This is Standing Red Tara. She magnitizes people to practice the dharma through love and compassion using her flowered hook, noose, and bow and arrow. She's like the equivalent to Cupid.

In Tibetan Buddhist temples, there are always a lot of paintings on the walls and ceilings. This one is of the Buddha with Shariputra and Mogdalyana, who are the two foremost disciples of the Buddha.

Here is another statue next to Padmasambhava, and I'm not sure who this one is. These statues are massive, in case the pics in the picture don't show the scale.

Another angle...

This the central statue in the temple, Guru Padmasambhava. He's a reincarnation of the Buddha that brought buddhism to Tibet, and is particularly revered by the Nyingma sect.

This is in the entryway to the temple, and the pic is of two of the four guardian kings of the four directions.

And here's the temple itself. All the rooms here are already taken, otherwise I would have possibly stayed here in order to have opportunities to speak Tibetan, and to go to morning or evening practice with the other monks.

Here is the entrance to the Nyingma templey that was just consecrated here. The Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa came for it, and they had the whole town decked out for the event. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me that day, or I would have some pictures of all the flags and arches they put up along the roads.

We get some pretty great sunsets here too.

And here's Tashi again with Gundun, who's also from Amdo. They're both massage therapist, and spend a lot of time hanging out at Nick's, as their massage space is just off the patio there.

Here's Roberto with my friend Tashi while were sitting in Nick's Italian Kitchen in McLeod. Tashi's from Amdo, which means his Tibetan accent is so strong, we have to talk in English.

Rob took this with my camera, and just loved the way the foot of the mountains disappear in the mist layer by layer.

Also took while walking through town, some women picking through some grain.

And then the cow herd lady smiled for me.

I took this while I was walking through town.

There are a lot of these butterflies around, and this one day they all seemed to be doing mating dances.

I saw this dog that looked just my dog Baby, except this one has longer curly fur. I miss my Baby!

This one of some wild roses growing by the stream is for my mom. Hey Mom! I always used to give her birthday cards with roses on them, she loves them so much.