Oct. 6 | The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

A bright, new Penguin Classics copy of The Snow Leopard arrived in the mail yesterday. The cover features George Shaller's "striking photograph" and a silver circle proclaims it a Winner of the National Book Award (1979, for Contemporary Thought). The new book includes maps and an introduction by author Pico Iyer and it will not need to be renewed. However, the battered, Velveteen Rabbit-y, plain grey, hard-covered library edition added weight and mystery to the project and its presence will be missed. To another reader bound! May the next soul who plucks this unassuming book from the shelf be delighted by the blossoming lotus within.

Calling the universe to attention, dogs attack, OM!
Cats practice drunken protests of healing purr-ins

Snow leopard taste: potatoes
At home: pecans
Snow leopard sight: daybreak brings pink-copper glow; the dark foundations of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri; the harlequin feathers of a hoopoe (upupa epops)
At home: At 5 p.m., a man sleeping in the shade on concrete in the alley beside his bicycle; a digitized painting of Mount Jasper, New Hampshire
Snow leopard sound: snarling mastiffs; chanting om mani padme hum
At home: yowling cats
Snow leopard touch: 11,200 feet; monsoon torrents
At home: the warmest, sunniest October day — 70 degrees
Snow leopard smell: dank earth
At home: roasting beet and sweet potato
Snow leopard word of the day: dorje - mystical thunderbolt
Snow leopard quote of the day: "In Tibet, where wolves and brigands prosper..."
Snow leopard notable: slash and burn, rockslides caused by destruction of the forests
Snow leopard extra: the hoopoe in Sufi mythology, a spiritual messenger
Snow leopard gratitude: Om!
At home: sit-ins peaceful, passive aggressive protest

Panthera progress: glacial with small slides

What is this? Blogging The Snow Leopard project.

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Shel Graves' Sensorium

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