Art

Hi,

Today we are in Chiang Mai, where the high was 105°F.  It’s 9pm and it’s still 92°.  It was even hotter in Chiang Rai.  We will return to the extra hot place tomorrow, after a visit to the U.S. Consulate office and the doctor again, maybe.

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “Heat Wave” by Martha & The Vandellas.  ‘Easy Monday’ should be easy, it’s by a prolific band that is named after a majestic creature.  “Well, I’m a-running down the road tryin’ to loosen my load, I’ve got seven women on my mind.  Four that wanna own me, two that wanna stone me, one says she’s a friend of mine.  __ __ __, __ __ __.  Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.  Lighten up while you still can, don’t even try to understand.  Just find a place to make your stand and __ __ __.”  Hint:  Complexities of finding romance on the road?

We left Chiang Rai this morning at 7:15am.  Our mission was to get to Chiang Mai in time to see the chiropractor before he finished his day at 12:30pm.  Considering the unknown time delay through the construction zone, we added an extra hour for good measure, plus time for food and pie, an early start was wise.  We arrived at 11:45, just in time for lunch-hour traffic and extra cars due to the Buddhist holiday.  We still got to the hospital in good time.  After our treatments, we needed food so we went to and S&P Restaurant, which is a chain throughout the country.  Not long after we ordered, our doctor, Dr. Parry came in for lunch.  Lisa talked him and learned that he’s leaving Thailand in August.  I tried to explain to him that it would be unacceptable, but he just laughed.  We also learn why there are so few chiropractors in Thailand.  In order to get a permit to practice, one must speak Thai.  That explains a lot.  

Below is the place mat at S&P.  Disney ‘lives’ in the form of ‘Princess Cakes’, even in Chiang Mai.  Hmm.

This evening we had dinner with a friend of ours from New York who has lived here for 13 years.  We tried a spot we haven’t been to in years.  Might not return, we’re such delicate, picky eaters (555).  We all had fun and the ambience was wonderful.  

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at the U.S. Consulate to have a document notarized.  There are times when institutions in the States need to know the it’s really me doing certain business and the only way to ‘prove’ it is having me swear, as in raise my right hand and swear, that what I’m saying is true.  In order to do this I must go through a metal detector, have my bag x-rayed, and have it’s contents sorted before I can enter.  Not complaining, just find it interesting.  

After the swearing bit, we may go back to Dr. Parry, then it’s lunch and back on the road.  I’m finding that listening to an audio book can really take the tedium out of the long drive.  That is, of course, if it’s a good book with a good voice narrating, which usually means playing all the characters. 

Have a Great Week.

                        Peace,

                                  Danny 

“Every science begins as 

philosophy and ends as art.”

~Will Durant

Friday Funnies

Hi,

The weather in Chiang Rai is HOT.  There, I said it.  This afternoon our shade temp was 103°F.  The air is still not well, but getting better.

The ‘Middle Song’ was “Nowhere To Run” by Martha and The Vandellas.  Here’s their last tune for an ‘Old School Friday'“Whenever I’m with him, something inside starts to burning, and I’m filled with desire.  Could it be a devil inside of me or is this the way love’s supposed to be?  It’s like a __ __, burning in my heart, I can’t keep from crying, it’s tearing me apart.”  Hint:  You might say it’s something thats plaguing northern Thailand right now.  

This morning Dang and his crew arrived to begin work on several projects.  They set up a scaffold between the house and the pool in order to rebuild some drainage from the roof.  I’m still not clear on what he’s doing, just that it won’t leak in the next storm we have.  Natcha kept an eye on them for us.

Today we went to Doy Din Dang, one of the places we had to avoid during the burning.  It was so peaceful in the woods, and only a few staff could be seen.  We had coffee in the garden and Tamako joined us for one of our special conversations that seems to fly all around Chiang Rai and beyond.  While talking about the preservation of artistic traditions, she mentioned that Somluk, her husband, is training a local young man in the art of making giant pots.  Apparently it has become a dying art.  The student is enthusiastic about it and that makes Somluk happy.  In addition to making ceramics and painting, he also designs various environments.  He has completed a meditation center outside of town and is finishing up a restaurant within the complex.  The woods surrounding their workspace has been growing for 30 years.  As Tamako says, ‘It’s a slow process’.  Below, is a photo looking into their coffee shop.

Because of the workers, we took our afternoon nap in the guest room.  It was a bit quieter than being upstairs, next to the actual repair area.  It was nice to have an alternative.  We were all set to go to the Indira Hotel near our house for our swim, but the workers told us they were done.  We finally got into the pool and they came back and began reversing some of the clean up they had done.  Apparently, they weren’t supposed to dismantle part of the scaffolding.  That’s when we got out of the pool.  We may end up at the hotel tomorrow.

Cat gave her presentation at the ‘Pongference’ in Melbourne, Australia and posted some pics.  Here she is speaking to  the audience.

Have a Wonderful WeekEnd.      Time for the ‘Funnies’.   Note: The management does not endorse this behavior (55) 

                      Peace,

                                Danny

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

Kindness

Hi,

Our weather forecasts are much friendlier these days.  Oh, it’s back up to ‘hot with no relief’, but the quality of the hot air is so much better.  Occasionally, during the day, we will smell the smoke of burning trash but it passes as the small fires go out.  More rain is predicted and that would be wonderful.

