A Tale of Tibetan Art Created for Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

A Tale of Tibetan Art Created for Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

“Who’s the Dalai Lama?” asked my daughter Florence.  Sooner or later you will get this question in California.  There are many Tibetan monks, who live here north of San Francisco.  The Dalai Lama is also a prolific author, whose photo my daughter had seen on many visits to the bookstore.

Without going into reincarnation, I answered her question, “The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.  We sell a lot of Tibetan art at the gallery where I work.  Would you like to come see some of it,” I asked Florence.

“What’s the art like?,” she asked.

“Some of it looks like the illustrations in those Jataka books about Buddha’s life as an animal before he became Buddha,” I said.

“That could be interesting.  I’d like to see it,” she said.

So, I arranged to bring Florence into the gallery on one of my off days to the gallery.  I was able to work at the gallery, because I had studied Buddhist art as my major in Far Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.  I sent in an article I wrote about an exhibit on Chinese art at the Museum of Monterey as my resume.  The owner checked transcripts and knew I also had an undeclared second major in Western art history as well.

I knew more about Japanese and Chinese art when I had been hired, but one of the conditions of my employment was that I would be able to read the private, limited editions of books about Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian, and Iranian art in the gallery’s library.  

(Almost every gallery in Carmel has a private library used to authenticate artwork.)  I had to leave a credit card hostage when I took one of the books home to read overnight.  When I got through all the books, I felt like I was ready to identify and appraise Buddhist art for Sotheby’s or Christie’s.

Basically, the gallery I worked for was selling artwork to museums or to philanthropists who would eventually donate the artwork to museums.  The Dalai Lama had given the gallery owner his blessing to sell the artwork to save Tibet’s patrimony.  The items on display were exceptional, and I wanted Florence to see them.

When we arrived, the gallery managers were playing Tibetan chanting on the sound system.

“That’s awful,” Florence said.

“No, it’s bong-bong-bong,” I said, trying to imitate the sound of the monks chanting.

The air smelled sweet from the Tibetan incense the mangers were burning.

The Tibetan monastery chests we sold gleamed from polishing.  These chests held religious objects from monasteries in Tibet.  I stood in front of one and pointed out the eight Buddhist symbols on the chests just like I did with clients.  Some of the symbols change, but most adhere to the following iconographical scheme:

“That’s the knot called a mandala.”

“That’s the lotus which represents purity and enlightenment.  A lotus can grow even in dirty, muddy water,” I said to Florence.

“This symbol is the banner of victory which is a sign for when Buddha beat Mara the demon and became enlightened.”

“This is the dharmachakra.  It is an eight-pointed wheel that you spin.  It is a sign of royalty.  Buddha was a prince before he was a spiritual leader,” I said.

“The vase here represents health, wealth, and prosperity for those who become enlightened by beating evil.”

“The golden fish pair represents a man and a woman being happy.”

“This parasol or umbrella protects the faithful from suffering and harm.”

“Finally, the conch shell is a battle horn.  Buddhists also have a warrior tradition of people who protect the faith,” I said. 

We walked around the store and identified these symbols on the other chests.

Then, we looked at art that was sitting on top of the chests beginning with the singing bowls.

“These bowls are made of brass.  If you place it on your flat hand and move this rod around the edge, it will vibrate and make a nice sound,” I said.  I did it once and helped Florence do it until she could make the bowl sing alone.  Next, she tried her hand at making the glass bowls of various sizes sing.

“I tell people they used these glass bowls in Atlantis to make music to make them laugh,” I told Florence.

“Atlantis didn’t exist,” Florence remarked, totally mesmerized by the singing bowls.

When she was done playing with the singing bowls, I wrapped a pashmina scarf around Florence’s neck. 

“These are really soft and can only be made with the moustache of Tibetan goats.  You should really only own one and treasure it,” I said.

I found a real-life dharmachakra with eight spokes and let Florence spin it.

“What does this do?” she asked.

“It keeps your hands busy, so you can concentrate on more important things,” I said to Florence.

“Look at these portable shrines,” I said to Florence and handed several to her.

She opened the doors out on the shrines one by one.

“This one has a picture of the Dalai Lama inside,” she remarked.

