Gratitude

Hi,

We got through the day with no rain.  Then, around 6pm, the wind came up and the skies opened up and a storm appeared.  It lasted 2 hours, changing intensity from time to time, all the while dumping water.

This week’s ‘Easy Monday’ song got a couple of responses.  Maybe it was too recent (555).  Here’s the last verse:

“This is our fifth year baby, and it feels like I’m in jail, I’m holding on to this card, can’t seem to get it in the mail.  And the card reads: ‘__ __, baby, got you on my mind.  __ __ baby, got you on my mind.”  Clue:  Should be pretty clear by now that this is ‘Easy Monday’ and you’ve been given lots of clues.

JaiDee was more than happy to go on his walk this morning.  After it rains, the area by the river is full of great smells, or so I’m told.  The space is neglected, so there are old leaves, flowers, and seed pods all over the place.  It’s a place for him to practice being a great hunter.  I imagine him tracking something or someone with his nose to the ground, constantly changing direction from a stray scent.  Today I finally took some photos of a very interesting tree.  Most of the trees in this ‘park’ have what I’d call character.  This one is the biggest.

Today we had a lunch date with our friend Lisa and her dad, Win, and Duke at Chivit Thamma Da.  Duke is growing, as puppies do, but still has that puppy look.  Our table was on a porch and right next to a main walkway to the gardens and the river.  Our lunch companion got lots of attention.  We didn’t take JaiDee because now that they’re playmates, they would eventually start wrestling, growling and then barking.  This way, we all got to enjoy our meals (555).  Win and I had a very interesting conversation about covid-19 and how Thailand has dealt with it.  He explained that there is a network of trained nurses who report to local hospitals when anything unusual occurs.  Testing would have been very expensive, so they relied on the network of semi-professional healthcare providers to watch for symptoms and make referrals.  It seems to have worked quite well.  Win was involved with many areas of rural health care in Thailand and Laos and has much information on the history of such things.  Every time we have lunch I learn more fascinating stuff.

I had a 2pm appointment at Bangkok Hospital with an orthopedic specialist.  We had to dash from lunch and go straight to the hospital.  Lisa had seen this doctor a few weeks ago and his exercises for her were very effective.  Before the afternoon was over, I had changed clothes 3 times for x-rays, scans and treatments.  I’ll be going for physical therapy twice a week to relieve the muscle spasm in my lower back and hips.  The good news is that I have good bones (555).  Really, I can put aside those thoughts that I might need new parts.  I just have to be careful.  What’s weird is sitting with doctors who are way younger than me, hearing them refer to things that happen due to ‘old age’.  Hmm.

Have a Happy Tuesday.

                        Peace,

                                  Danny

“Gratitude is not only the

greatest of virtues, but the

parent of all the others."

~Marcus Tullius Cicero