Dimes and Butterscotch: Little Things to Take Along To The Himalaya

I've already loaded my bag into the car and have come back in for some last minute things.

Thinking of the appreciative people in the world, and in particular of children and nice old folks I'll see along the way, I already packed a few handfuls of delicious and beautiful gold foil-wrapped butterscotches from Gardiners, Scotland. I packed a seashell with a hole already in place for a string,for someone special I have yet to meet.

And just as I was putting the bag into the car, and wondering if I would have the opportunity to spread any goodwill for the USA, I thought: dimes. Remote people probably don't see a whole lot of dimes, dollar bills being the more readily recognized currency worldwide. But dimes are so beautiful, so meaningful, so light and easy to carry!

My grandmother used to pay a boy a dime an hour to move her woodpile every year. And that was in the 1970's, not really so very long ago. He was glad for that dime. Dimes are things of beauty. I do miss the days when the Liberty dime's composition was such that if a thermometer broke, you could get the mercury to stick to it- a wondrous sight! .. still today there's FDR, there's liberty, there's e pluribus unum, the mighty oak that grows from an acorn, an eternal flame, there's an olive branch, there's the United States of America, there's God. A dime is a beautiful thing. I'm taking a handful and will do my part to spread them thoughtfully into the hands of thoughtful people, and I'll sprinkle a few in the Ganges too.