“The Chinese don’t like that one.  Tibet is a part of China now.  The Chinese made the Dalai Lama leave.  He’s trying to get his country back, which the Chinese don’t like,” I said.

I took Florence into the office where there was a picture of one of the managers with the Potala Palace in the background.

“The Dalai Lama lived in that palace in the picture before he left Tibet.  It’s called the Potala Palace,” I said.

“What city is it in?” Florence asked.

“Lhasa,” I said.

One of the managers showed Florence Tibetan prayer scrolls.

“The Tibetans have an alphabet.  Look how it lies flat along the top and has angles and circles below,” I said as I showed her these items.

The manager said he had two pictures of Tara to show us.  There are many Taras in the Tibetan pantheon, so I asked, “Which one?”

“The white one,” he responded.

He let Florence lift the cover off a thangka painting to show a beautiful woman with dark hair sitting demurely on a lotus flower.  Her closed mouth smile was enchanting.

“She’s beautiful,” Florence said.

“I have a second picture of her, too,” the manager said.

Florence lifted the white cloth on the thangka and quickly stepped back as she dropped the covering.

“The White Tara is the fiercest of all the Taras, Ruth,” the manager said to me.  He lifted the cover and showed her to me.

I looked at the image, this White Tara had large open-mouthed smile with fangs dripping with blood.”

“Does she cause earthquakes, too?” I asked the manager.

“If she wishes it.  She gets everything she truly wants,” the manager said.

This was pretty theatrical but the real mis-en-scène spectacle was about to take place.  The owner of the store came striding in wearing costume.

The owner climbed the Himalayas as a hobby.  He had on his climbing gear with a parakeet on his shoulder. 

He stood by me and opened the cabinet where he kept the wavy kris swords from Indonesia.  He gave one of the kris swords to me and took one for himself.

He told Florence, “We are the protective deities of Buddhism and will protect you from evil at all costs.”  He began to jab in front of him saying, “Back!” I joined in saying, “Off with Mara the demon’s head.  Stay away from Florence!”   I jabbed the Kris into opponents all around the store and growled.

Florence sat on a Persian carpet, which the store also sold, and smiled and laughed at the protective deities making so much noise in the store.  Some clients came in and started yelling, “Down with Mara!” when the managers told them what was going on.

We stopped wielding our kris swords when we ran out of breath.  “I’ll show you what Buddha looked like after he defeated Mara the Demon and his armies,” I said to Florence.

“See that statue of Buddha whose right hand is touching the ground.  That’s Buddha when he became enlightened.  He became enlightened, because he defeated evil.  You can tell he used to be a prince by the bun on top of his head, his long ears from wearing heavy earrings, and his nice clothes,” I said.

I showed Florence some Tibetan jewelry.

“Feel how heavy this is.  It’s long and pointy to emphasize the face.  It’s inlaid with turquoise and carnelian.  Jewelry like this caused Buddha’s ears to become long,” I said.

We walked around the store some more and stood next to sculptures of bhodisattvas.

“These sculptures look like Buddha, but they are actually what are called bhodisattvas.  These are people who could be enlightened by defeating evil like Buddha, but who choose to wait so they can help other people become enlightened,” I said. 

The managers of the store had conveniently placed Bhodisattva sculpture all together in the store. 

“There are two main bhodisattvas in Tibetan Buddhism.  The first is Avalokiteshvara, who is called the bhodisattva of compassion or kindness.  The other bhodisattva that is popular in Tibetan Buddhism is Matreiya, called the future Buddha.  He’s not a Buddha, but looks like one.  Matreiya would be like the winner in Survivor, because he’s alone.  Unlike survivor, everyone except him would be enlightened,” I said.

“There’s one last thing I want to you to see.  This is a dorje, which is also called a vajra.  It is called a thunderbolt and diamond and is said to represent Tibet.  It is also the gift of creativity,” I said as I handed the double-headed object that looked like it had two crowns on either end to Florence.

Florence rolled it around in her hands and said, “This is interesting.”

“One last thing.  Everyone who comes in this store leaves with a pair of Tibetan socks they have purchased.  I tell them the socks are the best souvenir deal in town, so you get a pair, too,” I said to Florence.

