Compassion

Hi,

We seem to be back to hot days and rainy nights.  Last night a quiet storm crept in and left enough water to flood the back yard.  I’ve taken to calling it ‘The Swamp’.  It’s off limits for Daku until the rainy season is over; just too muddy.

The ‘Old School Friday’ tune was “Ain’t That A Shame” by Fats Domino.  Now we’re back around to ‘Easy Monday’ again.  “I’m a poor man’s son from across the railroad tracks, the only shirt I own is hangin’ on my back.  But I’m the envy of ev’ry single guy since I’m the apple of my girl’s eye…. She says ‘Baby __ __ __, __, out of sight.  Baby, __ __ __, __, clean out of sight.”  Hint:  Life is good for the singer.  The title is in the lyrics, only set backwards.  Excuse the dashes, you’ll just have to sing it to yourself.  (555)

Sunday morning, around 4am, there was a sound coming from outside that could have been a bird or a dog.  It was difficult to tell.  One instance and then nothing for a new minutes, then another.  We finally investigated and discovered a little dog that had been abandoned in the empty lot next to us. It was lying on a towel and couldn’t seem to move. Lisa took it some water and we determined that we should take it to Dr. Arnon, Daku’s vet.  It turns out ‘she’ was appreciative for the help.  She didn’t make another sound after we began attending to her.  When we spoke with the doctor on call, he said he was not sure if she could survive.  Then we spoke with Dr. Arnon and he said he’d give her overnight and see.  In the end, there was nothing they could do.  Dr. Arnon thanked us for bringing her to the clinic.  When he explained that she would not survive, he said some of his staff would go to the temple. Somehow, that made me feel good.   Tonight we took them a fruit basket.

Sunday night we went to the Night Bazaar for dinner at Sawadee Restaurant.  We were the only guests for most of our time there.  The owner and his wife came to the table at separate times and we talked about how things were going.  They depend a lot on tours bringing their clients for a Thai dinner.  Lately, the guides have been letting their clients feed themselves, which means they eat street food.  Other vendors echoed their feelings and are hanging on until the High Season begins in November.  It was nice to see our friends.

While we were out and about town, we went to the mall for a few things.  It was the weekend of the Chiang Rai Coffee ‘Expo’ and it was in full swing when we arrived.  The main floor was full of booths from various suppliers and the aroma was wonderful.  I had no idea so many coffee companies were in the region.  We saw many Hill Tribe costumes since a lot of the coffee is grown by the tribes.  I would guess that for every mountain/foothill, there is a coffee company.  Tea was also represented at this expo.  It was too late in the day to sample anything, but it was great to see so many small businesses make such a coordinated presentation.

Today’s photo shows Neetchanon in the kitchen, using Daku’s bed as her desk while she scrolls through the nursery rhymes.  She has specific songs that she likes, recognized by the logos on the list.

 

There is a thing called ‘Music Mix’ on Youtube, that many small shops use for their background music.  We learned about this today at Shong Cafe while trying to get the name of a song.  What they were playing was a long collection of music in a particular genre, with no titles or artists given.  Interesting and frustrating.

Have a Great Week.

                Peace,
                          Danny

“Compassion is the desire that moves
the individual self to widen the scope
of its self-concern to embrace the whole
of the universal self.”
~Arnold Toynbee