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The jaw bone

OK, last photo in this series for a while. Even I'm getting tired of them :-)

This one has a story with it, though. In 1981 or 1982 -- my family can correct me on the dates -- we took a trip from Tianjin, where we were living, via train across the Gobi desert to Urumqi.

Outside of Urumqi we visited a beautiful mountain lake, Tianshi. After exhausting the possibilities at the parking lot and the "stop, snap, and roll" viewpoint, we took a walk along the shore. As we were walking, we heard a clanking sound coming from behind us, and turned around to see a small herd of goats coming down the trail towards us. They had no goatherd with them; they were just taking themselves home.

We followed, of course, and they led us to a Kazakh family camped on the shore. After chatting for a while, they invited us to join them for dinner. We declined, but as we walked away I found this jawbone on the ground outside their camp, undoubtedly the remains of another delicious dinner.

Every few years I'm sure I've lost it, and then I find it again. And here it is.