Florence hugged the socks to her chest on the way out and smiled at the sculptures of the protective deities by the door with their eyes bulging and tongues hanging out.

(The symbolism of the Black and White Madonna is real in Tibetan art.  I think this symbolism is founded in science for the following reason:

When you are really angry, blood flows away from your extremities, especially your face, leaving you pale white.

Asians and white people become very pale when angry.  Black people become rather pink.  (I have seen angry people in Detroit.)

People go to the Black Madonna, for help, in Buddhism as in Catholicism, but they turn into a White Madonna in Tibetan Buddhism, if they are angry for an injustice done to them and their family. 

A White Madonna may begin to fight what she feels is injustice towards her and her family in an unjust society.  Fighting does not imply violence. 

Buddhists tend to know that economic exploitation is the true root of all evil and will work to eradicate it for themselves and others in their community to remove corruption from society. 

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Taking Nature Walks with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in Monterey County by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Taking Nature Walks with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in Monterey County by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of my fondest memories of Pacific Grove, California is taking my daughter Florence for walks along the ocean amidst wildflowers after picking her up from school.

We usually bought chai and toasted, sesame bagels with cream cheese and ate them in the car before taking our walk.  On our walks, we could see brown pelicans flying in V-formation (they may still be on an endangered species list), seagulls diving for fish, and black cormorants trotting around on their guano-topped rocks beyond the reach of most walkers.

There is a boardwalk across the street that runs through the wildflowers as well.  Sometimes deer even come out on this trail.

Many tourists come to Monterey as a side trip from San Francisco to do things such as:

-Go on whale watching trips in Monterey

-Go on boat tours of Elkhorn Slough to see sea otters and 400 species of birds that migrate over the Slough or are resident in it

-Go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see jellyfish and swirling sardines – the star shows

-See brown pelicans, seagulls, and cormorants fly over the ocean in Pacific Grove

-Visit the Steinbeck House and Steinbeck Center in Salinas – Steinbeck’s camper that he took on the road trip with his dog Charlie is on display in the museum

-Photograph the domineering geese at Laguna Grande Park in Seaside by the Russian Orthodox Church

-Visit condor (Thunderbird) and bat country at Pinnacles National Park in Soledad

-Watch monarch butterflies flutter overhead in Pacific Grove

(The sanctuary is closed, but there may be a way to repair this.)

-Visit the Dali Museum on the Monterey Wharf

-View the Hispanic painting murals in Salinas

-Visit San Juan Bautista Mission and walk along the San Andreas Fault Trail, do pioneer dances at the Hotel-Saloon, visit the rock and gem shop, take pictures in the buggy and stagecoach museum, take pictures at Les Jardins and eat at Les Jardins or Dona Esther!!!  On Sundays, Dona Esther has mariachi music.

-Play in the Children’s Museum downtown or schedule a visit of the Wheelie-Mobily to your town

-Explore California's Native American past in the Pomo Basket gallery along with regional wildlife and flower collections at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History

-Visit the Holman Native American basket collection at Pacific House on the Monterey Wharf

-Go for family walks and bike riding on Marina's bike trails that go through Marina's downtown with shopping malls and restaurants.  There are motels and hotels in Marina and beach access as well. 

Those are some of the tourism possibilities in Monterey County.

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Learning Spanish in a Conversation Club by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Learning Spanish in a Conversation Club by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I can do sales presentation in Spanish, answer questions in Spanish, ask for information in Spanish, and understand what I am told in Spanish, because I attended tertulías, or Spanish-language cocktail hours when I lived in Madison, Wisconsin.

Spanish tertulías are organized by the Cervantes Institute, a branch of the Spanish government and by Spanish universities in Spain to help promote the Spanish language, culture, food, beverages, fashion, and tourism in Spain.

Other European governments organize language promotion societies as well such as the Goethe Institute, Alliance Française, the Italian Cultural Institute, and various Greek organizations such as the Sons of Pericles and Maids of Athena.

Madison had a very good Cervantes Institute due to their strong Spanish-language program.  I was invited to these tertulías, because I organized French-language outings and parties for the Alliance.  I gave the Cervantes Institute ideas for programming.

