Reality

Hi,

Chiang Rai had a weekend of good daytime weather.  We did get some nighttime rain, but nothing dramatic.  

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” by The Platters.  Time for some ‘Easy Monday’.

“I left a good job in the city.  Working for the man every night and day, and I never lost one minute of sleeping, worrying ‘bout the way things might have been.  Big wheel keep on turning, __ __ keep on burning.  And we’re rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.”  Hint:  No, it’s not ‘Ole Man River’ (555).  This should be easy, no matter how old you are.  Originally performed by a duo, they broke up, she went solo, blah blah, but this one was a monster hit a long time ago.  There’s a boat involved.  The title is a name.

With all the rain we’ve been having, our lawns look more like ‘meadows’.  The front lawn is getting difficult to walk on due to the high clover and tall grass.  Of course, Daku loves it.  Tomorrow it will all be cut down to a reasonable length. 

While we were driving around town on Saturday we saw lots of people working on tributes to The Queen, whose birthday is Wednesday.  There are many corners in Chiang Rai where there is a large frame dedicated to either The King, The Queen, or The Princess Mother.  There is a large photo and some kind of garden at the base.  Some of the gardens are very creative.

Sunday was the busiest day of the weekend for us.  After Cat’s appointment to get her braces tightened, we went dress shopping.  We didn’t find anything for her on our first round, but we may have found a shop that can make clothes for us.  Our friend Gahn, who made clothes and did our alterations, has just disappeared.  We’ve been on a lightweight search for someone to fill the gap.  In the afternoon we went into town, to a little alley with nothing but women’s clothes.  At the last shop she found two dresses that were perfect.

We had dinner Sunday night at La Favola, the Italian restaurant at Le Meridian Resort.  We all ‘dressed up’, which is why we went dress shopping for Cat.  Our friends Stephan and Claire met us there and we had a great time.  We hadn’t seen them since their last triathlon and there were stories to hear about that.  The hotel was very busy with two big groups.  Every year there is a honeymoon tour that comes from Spain to Thailand.  There were approximately 30 couples.  The swimming pool was full of newlyweds when we arrived.  The other group was a gathering of dealers and distributors from all over Southeast Asia, convening to see and discuss a new Ford SUV that is the first of their line to be completely built in Thailand.  In the parking garage there were about 10 cars and trucks, all covered until the big ‘reveal’.  We thought about lifting the covers and taking pics but just laughed at the idea.

Over the weekend I realized that the camera on my phone was producing fuzzy photos.  I kept cleaning the lens but that didn’t help.  Today, after missing a couple of great shots to share with you, I went on the internet to see if anyone else had the same problem.  They do, but there are alternative cameras I can install so there may be a solution.  These days, the idea of carrying a phone and a camera is just too much to think about.  Spoiled.  It reminds me that not that long ago, there were no cell phones, and a camera was for special occasions.

Here is a fuzzy flick for ya.  Blue and I couldn’t stop laughing at the apparent typo on the left-hand speaker.  Can you imagine how loud 26000 watts of speaker power would be?  It would blow out the walls, when you consider 100 watts would be loud.  Anyway, you had to see it to believe it.  Rock on.

Have a Great Week.

                 Peace,

                           Danny

“What we achieve inwardly will change 

outer reality.”

~Plutarch