Dec. 1 | The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

Farewell, today is the last day of blogging The Snow Leopard. My copy of the book is quite worn. It's been quite a journey. I've enjoyed and appreciated the senses captured by the author as I followed along, day by day, with his trek through the Himalaya and quest for a snow leopard sighting.

Writers, read The Snow Leopard for sensory detail. The book is rich with sights, tastes, touches, sounds and smells Each is usually easy to pick out in each day's entry (with scents sometimes a bit harder to come by).

In addition, the book weaves in the extra senses as well — dreams, hopes, fears, thoughts, and spiritual longing. It's a beautiful work of nonfiction that reads like a novel.

I'm encouraged to try another slow reading project with Matthiessen's The Cloud Forest, not so meticulously blogging it this time, but reading along with it from December 18 through May 2.

I've enjoyed settling down with The Snow Leopard, taking time with it and living with it a little each day.

Snow leopard taste: chang
At home: pumpkin pie, kale, potato
Snow leopard sight: frost-colored wolf
At home: play gray December sky, layered clouds, soft blue light, trees, river
Snow leopard sound: wind howling
At home: sobbing
Snow leopard touch: a grim wind
At home: 50 degrees on a cloudy December day
Snow leopard smell: pine forests
At home: roast potato
Snow leopard quote of the day: Last line of The Snow Leopard:

"Under the Bodhi Eye, I get on my bicycle again and return along gray December roads to Kathmandu."

Snow leopard notable: fewer than 120 snow leopards left in Nepal?
Snow leopard extra: creation of the Shey-Phoksundo National Park in 1984; हिउं चितुवा - Panthera uncia
At home: irony
Snow leopard gratitude: a letter from Kathmandu
At home: time for slow reading

What is this? Blogging The Snow Leopard project.

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