THE LEFT LANE
Making small talk

Advertiser Staff and News Service

• "For a good conversation, make sure to take turns speaking and listening. Talking someone's ear off is not attractive."
• "To keep a conversation going, identify a shared interest like sports, cooking or travel."
• "In conversation, be animated, listen closely and ask questions! Remember, conversation is about back and forth, listening and talking."
• "At group events, think, 'smile, make eye contact, shake hands' when you first meet someone and again when you leave."

Buddhist artistry

It was while living in Asia that Leslie and Terris Nguyen Temple learned tangka — a Buddhist style of painting an image constructed from sacred mathematical geometry. The couple even created a 14-story artwork, which takes 70 people to carry it when it is shown at ceremonial occasions. It was first unfurled at Tibet's Tsurphu Monastery in 1992; it replaces a tangka that was destroyed in the cultural revolution.

Leslie calls tangka painting a healing art. "The sacred geometry is the basis of inspiring an individual to peace," she said. To which Terris added: "It's actually medicine."

See their work at the Coast Gallery at the Hana Hotel, or on their Web site, www.tibetcolor.com.

Postage now a bridal accessory

Love and 37 cents is all you need to send a Garden Bouquet stamp from one U.S. locale to another.

Earlier this month, the postal service issued the new stamp, with an arrangement of white lilacs and pink roses, "specially designed for the response envelope often enclosed in wedding invitations," points out postal spokesman Charles E. Bravo.

There's also a 60-cent stamp illustrated with five varieties of roses, "perfect for the extra weight of a wedding invitation, oversized card or small gift enclosure that requires extra postage."