Fire

Hi,

We had a beautiful day here in Chiang Rai.  Clouds came in and left, and then repeated the process, but never left any water deposits.  

The ‘Easy Monday’ song was “Careless Whisper” by George Michael.  The ‘Zany Day’ song takes us to the 60s.

“Picture yourself on a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.  Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.”  Hint:  It’s an easy one from those four lads from across the pond.  We’ve been here before so I expect answers (555).  There are precious stones involved.

All around town there are blue flags and temporary monuments paying tribute to Queen Sirikit, wife of the late King Bhumibol and mother of the current King.  She will be 85 years old.  The Queen’s birthday is also Mother’s Day in Thailand and this year it will be a 4 day holiday.  On Friday, Nitchanan’s school will celebrate Mother’s Day and Natcha will go to the school for a special tribute.

The dog training session yesterday has brought Gong and Chopper closer together.  At least Gong seems to have  better control of the little rascal dog than before.  Now we have to work with him so he responds to all of us the same way.   

In other news of The Big Brown House, Gong is going to go to chef’s school in Chiang Mai for two weeks.  He loves to cook and this will be an opportunity for him to turn it into a sellable skill.  

We went to Big C and then Top’s Market at the mall this morning.  At Top’s they have a big Durian display right at the entrance to the fruit and vegetable section.  For those who grew up with the ‘fragrant’ fruit, it’s probably no big deal, but for us it almost makes us want to leave.  Since our first visit to Thailand, Durian has been a smell that equates with something foul.  Locals love it and it’s called the King of Fruits.  It is famous for being banned in airports, planes, hotels, hospitals and buses.  Hmm.

While we were at Top’s, we went to the little post office to mail a package.  While in line I noticed a sign that I didn’t understand.  Mr. Google cleared things up.  If you knew the word, my hat’s off to you.

Philatelic refers to a collection of historical stamps in this case.  There are a lot of beautiful, collectable Thai stamps and you can buy some.  In Bangkok there is a museum of these stamps.  Now we know.

It feels like a Wacky Wednesday.

                   Peace,

                             Danny

“Education is not the filling of a

pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

~William Butler Yeats