Nice visit with Bawanna and Bookie

Folks, I do have a few photos to share, but I'll start another post. First let me say Wow! and WOW!! is all I can say. Bookie finally made it to the Emerald City in Oz. Mrs. Martino and her family are all super folks and made us feel like we were part of that family. The kindness bestowed upon moi by Mrs. Martino almost made me cry. This lady is a good business woman and far more astute than what she displays on the Forum. On top of that, she is one of the nicest and most genuine caring persons I have ever met. Such good Karma surrounds her.....hang around with her for a while and it can't do anything but rub off on you! It has to be that way as even Joe is callin' me Mr. Nice Guy.

Now I am not much of a fan of those spear tip Valas or what ever you call them, but that "Bookie Reno Special" is flawless! I was very surprised to find out how well the blade was executed. I can make a blade and know what it takes to do a good one that is this large, but this one is simply a jewel. Cul, you have one fine knife here!

That light weight sword Joe's wife is shown holding would absolutely shock you, were you to hold it. Talk about a Light Saber! This thing is a laser. My Case pocket knife weighs as much! I hope one day you'll be as lucky as I was and get to see Khukuri Heaven, too. It's a real place that exists in Reno, Nevada. You may have seen khukuri before, but "you ain't seen nothin' yet!" Photos will be posted later.

Mrs. Martino,
Ruth and I had such a wonderful time. It was such a pleasant evening, and well worth the trip to Reno. It's Sunday evening here in Corn Patch and I still haven't eaten another bite and I simply must have the recipes for the coleslaw, cubed meat dish, and THE BEANS!! I could have ate twelve helpings instead of eleven!
Hugs, Bookie
 
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Bookie said:
Now I am not much of a fan of those spear tip Valas or what ever you call them, but that "Bookie Reno Special" is flawless! I was very surprised to find out how well the blade was executed. I can make a blade and know what it takes to do a good one that is this large, but this one is simply a jewel. Cul, you have one fine knife here!
Click to expand...


The knife I'm not so sure concerning practicality, but for a collection, I just had to have it. Besides, getting a blade that was made by a master kami, and then held by master Bookie, man, sending an ems was a no brainer.
 
This here is Bookie checking out Yangdu's personal Japanese Katana. I never held a real one before and it's really something. Very slender and light. I never really felt the need for one but of course once again that's changed and I'll have to get me one one of these days. Certainly no top end big dollar job but hopefully a decent one.
Should a snatch BB's fighting sword. Just might have gotten away with it but doubtful.


And another good shot of Yangdu waiting to get her Katana back.


This here is that knife she got from Viet Nam. It was another crowd pleaser. Really felt good and looked very useful.
Someday when the time is right she said the kami's may try to make some of these. Put me on the list for one of those too.
The list seems to get longer, never shorter.


Auntie kind of herding Bookie back to BB's pile to put something back.
As you can see I kilt about 87million 472 thousand 841 bugs on the way down. Front bumper took a beating on this trip too. Oh well, when all the paint falls off it'll all match.
Last gas stop was like a Indy pit stop. Wife only cleaned my side of the winda and crawled in and off we went. Long day in the van.


Dr. Bookie admiring his Spear Vala. Really quite a knife that one. Worth admiring over and over again.


Not sure if I posted this one before or not but it's a good angle shot on the Spear Vala. Kind of like this picture.


I took this picture myself and was kind of proud of it. Happy people. I love these guys.


This is Pemba putting moves on my trophy wife.......little known fact. He has actually climbed Mount Rainier which is up close to us. It's no beginner hill neither. Serious business. He said he had been part way up Everest but never all the way. He had a really cool Top of the world Everest shirt. Looked about my size too but my wife said you had to earn one of those. Got home and turns out they had sent a similar shirt home for me. I wore it today. Sadly didn't see nobody to show off to today. Tomorrow's another day.

I was feeling badly that I didn't get a picture of Yip Choy's protrait of Kami Sherpa but if you look above my wife's head in the above picture you'll see it clearly. That's sort of the central hallway in the house and definitely a place of honor. Perfect spot for it too.
I don't mean to brag or nothing but the knife he's holding is my Thamar Yek Chirra. Yek, is that the 3 fuller one? I think that's it.
Had to post this one since wife said I'm almost smiling. I told her I'm always smiling it just doesn't always show on the outside ya know.


Here Pala and Kanchhi's husband who I'm still working on name pronunciation, I know it starts with a G after he finally wrote it down. My wife I think has it, now that it's quiet maybe she can get me to say it right.
At any rate they are trying to explain the caste system. I inquired because we happened to stop at a place for lunch. Either in Circus Circus or El Dorado, not for sure which and Chopka brought us beverages. I looked at her for a bit and I was near certain it was her but her name tag said something else. So I just said Chopka and she got a confused look. I said are you Yangdu's sister and she got even more confused look. My wife finally said this is Joe. Then the light bulb seemed to light up and we knew each other. After all that I still got the last hug. Life is not fair sometimes.
Anyhow G man was trying to explain the different caste and there's like names for friends and other names for work etc. How the pick a name when they marry. It was all very confusing to me mostly because I struggled to hear and understand.
G man as I understand it is a Lama which is really a good thing. Apparently there's different levels of Lama and the others as well.
If I ever figure it all out I'll come back and try to share that. I'm sure there are some here that already totally get it but I'm a little slow sometimes.

And finally for now.
I actually helped push this car up to the starting line at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1974. I was there with a car and my auto shop teacher that year and we were a few cars behind. Kind of standing around and lent a hand pushing it forward.
One big battery and I think they had to grease the driver to squeeze him in that thing. Good memories of Bonneville.
That was at Harrah's Car Museum although they call it something else now. John Wayne's Corvette, 51 I think? Is there, very cool along with a lot of other cool things.


Ok, I'm done for now.
 
Very nice pics and descriptions... It's so nice to see the faces so we can connect them to the names. Looks like you all had a wonderful visit!
 
Wow! Looks like you guys had a fantastic time!! I sincerely hope to meet you, Bookie, Auntie, and the rest of the HI crew someday, that would be one heck of a good time.

Also Bawanna, if I'm not mistaken, the sword your lovely wife is holding looks like one of those Butterfly Swords I shoulda jumped on, and the Yek Chirra has 1 fuller, Tin is 3: Yek, Dui, Tin (1,2,3)

Favorite pics are Bawanna with BBs sword, Bookie with the Spear Vala, Auntie with BBs sword, and the pic of Bookie, Bawanna, and Pemba. Y'all are quite the photogenic bunch!

Oh and cul, thanks a whole bunch-load for saving me from the Spear Vala. No way I can afford it but I was most certainly gonna email for it at that price!!
 
One of these years Yangdu mentioned she'd like to have another khukri convention. When things are going well and not dealing with other issues.
We tried to do it this year but she had too much to deal with.
That would be a fun time to get a bunch of folks together and not have her and her family waiting on us.

Hopefully one day the planets will align and that will happen.

I would have gotten a serious beating, no kidding for real. Cul saved me also on that Spear Vala. I must exercise restraint for quite awhile.
 
Well i enjoyed them adventures! I think everyone had smiles on their faces and steel in their hands! Hard to beat that! Great post!
 
Great posts and pictures! One day I hope to also make the pilgramage to Reno. Another Khukuri Konvention (KhukuriKon?) would provide a real motivation.
 
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