I was learning Spanish on my own and loved having the chance to practice the language.  The University of Wisconsin – Madison had language dorms.  So, their Spanish speakers were quite good.  (Stanford University also has foreign-language dorms.)

The tertulías were held in various bars around Madison where we could buy tapas, Spanish appetizers, and chilled Tío Pépé sherry.  Most of the appetizers you find recipes for in The Food and Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas.

While we spoke in Spanish about local politics, the tertulía members’ time spent in Spanish classes in the US and Spain, and the best places to vacation in Spain, we sampled tapas, or appetizers, such as the following:

-egg quarters, folds of Serrano ham, and an olive on a toothpick

-mussels with garlicky mayonnaise

-toasted bread with tomato and garlic rubbed on it

-gazpacho shots

-bowls of white, almond gazpacho

-various kinds of paellas with mushrooms, mussels, shrimp, chicken, or rabbit

-San Isidro salad with ventresca tuna

-pickled peppers

-garlic shrimp

-red sangria

-white sangria

I was completely sold on the food.  I bought several cookbooks by Penelope Casas and have made Spanish food for more than thirty years now at home.  I think the Spanish Bourbons ate the food in Casas’ books, which was taken over by the Francoists.  Like the French Bourbons, the Spanish Bourbons also come from the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain.  The food in these two regions is similar.

I thanked the tertulía for my Spanish-speaking skills when I left Madison.  I have never studied Spanish in school except for one quarter in junior high school.  I can read Spanish with no problem, too, because I have read Spanish-language books and magazines for about twenty years. 

I think the Spanish government has promoted their language and culture in a most cost-effective method.  The Cervantes Institute uses bars where cocktail invitees buy food and drink from the restaurant.  They probably wanted me to buy many ready-made products at the grocery store, but I have gained a great cultural asset with learning to cook Spanish food as well as speak and read the language.

I am Mission Accomplished with my own Spanish personal goals.  I have even traveled to Barcelona, Pamplona, St. Sebastian, Figueras, and Puigcerda in Spain.

(For people who are interested in developing their language skills for work in the US Diplomatic Corps, I would recommend two books: The Complete FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) Study Guide including complete coverage of the FSO Selection Process by Robert Clark and Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy at Work by Shawn Dorman.)

By Ruth Paget - Author of Marrying France and Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Celebrating French Culture in Monterey, California by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Celebrating French Culture in Monterey, California with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


My family has lived on the Monterey Peninsula in California for more than twenty years.  We were able to preserve our family’s French heritage by participating in many of the activities organized by the Alliance Française of the Monterey Peninsula.  The Alliance is subsidized by French Foreign Ministry.

We had some standard activities that we did at the Alliance every year that I have listed below, if other clubs want to do these activities, too:

July 14^th – French Independence Day Celebration with a cake decorated like a French flag, offered by the French Consulate.  We sang the French national anthem, the Marseillaise, and raised our fists to show everyone that the French are America’s oldest ally and helped clinch the US victory against the English General Cornwallis.

The French admiral de Grasse kept food supplies from sailing up the Chesapeake Bay to the English, which literally starved the English into submission.

We also celebrated the Fête de la Musique on June 21^st as the French have done since 1982.  This festival was created by Culture Minister Jacques Lang, because he discovered that one out two people in France had studied a musical instrument.  Lang wanted to celebrate this cultural achievement of the French nation with this festival.

Monterey counted as one of the 700 cities in 120 countries worldwide with our little celebration in one of our member’s homes.  This member could play the bassoon, and we all ate from cheese and fruit trays with wine in sophisticated ambiance.  Florence drank an Orangina.

One year my husband brought in lyric sheets for Jacques Brel songs.  He is a pop singer, but I think our bassoon instrumentalist like having a break from giving a concert.  Our family got everyone singing with our acapella lead-in. 

I think people who would like to retain or reclaim on of their family heritage lines might like to do something like this musical festival with music lyrics in the original languages to sing. 

At Christmas, we did a home celebration, but the whole French community supported buying Christmas logs at one of the French bakeries in town.  The Christmas logs are rolled cakes with French pastry frosting that are decorated to look like they have snow on them.  They are a rich dessert after a French Christmas Eve dinner.  They are good for one day only.

