The Bell- Murray foundation “Afghans” (tazis, taigans) in the 20’s, c/o Jess: “All the innumerable ‘breeds’ of Oriental sighthounds can be found as coat variations in any good litter in northern Afghanistan…” –Steve Bodio The caption is unintentionally hilarious…
Tag: Central Asia
Teaser
Michael Simon’s “Bodio’s Gos & Claret” fly surrounded by Bodio & Gos in Bozeman ca 1999, and (clockwise) Khyber Pass Gos by Catherine Lassez (70’s), Afghan Lapis snuff bottle, Pakistani bell. And remember one of Michael’s old ID’s was “Afghan Trout”…
Battle Rugs & Endless Connections
I have posted a pic of my Soviet- war era Afghan battle rug before. It is a prized possession, drenched in haunted history and metaphorical blood. I got it from fellow fly fisher and double gun nut (and fine artist and rug fancier) Michael Simon, then of Livingston Montana. Daniela, who, like many of us …
Canat is Well
A bittersweet result of hearing the melancholy news about Aralbai below was a note from my old friend Canat with great photos. We did mourn a bit of lost youth (he was moved by my white hair and grandchild, which he knew of only abstractly)– was it really fifteen ears since I first set foot …
Some Replies–Eagles for Jim, “UFO Area” for Chas…
Below, Jim Cornelius wrote: “Caught an episode of Human Planet on Saturday, featuring a 16-year-old Kazakh making his first hunt with an eagle he had captured and trained. They had a camera mounted on the eagle. OH, MAN! I want to see an entire movie on this type of hunting in IMAX.” Actually, a wonderful …
East/ West: Architecture
Or “vernacular” architecture in Christopher Alexander’s words… This is NOT Magdalena (though I have had people insist it is and even locate it); it is Bayan Nuur in Olgii aimag.Nor are these.This is:I even put plastic on the windows.
Tamgaly Rock Art
Whether because of (quite plausible) shared ancestry or (more I would think) the “Darwinian” demands of environment, climate, and materials, both rock art and vernacular architecture resemble each other in central Asia and the dry west. Compare Reid’s images below to these from Tamgaly, in the dry steppes a couple of hours north of Almaty …
Links, Pix, & Assorted Phenomena…
Lauren’s Aquiling is up and running again and, at least until her book on her year among the Kazakhs is out, the best place for exotic falconry and adventure tales… There is some pretty funny and often grotesque animal photography up at Nature Wants to Eat You. HT Annie Davidson, who also sent this video …
Sporting Miscellany
As the Peculiars are here with grandbaby Eli I shall continue my slackerish blog- sloth for a bit more, but I have harvested a number of cool images to share. So with no further ado: Colonel Charles Askins was a more ambiguous character than the other Golden Age gunwriters; he once described himself as a …
Wild East
Here are a few irresistible photos from Lib’s friend Jeff Foott, who we saw in Wyoming and who just returned from our old haunts in Western Mongolia. The third is just nice and speaks for itself. What I love about the other two is the way the Wild East partakes of all technologies from the …