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Just Another Castle?

Posted by Glen at 8/28/2007 7:41 AM

We went to Fatepur Sikri (Fah-teh-purr Sick-ree), another example of Mughal architecture at its best, at the urging of Pig. She asked, “As long as we have traveled this far, shouldn’t we go just a little bit farther?”

So we visited this ancient fortress with its elephant stables, a master bedroom suite the size of a house with a stone bed elevated on giant pillars,and incredibly carved details everywhere. I couldn’t help asking myself why we were there.

Was this just another castle? Pig answered my question with another of her own, “Daddy, does this place remind you of anything special?” “Yes,” I replied. “All of the great carvings at Primitive.” “That’s right” she said. “I didn’t want you to forget that you’re never far from home.” It was Pig wisdom at its best.

So I suggested we go to Ellora...

Posted by Glen at 8/13/2007 10:24 AM

So I suggested we go to Ellora, hoping to find something equally great . . . but all that was there was eye training.

After the shock of finding Pig's ancestors at Ajanta, we made our way to the caves at Ellora. Like the Ajanta caves, these are rock cut masterpieces which completely boggle the mind. But none of Pig's relatives were visible in the ancestral traces which have survived for many centuries. There was instead, amazing carving and the unmistakable traces of people, long gone, who had taken over these caves and made them their homes.

Pig Tales: Pig reveals the power of true love!

Posted by Glen at 7/29/2007 8:10 PM

It’s hard to imagine a grown man listening intently and carrying on a dialogue with a stuffed pig, unless the pig represents the inner child of his best friend, companion, and partner, Claudia Morgan. The pig was a gift from a family friend years ago, and in no time she was a principal member of our family.

The pig is a beautiful shade of pink, with brown button eyes, and much to her dismay, cloven hoofs and a straight tail. She wears a bow around her neck, a tag on her leg, and has beads in her butt for balance. She was born in China. We know this because the tag says so. She is thoroughly cuddly. She is also smart, entrepreneurial, and innocent, although she has occasionally been known to gamble. She has a rich fantasy life, a sense of humor, and countless friends. When children and adults see her they light up. She can make hearts melt.

A tale of tea – Glen Joffe discovers tea is just like everything else at Primitive

Posted by Glen at 7/21/2007 1:56 PM

It might as well be 1920 and I have just finished an excruciatingly exhausting day in the field, in search of great things to present at Primitive. I feel like I am on the Orient Express, which I have just rushed to catch, slumped in my compartment, wearing a wrinkled linen suit, my Pandora, the most reliable sunshield I know, swaying on a hat hook as the train begins to chug along. Loosening my tie, I catch the scent of a cup of oolong tea, which the porter has graciously placed in front of me, perhaps because he has seen how disheveled I’ve become in my rush to make the train. It is not the day’s events that stick in my mind, but the porter’s courtesy, and curiosity, which he displayed as he examined my sorry appearance and brought me that glorious cup of tea.

But I am not on the Orient Express. I am at the Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, China, a sparkling new facility opened only a couple of years ago. It is another piece of evidence of China’s modernization, its rise to first world status. But some things, no matter how fast China grows, will not be left behind, and tea is one of them. China is the birthplace of tea. It is a tea culture.