Truth

Hi,

The cold morning turned into a pleasant day.  Maybe there’s a warming trend on the way.  A nice weekend would be welcome.

A few of you knew this ‘Zany Day’ song of experimental behavior.  Maybe the last verse will remind you.

“Jukebox and a sawdust floor, somethin’ like I ain’t never seen, and I’m just goin’ on fifteen.  But with the help of my faneglin’ Uncle I get snuck in for my very first taste of sin.  I said lemme have a big ol’ sip, brrr I done a double back flip.  __-__—__, make you wanna holler Hi-De-Ho.  Burns your tummy don’t you know, __-__-__, __-__-__.”

It was “Eye Day” for us.  All of the tests they had to give, we got.  As a result, we both got a slight ‘bump’ in our reading prescription and all eyes are healthy.  That was good news.  I also learned a little bit more about how the contacts work.  While we were waiting for them to make new lenses for Lisa's reading glasses, we went across the street to the Westside Pavilion.  The young woman that was helping us with our eye stuff told us it will be closing soon.  Inside we could feel a sense of doom.  Many stores are already gone and others are having big sales as they pack up to leave.  We have fond memories of this mall.

In our travels around town we are seeing giant apartment complexes going up.  I still wonder what the impact on traffic will be when they’re completed and occupied.  In Chiang Rai the same question arises, but they don’t seem to fill them with people so we don’t know.  Hmm.  

Khun Toon surpassed his original goal of raising 700,000 Baht for the hospitals when he reached 1 Billion Baht.  Now it’s gone even higher.  He ran a total of 2,191 kilometers (1,361 miles) over 44 days.  His support team said he ran for 372 hours. In every town or village there was a party atmosphere waiting for his arrival, even when it was in the middle of the night.  In Chiang Rai, ArtBridge had a big celebration, complete with portrait T-shirts and local celebs there to greet Toon.  Local nurses turned out for his arrival at Maefarluang University.  They sold out of the shirts, but we’re getting ours from a second printing they’re doing.  Gotta have a piece of history.

Our dinner with Denny and Sheila was wonderful.  The food at Manhattan Beach Post was outstanding.  Sheila and Lisa shared their artwork and Denny showed us some of his recent photos of birds taken during a class on photographing birds of prey.  That’s an interesting story for another day.  Their son Gavin sent us some of his beautiful artwork and we talked a lot about dogs.  All in all, it was a memorable evening.

It feels like we’ve been here for a long time, but it’s only been 5 days.  I think the weather has an effect on me when it comes to time.  Weird, but for me, cold days are either busy or hiding from the cold.  Warm days tend to be more laid back, and seem to go by slower.

This morning (Thursday) we fly up north to San Jose airport, drive to San Leandro for the Cousin Lunch, then drive south to Palo Alto for dinner with Joe and extended family.  

Today’s photo was taken at The Big Brown House and sent to us by Natcha.  Looks like the kids are getting along just fine.

Have a Thrilling Thursday.  I’ll write to you from Palo Alto.

                      Peace,

                                Danny 

“Tell the children the truth.”

~Bob Marley