Encourage

Hi,

We had quite a dry, exciting weekend. We swam, got a massage, and walked the street.

Looks like we had an easy one for 'Old School Friday'. "Charlie Brown" by The Coasters was fun for all. Now you get the real 'Easy Monday' with one that will surely ring a bell: "Is this the real life? Is this just a fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see. I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy..." Clue: A mini-operetta from some 'royalty'. Quite a drama.

The biggest event of our weekend was on Saturday night when we went to 'Walking Street'. The literal translation from Thai to English is 'Street you walk'. It's been a long time since we went, and it's grown tremendously. We got there just as it was getting busy. There are about five city blocks that are blocked off, and it's back-to-back vendors on both sides of the street, plus down the middle. There was music of every description, food in abundance at every turn, and more people than you could imagine. We only saw about half of it in an hour and a half. There's one side street that's devoted to nothing but food. It's the thing to do in Chiang Rai on a Saturday night. They start setting up in mid-afternoon and it's a monumental task. There's a basketball court that becomes an eating area as well as a dance floor. We watched as at least one hundred happy people danced to a man in a cowboy hat singing what sounded like Thai folk music. There was even a dance club showing people how to do a popular step. We saw old men playing traditional instruments, a blind singer with a beautiful voice who uses a portable keyboard for accompaniment, and a group of children playing 'tuned' bells. You had to be there.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the dogs have become co-conspiritors in mischief. They will stand next to each other, as if they're whispering, and then dash off and start eating little flowers. Daku has taken to trying to stop BamBam from barking in the house. He will run over to where she is and stand between her and the object of her barking. In spite of all their wild antics, they can be very sweet when they've had a good run.

Tomorrow we're signing up for a different internet provider. One can never tell exactly what will happen in a case like this, but the package is supposed to be faster than what we have, and even if it slows down a bit from what they claim, it will be better than what we have. Hmm.

Have a Great Week.

Peace,
Danny

A student asked Soen Nakagawa during a meditation retreat,
"I am very discouraged. What should I do?"
Soen replied, "Encourage others."
Excerpted from Essential Zen

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