A Collage of Pictures

I have been working at recovering pictures from Nepal taken over 40 years ago.  The originals are slides that have not been well kept and have dust, dirt, hair and scratches along with subtle changes in color.  The originals had problems due to the heat, humidity and problems with the camera caused by the environment.  Unfortunately, about half the original pictures were lost before getting back to America, and a number have been lost since.  Below are two collages... the first is a collection from Kathmandu and the second is from Belewa/Baglung area.

If you look carefully, you can find me in three of the pictures.  I look somewhat different than I do now.  There are stories about each of the pictures included.

I am standing outside my classroom doorway in the pictures in the upper left.  In the lower right you can see a picture take outside baglung with the Himalayan mountain range beyond.  The old Tibet is just beyond.

Partial Collages - Evidence of Past Life

I have put together two photo collages to show some elements of my life:

The first grouping focuses on Nepal.  I have dozens of pictures of the country and people but very few of myself (I wonder why?).  At the center is a pictures of me at the LAX airport in transit to training (next to me is my sister).  Starting at upper left: a view of the school I at which I taught math, science, and conversational English (in the Nepali language); next is a pictures of me after I had regained about 20 pounds - I am looking out across the Gandaki Gorge with a ghostly double image of the crude Ferris wheel used during a time of festival; the yellow shirt shown in the next picture outside my classroom door was designed by me and made by a tailor in Kathmandu; next is in Kathmandu looking at a temple (the Peace Corps nurse took the picture); finally, a peek at where I lived - the doorway at the top of the outdoor stairs to the left.  If you look carefully, you can see Mount Dhaulagiri in the background of two of the pictures.

Above shows a number of images of both past and present.  At the top left is a clear image of Mount Dhaulagiri at the head of the gorge where I lived for almost 2 years.  The mountain is actually about 15 or so miles away.  Next to it is the "star burst" of a home made nuclear fusion reactor which a friend of mine made in his basement.  Yes, it is an actually reactor and I still wonder about the wisdom of standing in front of the window taking pictures.  In the upper right is a pictures of when I worked for the Coast Guard Oceanographic Unit and went on an expedition to survey glaciers and do bathemetric studies in the fjords.  I am standing in front of a cairn where I found a pair of sun glasses from a previous explorer which the ship's captain donated to the maritime museum.  To the left is a picture from 2011 with the Upper Moreland High School "Golden Bear" behind me.  The bottom two pictures on the left contrast me before and after having my hair and beard colored to make me look the proper age to act as father in  Brighton Beach Memoirs - which is the next picture to the right.  Finally, the last picture shows me at the Ohio Festival decked out in a kilt hand made by my twin brother, Walt.