Oh my! I just looked at the date of my last post and it was December. Here it is already February and I am again wondering where all the time has gone. Is it possible that I might have fallen asleep and just now opened my eyes to find an entire month has gone by?

It was a busy January, that's for sure. We had unseasonably warm weather almost the entire month. So warm that we are now in an official drought status, declared by the Governor of California. We drove up to tour the HGTV home which is located in Truckee, California and traveling over the summit which is usually covered with feet of snow, we arrived to find mostly rocks with small patches of snow only in the absolute shady spots. It was really frightening! And it really hasn't gotten much better yet. I'm afraid to think of what summer will be like here in our state when the heat arrives.

Last week we visited the Monks who are visiting here from the Gaden Shartse Monastery in India. What an incredible time we had seeing them create the Mandala, perform healing ceremonies, sweeping the sands of the completed Mandala away at the end of their time here and depositing them in Deer Creek, a local creek in the town of Nevada City. The Mandala has healing properties. It is the Medicine Buddha that is depicted in the Mandala. The Medicine Buddha is the Supreme Healer in Tibetan medicine, available for liberating the individual from suffering and is an exemplary metaphor for the mystical elements which are universally inherent in the holistic healing tradition.

The beginnings of the Medicine Buddha Mandala

Blessings in Nevada City at the Maidu Cedar Monument

The sand from the Mandala is being placed into Deer Creek by the monks.

Ven Geshe Lharampa Jampa Phelgya and Don Ryberg...Tribal council chairman of the Tsi-Akim Maidu Tribe

I'm really glad that I finally woke up just in time to be immersed in the time I had with the monks. And as we drove away from Nevada City that morning, sands being placed into Deer Creek...it began to rain. Thank you monks for blessing the environment and me with your presence.