Gratefulness

Hi,

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who are celebrating.  Today we are thankful for the rain that finally arrived.

There’s nothing like an easy ‘Zany Day’ song to brighten up the week.  A lot of you know this tune from those lads from across the pond.  “Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain, where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies.  Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers that grow so incredibly high.  Newspaper taxis appear on the shore, waiting to take you away.  Climb in the back with your head in the clouds and you’re gone.  __ __ __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __ __ __, Aaaahhh…”  Clue: It’s a song that still has rumors flying as to the inspiration for it’s writing.  Something about initials.  Hmm.

Today was a mellow day for us here in Chiang Rai.  After the morning routines at the house, we went to Chivit Tamma Da for coffee.  Our intention was to have our Skype talk with Joe from another beautiful location.  We had to have a voice call due to problems with Skype, but it was a good talk and the surroundings were great.  There was no one there when we arrived and having the gardens to ourselves felt ‘special’.  

We haven’t been inside the Healthy Market in some time, since Big C is now selling ‘clean’ vegetables.  Today we shopped inside and it was cool to see the rhythm of the place is still the same.  We had to get things for our ‘Thanksgiving Dinner’ at home.  The Butterball turkeys are not making their way to the north so the only thing available is Thai turkey.  Let me just say that they look like a different creature all together.   

The rain this afternoon was not a hard storm, but a steady rain that washed the trees, watered the lawns and left small puddles.  Everything sparkles after a rain.  Blue’s Tree looked very happy.

I was saddened this morning to learn of the passing of singer/writer Jon Hendricks.  He was one of my early heroes and I was a big fan of ‘Lambert, Hendricks and Ross’ back in the 50s.  It was Hendricks who inspired me to write ’Truckin’, a song in the vocalese style that was his trademark.  In simple terms, taking a melody, including an instrumental solo, and setting lyrics to the whole thing.  I had an opportunity to sing ’Truckin' for Jon many years ago and he liked it.  Made my day.  

Today’s first photo is Daku this morning.  He’s been shedding a lot lately, but we still think he’s a handsome guy.

The second photo was a view of the river from our table at Chivit Tamma Da.

Have a Thrilling Thursday.

                Peace,

                          Danny

“When you practice 

gratefulness, there is 

a sense of respect toward others.”

~The Dalai Lama