Rise

Hi,

Sometimes it’s so hot I don’t even want to know the temperature.  It’s 6pm and I just peaked and it’s 97F.  That’s hot enough.

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes.  I just know you remember this ‘Easy Monday’ tune:  “(__ __ __ __, but I did not shoot the deputy, oh no! oh!  __ __ __ __ but I did not shoot no deputy, Ooh, ooh)  Yeah!  All around in my home town, they’re tryin’ to track me down; they say they want to bring me in guilty for the killing of a deputy, for the life of a deputy.  But I say:  __ __ __ __, but I swear it was in self-defense…….”  Hint:  Like the day implies, it’s Easy.  It’s a confession and that’s all I’m saying.

I had a pretty active weekend, considering.  We did The Wanderer three times, a trip to the Night Bazaar, and dinner last night at Art Bridge.  I’m at the stage now where I really need to pace myself.  The mind is feeling like I can do more, and I can, but there seems to be a little price to pay afterwards.  Not a bad thing, just an awareness that things are not normal yet.  Hmm, what’s that?  

On one of our Wanderer runs I took this photo of the construction two lots down from us.  It looks like some kind of barracks.  There are small rooms with their doors facing the center of the lot.  More structures are in progress.

Maybe we can get them to plant some thick bushes along the front (555).

One of the fascinating and sometimes puzzling things about living here is the way so many belief systems are intertwined.  The earliest system in this part of the world was animism, the belief that everything has a spiritual essence.  When Hinduism and Buddhism came to Thailand they were not kept exclusive.  Parts of each are found in the others.  Today there are Hindu deities with Thai Buddhist names, and threads of animism mixed into all of it.  In villages where Buddhism is the prevailing system, people still practice rituals to either satisfy or expel ghosts.  We just learned of one today.  As time goes on we will learn more about this rainbow of beliefs.

Sunday morning a crew of women came to work on the pool.  They are the grout specialists, and they came to save our pool (555).  They did a very systematic job that came out looking great.  We can add water next week, if we can find some.  Our job will be to ask various friends if they know anyone who can get us a couple of tanker trucks full of clean water.  It’s not the sort of thing everybody knows about.  

The fairgrounds are buzzing with the big OTOP Festival (One Tambon One Product).  We have been to them in the past and it can be very interesting.  The nights are filled with music that has been the dull soundtrack of our lives.  

Tomorrow afternoon Cat has to have two wisdom teeth removed.  She and Lisa are going shopping in the morning to get ‘soft foods’ while she heals.  

Have a Great Week.

                  Peace,

                            Danny

“Compassion brings us to a stop,

and for a moment we rise

above ourselves.”

~Mason Cooley