house had a beautiful view from the deck soaking in the tub. i love hot tubs.

Halloween was thursday, and quite a night. I went as Pan, max as mad max, bekahontas as cleopatra. We had a party to start the night off. Then we headed for sean's in the castro. Both were wonderful. Everybody showed their best stuff. It was a rough morning getting to the office for sure. But it was also my anniversary. I've been at grey one year.