Make your reservations now at the Mosaic Garden!

The (proposed) Mosaic Garden contains three main features -- The Wedding Arch (where newlyweds can sit on a bench and get their photos taken), the Photo Steps and Benches (where the hoards of family members can line up on steps and get their photos taken), and the Performance Stage (where all the gala wedding rituals and dances take place). The three areas can be adapted to similar but alternate uses when, instead of a wedding, the Gardens are hosting receptions, meetings or workshops. The three areas are connected by 81 24” diameter mosaic stepping stones (of our workshop’s original design, of course) and the feature walls in all of the 3 main areas will also feature mosaics.

It’s a LOVELY concept, but when you actually see our back yard (above is existing backyard where Performance Stage will be constructed) and have experienced how long EVERYTHING takes to implement in Nepal, you’d probably say this “Mosaic Garden” will be completed........well.... never.

Still, it’s worth a dream!

Plan of Presentation Stage -- perfect platform for weddings, receptions and workshops (as well as a great place to dance and sing!)

Wedding Arch site (with foundation dug and filled with rock and sand and bamboo pole indicating approximate height of wedding arch. We are on a ROLL already!!!! UK Volunteer Hazel Fullerton is the designer of the arch.

Wedding Arch plans... makes you want to tie the knot just so you can sit under the arch!!

Photo Steps and Benches site (with house I live in -- orange and yellow one -- in the background. (LARGE tarp draped over lower story was erected after vet said our 3 dogs needed a warmer place to sleep!)

Photo Steps and Benches.... THIS is the favorite of all the artists.... “Very beautiful, M’am! Very beautiful!”

And these lovely drawings were drawn in my high tech office behind the mosaic workshop, next to the (rather pitiful) vegetable garden in the midst of the future, “verrrry, verrry beautiful” Mosaic Garden of Bhairahawa, Nepal!

Last year in Bhairahawa, Nepal, I taught art, English and iris folding (greeting card making). This year, I drew blueprints of the property (who says volunteers aren’t multi-talented!!) and the proposed “mosaic garden” in the back yard that will (we hope and theorize) be an ideal place to hold weddings, receptions, meetings, and workshops. Last year’s tasks were a PIECE OF CAKE compared to drawing these plans.

I almost gave up and simply called it quits quite a few times because:

1. I had to measure the property, buildings, gardens, etc. using a 10’ seamstress’s tape (because our one big tape was being used for mosaic installations...after a hundred of so feet at 10’ increments, concentration and accuracy just drift away into the B’wa dusk)
2. I eventually succeeded in getting a t-square and a couple angles, some large tracing paper, and masking tape. What I DIDN’T get was an architect’s scale (that allows you to convert feet into inches... thus I ended up doing A LOT of tedious math by PENCIL -- no calculators here!)
3. And most challenging (beyond the impossibility of getting an eraser that actually ERASES without leaving horrible gray smudges behind) was to complete the drawings before they became absolutely filthy, ripped, wrinkled, or dumped upon!

After measuring the property with the help of fellow volunteer Daphne, I took my (incredibly intricately dimensioned) sketch to my “drawing board” (an old cupboard door, I think, complete with one remaining hinge)

Sketch resulting from our initial measuring

Within MOMENTS of taping a beautiful clean sheet of white drawing paper to the board (with brown packaging tape), one of the mosaic artists decided to oil his cutting pliers ON MY BOARD, leaving a big blotch of oil in the center of the paper and ruining one of my precious pieces of paper.

(I drew a skull and crossbones on that sheet and it remained as the sheet covering the board each and every time I left the table from then on... it worked!)

Next I discovered that our two parcels are not square; the ends are the same measurement but the sides are not. There is NO WAY for me to determine what angle goes on each end (without a surveyor and THAT ain’t happenin’! I can’t even get a scale!) After puzzling over it for awhile, I took a deep breath and sketched the angles as close as I could determine by looking over the edges of the roofs.

The rest of the drawing documenting existing structures and conditions went fairly fast; I was feeling good... until I went to transfer the drawing to tracing paper and found that someone had squashed my roll of tracing paper and it had several creases running through its length. (Arghhh! If I hate nothing else, I hate wrinkles... especially in paper -- although clothing is a close second... just ask my kids... I HATE WRINKLES and here I was stuck with nothing to use EXCEPT wrinkled paper.!)

I think the arrival of masking tape saved the day; at least I wouldn’t have to tape my wrinkled paper down using packaging tape (that rips the face off most papers). I counted my blessings as I taped my creased paper onto my board.

The result (although smudged by the erasers that don’t erase and the t-square sliding over the pencil marks from pencils that contain graphite on steroids, leaving the entire sheet a dirty gray) was amazingly good.

Existing Property

By now I was on a roll -- the skull and crossbones scared everyone away from my drafting board.... I’d resigned myself to the tools I had.... and I was learning to be one with wrinkles (personal growth at its best).

So over the next week, I created plans for:

THE MOSAIC GARDEN -- PHOTO #1 ABOVE

It’s a LOVELY concept, but when you actually see our back yard and have experienced how long EVERYTHING takes to implement in Nepal, you’d probably say this “Mosaic Garden” will be completed........ never.

Still, it’s worth a dream!

The Mosaic Garden contains three main features -- The Wedding Arch (where newlyweds can sit on a bench and get their photos taken), the Photo Steps and Benches (where the hoards of family members can line up on steps and get their photos taken), and the Performance Stage (where all the gala wedding rituals and dances take place). The three areas can be adapted to similar but alternate uses when, instead of a wedding, the Gardens are hosting receptions, meetings or workshops. The three areas are connected by 81 24” diameter mosaic stepping stones (of our workshop’s original design, of course) and the feature walls in all of the 3 main areas will also feature mosaics.

