Courage

Hi,

What we thought was the beginning of the cold season was not.  We’re having cool nights and warm days.  Some areas, outside of town are getting very cold nights.  If we miss the cold season it will be alright with me.  Just send some rain.

The ‘Zany Day’ song has a few friends out there.  Here’s the chorus and another verse:  “Meanwhile, back in the states:  Baby, baby, let’s make romance.  You know, our old-time lover hasn’t got a chance.  He’s __ __ __ __, as mad as he can be.  So, come on pretty baby, just you and me.  And meanwhile, back in the __, the boys in the __ had me on the run, when somethin’ heavy hit me like an atomic bomb.  When I woke up and my head started to clear, I had a strange feeling I was with cooking gear… That’s when I found out they was-a cookin’ me.  Great goo-ga-moo-ga!  Lemme outta here!”  Clue:  This last verse should give you a better clue as to the location of our wayward singer.  

Today was Constitution Day.  Yes, another holiday and kids were out of school.  We noticed the traffic when we went to Big C.  Inside the store there were lots of kids of all ages with their families.  The actual store is on the second level, with the lower level featuring a few restaurants and a lot of counters selling things like donuts, cakes, and soft ice-cream in a cone.  That last item was a big seller this morning.  All through Big C, kids were eating chocolate cones.  I guess that’s a perk of the holiday (555).  When we passed the Central Plaza Mall it was 10:50am and it doesn’t open until 11am, but there was a steady stream of cars and trucks going onto the property.  

This was clearly a special day for shoppers.

Check writing is not very big in Thailand.  People mostly use cash, or the services of an ATM machine.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone write a check in the eight years we’ve been here.  We do a lot of money transfers if we buy something coming from out of town.  It’s a way of dealing bank-to-bank in an instant.  When Cat was applying to the various universities she had to send them fees by way of the transfers.  She knows most of the banks by the colors of their ATMs.  This is something I hadn’t focused on, but it’s interesting.  Our bank’s ATMs are dark blue and orange.  The range of colors goes from bright green to purple, and yellow to hot pink.  Today’s photo was taken at Maefahluang University, where a little bank branch is hard to miss.

An article about the environment mentioned how Finland had planted a bunch of trees in order to help produce more oxygen.  Lisa figured that our tree collection was at about 50.  This morning while we were exercising Daku, I started doing a rough count and I think it might be over that number.  It’s amazing what you can accumulate over time.  There are a lot of trees in Chiang Rai, jungles in fact, but we filled in a blank space and that makes it very satisfying.

Have a Thrilling Thursday.

               Peace,

                         Danny

“I takes as much courage to have tried and failed

as it does to have tried and succeeded.”

~Ann Morrow Lindbergh