Somebody

Hi,

Today was more of the same weather wise. It was cloudy and cold with great expectations of rain. We went into town in the morning, watched tennis in the afternoon, and Lisa dined with fellow artists in the evening.

'Easy' came easy for a lot of you. Maybe this line from the last verse will ring a bell. The artist's name is not real.
"...when you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose, you're invisible, you got no secrets to conceal. How does it feel? To be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown. Just __ __ __ __?" Hint: The song appears to be putting down a socialite.

First thing this morning Khun Lar delivered Lisa's artwork to the house. Because there is no glass in the frames, the pieces weren't very heavy, and it made the job of carrying them into the house pretty simple. The next step will be hanging as many as possible around the house so we can enjoy them before the Bangkok show.

Yesterday we didn't get to see the whole O.T.O.P. Expo, so we went to the fairgrounds. We started with the first aisle we hadn't seen and went up and down the length of the huge, temporary quonset hut. I got bold and actually sampled a treat that was offered. It was like a crispy peanut flavored snack and it was so good I bought three little packs. On another aisle a pair of casual pants with colorful flowers caught Lisa's eye. We saw many things that we'd never seen before, learned a few things, and bought some black rice. It isn't grown by most farmers, and is used to make a form of sticky rice. When we got home we asked Boot if she could make some and after reading the label she simply said: "Cannot do". Eventually we'll get to sample the black rice, but it probably won't be soon.

We had a nice lunch and rested while watching tennis from Florida. We had to go out again but dozing seemed in order. We had to take one of Lisa cast acrylic prints to the gallery so they could deliver it to the woman who bought it. Then we had some banking to do. We saw our friend Bobby, who is an assistant manager, and had a brief exchange about the earthquake. He had been studying for an exam and told us he was very frightened. This seems to be the response from most people here in Chiang Rai. A quake like the one we experienced has never happened here, from what we're told. There are sometimes small earthquakes that feel like what a Californian would call a minor aftershock. We saw some photos today from Burma, near the epicenter, and there was a lot of destruction of property and roadways. Many of the houses were not very well made and they just crumbled. We're feeling very fortunate.

This evening was the beginning of the "100 Artists for Thailand" project that Lisa is participating in at the Rimkok Hotel. The hotel is just down the road from us so it's very convenient. Tonight was a dinner for all the artists. I dropped her off and as we arrived we saw a local artist that we like. Later Lisa called to tell me that many of the artists had brought their wives, or girlfriends to the dinner. I got myself together and headed over the hotel. Just as I got there Lisa called to say she was ready to come home. We went out onto the back lawn where the dinner was held so I could say 'Hello' to people I knew, and meet some of the artists at Lisa's table. Khun Sompong, from 9 Art Gallery was helping Lisa communicate with some of the artists. Tomorrow they will begin doing what they do in a big meeting hall. The artists come from all over Thailand. Khun Songdej, who organized the event, has come up with a great project that not only brings artists together, but will also expose their work since the pieces produced this week will be donated to the new government building in Chiang Rai.

Have a Happy Tuesday.

Peace,
Danny

"Somebody needs who you are becoming."
~Unknown

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style
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