Frost Sculptures

Extreme sub-zero temperatures can result in ice-sculpturesque scenes in nature.  I never cease to be moved by the ability of nature to reinvent herself, not only at the transition of the seasons, but uniquely so within each one. On this day, the intense white and blue was striking, refreshing, breathtaking.

Home Sweet Home

I just realized recently that I had not even posted a photo of our beautiful Rasht Valley. I love this place to the core of my being. Don't know if I can even explain it articulately or poetically, or any other way, but it is now in my marrow. The picture on the top is the town I live in, Gharm, and the one on the bottom is looking up the valley towards Kyrgyzstan.

Little Girls of Garm

Although they live in an insecure environment, their lives remain fairly predictable - at 17 they will be married and will move into the households of their husbands and become the worker bees for their in-laws. There may be two or three keling (daughters-in-law) in one household to split chores. That would certainly be my preference. I would not make a good keling by their definition, unless I was only allowed to work the garden.