Tuesday, May 7, 2013

To Live


Hi,

Today we mourned a tree, retrieved some artwork, lunched with friends, and had more rain.  Things are returning to normal.  (555)

It appears that 'Easy Monday' is easy for some.  If you're still trying to figure it out, here's the second part of the second verse.  "Your mother, who neglected you owes a million dollars tax, and you father's still perfecting ways of making sealing wax.  You better stop, and look around.  Here it comes (x3) Here comes your __ __ __."  Clue:  If you'd had 18 of these, you probably know what to expect.  Ready?

It's tough to wake up and realize that things that happened in the night were real.  The big tree in the front yard is really down.  We have no way of knowing how fast the wind was blowing, but it felt like a hurricane.  The house was shaking and it sounded like a train was coming through.  When I took Daku out this morning we were both a little surprised to see this very large green thing on the lawn.  While the tree and the horizontal rain were highlights of the evening, we also had a little Earthquake at 3:15am.  Daku and I slept through it, but Lisa and Boot felt it.  Crazy times.  Here's a photo of Lisa with the tree, for perspective.

                                          'Oh no'

We drove up the highway to Rajabhat University to pick up one of Lisa's cast acrylic prints that had been on display.  Along the way we stopped at Art Bridge for a quick peak inside.  There is so much to see, we're going to have to set aside a morning and just hang out.  As we drove through the campus at Rajabhat, we realized just how beautiful it is.  There are elevation changes, tree covered streets, a large lake, and some interesting schools of study.  This morning we passed the School of the Study of Tourism.  We were successful in retrieving the artwork and plan to go back to the campus and visit a few spots.

It's hard to be so close to Makro and not pick up the things that will be needed later in the week.  Today we bought something that warranted a trip to the 'promotion counter' for yet another bottle of Coke.  We have a collection of the giant bottles that we're starting to give away.  Hmm.

Yesterday we heard someone answer their phone and it started up an old conversation.  Most Thai people say 'Hello' when they answer their phones.  I asked a friend about this years ago and she told me it started with the instruction manual for the phones.  They go through the actions to answer the phone and after you push the 'talk' button you say 'Hello'.  Most of the people doing this speak no English, yet they answer the phone with 'Hello'.  One of those things that make you go 'Hmm'.

We had lunch at Doi Chaang with our friends Beth and Tawee.  Tawee is the Thailand Director of The Sold Project.  They are expecting their first child in a month and will be leaving for Chiang Mai this week.  They used to live in Chiang Mai so we had a bunch to talk about since we were just there.  They told us about the progress on the second building at the Resource Center for the community served by the Sold project.  We learned about well water from Tawee.  There are two kinds of water one can get from the ground: Surface water and Deep water.  Here in Thailand, the shallow wells produce a redish colored water.  It isn't until the drilling goes through the stone shelf that the clear water is found.  That explains why Khun Mahn had to get a different driller to come and go deep for the clear water.  The adventure continues.

Have a Happy Tuesday.

                 Peace,
                            Danny

"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else."
~Emily Dickinson

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