Meditation

Hi,

Today was a weird one. We lost our tether to the 'outside' world, we visited the hospital, and rain canceled swimming. Oh, and Daku is getting crafty.

I got lots of responses to our first song for the week. It's nice to know certain songs are remembered. It's really an easy one. The chorus should have given it away. "I'll light the fire, you put the flowers in the vase that you bought today..." Hint: An ode to a happy home. Ahhh.

I'm sending this to you from Doi Chaang Coffee in beautiful downtown Chiang Rai. That's because we've been without our internet connection all day and it looks like it won't be on until maybe tomorrow. I went to the CAT offices this morning but the gate was closed. You see, if the systems down, might as well go home. It's better than listening to a bunch of frustrated clients. (that's my take on it) I'm sure you have gone through this yourself, but for us it means that we have no news access and no Google (Ha). We did have access to email through my iPhone and I managed to answer a few messages, but it's not the same.

This afternoon Lisa had minor toenail surgery to deal with an infection. Everyone at the hospital that we have to interact with is always so nice and patient. The doctor was one that we'd seen before. He looks like he just left high school, but he knows his stuff. Not much English, but everything got communicated. She's resting with her foot up and a bandage on her big toe. Ballet had to be canceled for this week and driving will commence at the same time. We have to go to the hospital every morning so they can clean and re-bandage her toe.

Speaking of driving, last night we went out and cruised around. We went over to the Sports Stadium by our old 'hood' so Lisa could get behind the wheel but it was closed. After 9pm the streets are pretty empty so she took the wheel and drove us all the way home, which is across town. Not bad for her first time driving in Thailand. Now we'll try it with a few more cars. I told her that the final exam would be negotiating the downtown market at lunch time. (Ha)

I've been meaning to tell you more dog stories. When BamBam was younger, before we got Daku, we'd noticed Boot talking to her in Thai. BamBam was also following directions from us in English. A few weeks ago we realized that Daku was also responding to both languages. Then one day Boot said something to them and it sounded different. We asked what she said and she told us it wasn't Thai. It was Lanna, with is a language unique to the north and I think is mixed with Lao. So, the dogs are tri-lingual. Hmm. Today Boot came in and told us about Daku hiding a bone from BamBam. After dinner both dogs came into the dining room and Daku had a piece of bone in his mouth. When BamBam left the room he went over to a corner and put the bone behind a lamp. Clever little guy. One more! Daku decided that he wanted to learn to play the Cahn, a wind instrument made from a gourd and bamboo. He kept going over to it and licking it and finally I had to move it. The boy was obsessed.

It's time for Happy Tuesday.

Peace,
Danny

"...meditation is very much like training a puppy. You put the puppy down and say, "Stay." Does the puppy listen?
It gets up and it runs away. You sit the puppy back down again. "Stay." And the puppy runs away over and over again. Sometimes the puppy jumps up, runs over, and pees in the corner or makes some other mess. Our minds are much the same as the puppy, only they create even bigger messes. In training the mind, or the puppy, we have to start over and over again."
~Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart

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