After Christmas, we would go to an Alliance party and have King’s Cake.  This is an Epiphany Cake that is made with almond marzipan and layered pastry.

There is a little porcelain figurine in the cake.  Whoever gets the figurine in their piece of cake gets to be king or queen.  The cake comes with two golden paper crowns.  Whoever finds the little figurine can choose a consort.  They also have to buy the next King’s Cake.

The Alliance also went on monthly walks at the Elkhorn Slough and viewed the wildlife there that changed on a monthly basis, especially the migrating birds.  Sloughs are estuaries that extend far inland and connect ocean water and fresh water.

The French government sent a few cases of Beaujolais Nouveau over at release time, too.  Club members gathered to quaff it with goat cheese, various nuts, and fresh fruit like figs and dried fruits like apricots and dates.  We would use this as a time to go through the French-language library that one member had in her house for winter reading.

In the winter months, the Alliance members would watch all the new film releases from the French government-subsidized cinema.  We watched classic French films, too, and would do round-robin analysis of the films.

Florence also practiced eating European style at Alliance restaurant outings.  We did not go to all of them, because many were at fancy restaurants that cost a lot for a family.  Florence was the only child in this group, too, which could make these outings boring.

So, we went to fun places where Florence held her fork in her left hand and her knife in her right hand and ate with French manners.  We told her she had to keep her hands on the table French-style, too.

The restaurants we went to included:

Monthly lunches held at an Alsatian restaurant and pastry shop.  Its dining room looked like a village square with a bubbling fountain in the middle of it.  We had quiches and soup or croissant sandwiches with soup here.

Quarterly lunches at a Parisian-style bistro for cassoulet, sweetbreads, magret de canard, onion soup, and steak frites.

Weekly croissant and baguette runs from a Paris-style bakery.

Frequent trips to a Big Sur restaurant with an all-window view on Bixby Bridge.  We liked the enchiladas verdes here.

Yearly trips to a Swiss restaurant for fondue.

Many trips to a Vietnamese restaurant for Pho, which was based on French pot-au-feu – Vietnam was part of the French colony of Indochina, and I wanted Florence to know about this country.  I did not know much about Vietnam myself and enjoyed learning about it.

One of the most memorable events we did with the Alliance was meet the Queen Mother of France, Marisol de la Tour d’Auvergne (House of Orléans).  She had sponsored publication of the book French America and was doing an author signing at the home of an Alliance member, who lived in Pebble Beach.

We mingled with everyone and when the crowd thinned out, I asked the Queen Mother if Florence could ask her some questions about theatre, since she loved doing musicals at her middle school at the Carmel Mission (Junipero Serra School).

“Of course,” she answered.

The French Queen Mother’s publicist was an English aristocrat, whose daughter was an actress in a West End Theatre in London.  She knew Florence’s etiquette teacher at the Carmel Mission, who was a retired etiquette advisor to Queen Elizabeth II. 

She smiled when Florence said, “Votre Altesse, may I ask you some questions about royal boxes at the theatre in France and England and some questions about comedic theatre in France and England?”

I had prompted Florence on the questions and slipped away to mingle.  Florence spent an hour with the queen.  When Florence came back to me, she was laughing and said, “The Queen of France says it is darling I have learned to play the recorder, triangle, glockenspiel, xylophone, and cymbals in music class at school.”

“More like training to be a Pied Piper of Hamelin,” I said.  I noticed the Queen Mother of France did not believe in Salic Law, which gives male relatives only the right to inherit thrones in France.

Before leaving, we shook everyone’s hand and told them how much we had enjoyed the evening.  We promised we would all read French America as soon as we could. 

I just smiled that they did have all the information in there on Charleston, South Carolina with its Huguenot Cathedral and Louisville, Kentucky with its thoroughbred horses, bourbon, estates on hills, fine dining tradition, the Derby, mint juleps (colonial drink obviously), and refined church architecture.

(There are two books I would recommend for people who are interested in developing their language skills for work in the US Diplomatic Corps.  They are somewhat dated, but still provide insider information: The Complete FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test Study Guide including complete coverage of the FSO Selection Process by Robert Clark and Inside a U.S. Embassy: Diplomacy by Shawn Dorman.)

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

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