SEE THE BEFORE PHOTOS & PLANS ABOVE

And the lovely drawings were drawn in my high tech office (see photo above) behind the mosaic workshop, next to the (rather pitiful) vegetable garden in the midst of the future, “verrrry, verrry beautiful” Mosaic Garden of Bhairahawa, Nepal!

So the plans are finished (in the nick of time! I leave for India on Monday!) and ready to be shipped up to Kathmandu for Phillip (head of the charity) to look over, admire and (I hope!) implement. I’m sure there are many opportunities for supporters to sponsor a stepping stone, wedding arch, stage, photo steps, or one of the numerous mosaics that will grace the garden.... so if interested, give me a holler and I’ll direct you to the appropriate person!

And even better.... any weddings or meetings or workshops in your future?!?! Better get your venue scheduled now!!! Bhairahawa’s Mosaic Garden is the up-and-coming place to have it!!!

Multitasking in the Shower (fun, fun!!)

Washing laundry in Nepal is as easy as a morning bucket bath!

1. Heat up a couple pans of water on the propane stove (probably in the dark because mornings aren't very popular with electricity)

2. Dump boiling water in the bucket and lug it upstairs to the "bathroom" (no bath, of course, and rarely an operable shower, or if the shower is operable it features only icy water)

3. Gather together all your shower necessities -- soap, towel, scrub brush, shampoo, cream rinse, etc, etc -- as well as your dirty laundry and some laundry detergent.

4. Put your laundry in the wash basin (about 3' in diameter with the laundry soap)

5. Add enough cold water to your bucket to make it the PERFECT shower temperature.

6. Stand in the wash basin and dump water over your head and body with some smaller implement (a pan, a plastic container, etc)... lather up and rinse, letting all the sudsy water run off your body into the wash basin

7. When there is enough water in the wash basin, start up the washing machine by marching in the wash basin while you finish up washing and rinsing yourself. Agitate the water with your marching feet until the water is the color of mud

8. Exit the wash basin, grab your towel and dry off, and then scrub the "particular nasty parts" of your laundry with your little scrub brush.

9. Dump water into the toilet, "cleaning the toilet" to its sparkling best with the muddy water.

10. Rinse clothes repeatedly in icy water until the water stays relatively clear and free of soap (usually 2-3 times or until your desire from really clean clothes and/or patience runs thin). Alternate dumping the rinse water on the floor (after which you squeegee the floor nice and clean) or in the toilet (always can use another cleansing)

11. Squeeze as much water out of the clothes as possible, run them up to the clothesline on the rooftop and hang them on the provided rope line (avoid the wire line.... it leaves rusty lines on your clothes)

12. Wait for 1/2 a day (in sunny times) or up to a week (in foggy times) for your clothes to dry.

13. Repeat process every day (unless the water goes out for 3 days.... that makes it more difficult because you have to lug your rinse water from the pump next door... easier just to stay a bit dirtier than usual)

I'll take photos of the process and add to this blog as soon as I take another "shower"!

Installing a big mosaic on HIGH!

Not a bad placee to install a LARGE mosaic... just stand on the railing and table and all is good! Tule, Sunita, Man and Prakash have everything under control!

Well, I guess it requires a bit more balancing than we had anticipated. Thank goodness, Bunnu is supervising!

Forgot to mention, this is all happening about 30 feet above the concrete below...

Volunteer Hazel and I selected the (only suitable without being suicidal to the installers, we thought) site to hang the workshop's latest and greatest mosaic -- on the balcony wall of the workshop. The process SEEMED simple enough:

1. Layout where the piece is going to go and square it up (using a broken level and homemade plumb bob -- clippers tied to end of string)

2. Roughen the surface where the piece is going to be installed and smear entire area with cement (obscuring all the markings that were there to make sure the piece is hung plumb and square)

3. Carry the LARGE (3'6" x 4'6" or so) and HEAVY (this is cut up floor tile adhered to mesh) mosaic up the stairs, onto the balcony.

4. While balancing on the balcony railing, HEAVE the (floppy) mosaic up and smash it into the concrete (while trying to position it plumb and level without any marks....Frantic installers, "Carol, sister! Is this Ok???!!".... "How can I see anything, you're all standing in front of it!!"... All together, nearing panic, teetering on railing's edge, "Hurry, sister! Is this OK!???!?!?" .... Me, shoving a piece of plywood up to them along with a brick, "Oh, my God! Be careful! I'm sure it's perfect" )

5. While still balancing on the railing and tables, the installers heave a piece of plywood over the mosaic and start pounding on it with a large brick to adhere it (I have it on video!... just can't get the blog to upload it!)

6. Once it's stuck, installers pray to the powers that be that it won't fall down before it dries enough to be grouted. (Volunteers thank the powers that be that all have survived the installation)

And so we have another OSHA approved job completed in Nepal....

Yarn Bombing in Nepal!

Finally did some yarn bombing (guerrilla installation of pieces of crochet) here in Nepal...hilarious!

Bicycle Rickshaw Bombing.... When the rickshaw driver walked up and saw me "bombing" his rickshaw, he stood there as if it was like any other normal event of the day... when I finished, he stood back, looked it over, approved it and then rode away on his bicycle rickshaw... As he pedaled away the yarn blended into the colorful surroundings as if it was just another patch of the Nepali fabric of (very colorful) life... And then another bicycle rickshaw pulled up and gestured me to do his rickshaw, too! Gotta love it!!