Mirror

Hi,

A crazy collection of weather and a mighty toothache made for an eventful weekend.  Fortunately, it's all over now and life is returning to normal. 

Our 'Old School Friday' song was "Your Precious Love" by Jerry Butler.  This week's 'Easy Monday' tune may be too easy.  "__, I need somebody.  __, not just anybody.  __, you know I need someone, __.  When I was younger, so much younger that today, I never needed anybody's __ in any way.  But now these days are gone, I'm not so self-assured.  Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors."  Hint: Singer is in need of assistance. 

Saturday we went on an outing with Daku.  This time we went to a place called 'Chiang Rai Beach'.  It's not really a beach, but a beautiful park that overlooks the river.  The shoreline is mostly rocks and concrete steps, but it's a gathering place at various holidays.  It's also a very romantic spot.  Since it was a new location, Daku had a lot of investigating to do.  He made friends with a woman sitting in a car, and didn't notice a large rooster who stayed perfectly still, avoiding detection.  On our walk we saw a vehicle I haven't seen around town.  Probably because it's too big to casually drive around.  It's owned by an expat and reminded me of the van-camping days.  

We have become used to the weather patterns of the afternoon.  If it looks like it might rain there is usually a light breeze, followed by a few gusts, then some thunder, and then the rain.  Saturday was a different story.  The light breeze was followed by gusts, which developed into hurricane force winds.  It came from the west, and then turned and came from the east.  We were hypnotized by it all and couldn't tear ourselves away from the windows.  I saw a tin roof fly into the air across the road.  We kept checking our trees to make sure nothing had fallen.  One large trunk of the big banana tree was blown down and our 'orchid tree' was leaning.  Needless to say, the wind was the topic of conversation around town.  

Sometime on Saturday afternoon I started feeling a sharp pain in my mouth, caused by a tooth.  By dinner time it was getting intense.  I didn't sleep all night and I was desperate for relief.  Sunday is not a day to have such a problem, or so we thought.  We called our dentist, Dr. Upra and he was at his clinic.  It wasn't a day he normally works, but he said to come in and he'd see me.  Lisa, Cat and I ended up getting seen by Dr. Upra.  My tooth got pulled, after a bit of effort, and the tormenting pain was gone.  Cat had her teeth cleaned and Lisa had a consultation.  The dentist has a very comforting manner, and kept asking me if I felt anything while he was pulling the tooth.  When it hurt, he stopped the pain before continuing.  My kinda guy.  Things are getting better now.

The street where the dentist is located is the same street where 'Happy Street' (the Sunday might market) takes place.  I asked him when they would begin setting up for it, and he told me that, based on the way the sky looked, not many would show up. He was right about the sky and we had big rain that night.  He also told us that during Songkran Day, next Sunday, the entire street would be closed for water play.  His practice would be closed for a week and he and his wife would leave town.  I asked Cat when she thought the water throwing might begin and she guessed this Friday.  It will probably last a week.  Songkran is the celebration of the Thai New Year, as well as being a time of respect for elders.  What began as a sprinkling of water on the hands of grandparents and parents has become a giant water fight in the streets.  Many people look forward to it and others leave town or stay inside.  For us, it will be a time to stock up on basics before things begin, so we don't have to go out too much.  Our motto:  Roll with the windows up.

Have a Great Week.

                Peace,

                          Danny

"There is no better mirror

than a best friend."

~Cape Verde Proverb

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style 

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