Tomorrow starts my last week at the shala for this visit. I’m looking forward to seeing my loved ones in real life instead of via Skype:
But I’ll also miss sitting on the steps of the shala, waiting for my turn:
And I did finally get my act together and started putting my shoes in the same place every time, so I can find them after practice.
A few more pics to share. First off, there’s a little herd of tiny sheep who seem to love getting muddy. I ran into them at the crematorium:
Right along that road, I also saw a man who’d come to collect his cows for milking time:
As he herded them down the road, a car came along, and it’s a bit hard to see in the picture, but the cows are in front of the car and going quite slowly. The guy in the car was honking but the cows were unconcerned. Their herder was equally unconcerned:
One of the things I’ve also noticed is that crows like to hang out with the cows. I assume they like the seeds or grass bits in cow manure. This morning, I saw a crow approach a cow and jump up and poke the cow lightly on the side. The cow did not react. The crow jumped up again and poked the cow, who didn’t respond. Then the crow jumped on the cow’s back. I’m not sure why the crow was behaving that way, but wonder if he wasn’t testing to see if the cow was cranky or if it was okay to sit on him. As you can see, they came to an agreement:
Shortly after I took those pictures, another cow approached me because she saw the iPhone in my hand. I think she figured it was food, so she came over quite eagerly. Here’s a picture of a disappointed cow walking away:
And lastly, a cow interaction with no picture, because I had to hurry. I keep fruit rinds in my fridge so they don’t sit in the trash and attract flies. As I was walking downstairs to do some laundry, I noticed a young cow walking up the road. I ran and chopped up some custard apple rinds and brought them to her. She seemed to like custard apple as much as I do.
Life here is modest, but you are never lonely for the company of other creatures.
