Song

Hi,

Today we reached a milestone on the air quality front.  We woke up to a reading of 25, in the ‘very healthy’ range.  As the day went on, it rose, and crept up to the moderate zone, even after an afternoon rain.  The battle is not over, but every time it rains it’s harder to burn part of a forest.  Rain gives hope on so many levels.

This week’s ‘Middle Song’ seemed to be easy for lots of you.  There is a break in the song that was fun to sing along with, see if you remember:  “Everywhere I go, your face I see.  Every step I take, you take with me, yeah.  __ __ __ to, baby, __ __ hide…”  Clue: At the end of the road, no escape, no disappearing. 

Before we tackled Big C this morning, we stopped by The Wanderer for coffee and roti.  It’s been a long time since we were able to do that.  Sipping coffee with a face mask on is very difficult (555).  While we were there we checked out the progress of the puppies that Kwan and her sister Kern rescued.  They managed to save 4 of the pups who are still undernourished.  They’re getting better, with just enough energy to climb over each other and respond to voices.  

At Big C it was shopping as usual, almost.  The one thing on our list that they didn’t have was lettuce.  What?  It’s hard to imagine but it’s true.  I wonder if the lack of rain and the high heat has anything to do with it?  While browsing for light bulbs and a power strip, I noticed that Big C has very few incandescent bulbs.  They now carry LED light bulbs.  They apparently last forever, but don’t work with dimmer switches.  Oh well, changing the mood is sometimes worth it.  As we were leaving, we noticed a new touch in the parking lot.  They have a crossing guard to help shoppers get past the sometimes heavy stream of cars entering the lot.  Great idea, but his whistle has to go, or at least be a little softer.  He helped us across and we nearly lost it, the sound of the whistle was so loud and shrill that Lisa said something and he apologized and stopped.  I guess he doesn’t know his own strength yet (555).  As soon as we were in the van and pulling away, we heard the whistle.

About half way through our dinner, Nitchanan came out to the dining room with two big bowls and a handful of dough.  First she set up her kitchen on a little couch in the corner, but Lisa averted a disaster and brought her to table.  While Lisa and Daku were outside, Nitchanan and I ‘made things’.  She handed me a lump of dough and that meant I was to do something with it.  She talked the whole time, occasionally throwing in ‘I don’t know’ in English.  Then she told me, in Thai, that I was a boy and she was a girl, twice.  Sometimes when my dough actually looked like something she’d exclaim, ‘Oh, wow’.  Lisa took over and it continued.  Natcha was grateful for the break to do things in the kitchen. 

This evening we got a call from Tatt.  He just completed his basic training in the Thai Army and they let him make a few phone calls.  He’s doing OK, told us it was very hard but that he’s alright.  He will call us after 10 weeks and his plan is to come visit us.  We also got a call from Cat, who had settled into the apartment in Melbourne where she’s staying this week.  It’s on the 65th floor and looks out over the city.  She rode a train for the first time and had a talk with the director of the project that invited her.  It turns out that Cat had inspired him to create a fundraising platform in Melbourne revolving around a ping-pong tournament.  She will speak tomorrow evening at the opening session of the conference.

Have a Thrilling Thursday.

                       Peace,

                                 Danny

“Words make you think a thought.

Music makes you feel a feeling.

A song makes you feel a thought.”

~E. Y. Harburg