As most of you know, the ‘Easy Monday’ song was “Dancing In The Street” by Martha & The Vandellas.  I haven’t settled on what to call the mid-week song, since most of them won’t be ‘Zany’, so here’s the ‘Middle Song’:  

“__ __ __ to, baby, __ __ hide.  Got __ __ __ to, baby.  __ __ hide.  It’s not love that I’m running from, it’s the heartaches that I know will come.  ‘Cause I know you’re no good for me, but you’ve become a part of me…”  Hint:  Impossible to go undetected.  Remember, this is set to a Motown R&B groove from the mid 60’s.

This morning we went for coffee at Work@Home, one of the places we’ve had to avoid because of the bad air.  To our surprise, our friends Katai and Towan were at home and came out to greet us.  We had not seen them for many weeks, due to their business traveling.  Catching up and hanging out, learning more about their lives was a great way to spend the morning.  Towan is a navigator on the international car rally scene, but here in Thailand he has an older car that he drives on the Thai circuit.  He recently won the first rally of the season.  Katai is going to South Korea tomorrow for a week.  They lead very interesting, busy lives.  It was good to get a peak inside.

Now that the burning seems to have slowed, there is lots of discussion in the Thai press about what happened and what could keep it from happening again.  We will watch with great interest.

Right now we’re having a video chat with Cat, who is in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia on a layover before their 7 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia.  It’s pretty amazing how easy it is to stay in touch, if you know what to do.  

The Adventures of Nitchanan and Daku:  Today, Natcha made bread and gave Nitchanan a little piece of dough to play with.  It’s made from coconut flour, which is one of Daku’s favorites.  Being a dog, he took a little piece of Nitchanan’s dough and that’s when the meltdown started.  Lisa went into the kitchen and Nitchanan proclaimed that

“Daku was bad”, in the saddest voice possible.  It wasn’t until Natcha gave her more dough that things settled down.  Then she walked around taunting him with her new dough.

Today’s photo is from the trip to Hua Hin.  It’s the balloon giraffe and his little monkey friend at the BluPort Mall.

Feels like a Wacky Wednesday.

                       Peace,

                                 Danny

“Kindness is ever the beggeter 

of kindness.”

~Sophocles

Decide

Hi,

Overnight we finally got the rain we’ve needed for weeks.  We woke up to breathable air in the ‘Good’ range.  Doors and windows were opened, and with morning temps lower than ever, there was rejoicing.  The rejoicing part had to end by mid-day as it got hot anyway.  The air stayed in the better place until the evening.  It’s in the mid 50s on the scale, which is still better than it had been.  Another good rain and things might get back to normal. 

This week’s ‘Easy Monday’ song is from 1964, but it has spanned decades as a get up and boogie kinda song.

“Aw, it doesn’t matter what you wear, just as long as you are there.  So come on every guy grab a girl, every where around the world.  We’ll be __, we’re __ __ __ __ (__ __ __ __).  This is an invitation across the nation, a chance for folks to meet.  They’ll be laughin’, singin’ and music swingin’.  We’re __ __ __ __.”  Clue:  This tune was a big hit on American Bandstand.  What did they do on that show?

This morning Daku was on high alert.  The air and ground suddenly smelled different.  It was a doggie potpourri, a wonderland of wild odors.  Who could think about responding to commands with all this to investigate.  It happens every time.  It’s always new to him and we’ve learned to let him have his time with it, within reason (555).

We thought we were going to go out and have coffee at one of our favorite, but forbidden places this morning.  You know, the ones without walls, the ones without fresh air.  Khun Dang, a contractor, came over to look at what needed to be done in preparation for the rainy season.  He stayed past the time for us to leave.  It was a mostly productive meeting and work may begin this week.  It’s hard to believe that next month will be our 10 year anniversary in The Big Brown House.

Natcha made Nitchanan a hot lunch and took it to the school this morning.  She’s a great mom, always thinking of new and interesting things to try.  After school today, I was standing half way up the stairs, watching Nitchanan and Gop playing their games.  She looked up at me and said (in Thai), “Be careful”.  We’ve been saying that to her for what, 2 years?  All I could do was smile and say ‘OK’.

Yesterday, while shopping at Top’s Market in the mall, I couldn’t resist this photo op.

While the goal of many here is to have a white complexion, after our swim today we sat in the sun and soaked up some rays.  

Have a Happy Tuesday.

                           Peace,

                                     Danny 

“All we have to decide is what to do

with the time that is given to us.”

~J.R.R. Tolkein

Believe (Monday's Message)

Hi,

Our weekend weather was actually a little better.  The air was in the moderate zone,  the sky had a bluish look and we began seeing forecasts for rain.  It’s still well over 100°F so being outside is not really fun.  Predictions are for rain possibly on Tuesday, and an 80% chance on Wednesday.  The burners started up again today, but not as bad as before.

The ‘Old School Friday’ song was “Get Off Of My Cloud” by The Rolling Stones.  Here’s an ‘Easy Monday’ that’s been on your screen before.  “Callin’ out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat?  Summer’s here and the time is right for __ __ __ __.  They’re dancin’ in Chicago (__ __ __ __), down in New Orleans (__ __ __ __), in New York City (__ __ __ __).  All we need is music, sweet music…”  Hint:  This song could create a major traffic jam.  It’s by a group of young women from Detroit who lifted our spirits.

Since the air has been a little kinder to us, we’ve gone into the pool a few times.  The water has been perfect and it hard to resist the urge to just swim.  Saturday and today, we mildly moved through the water without wearing masks.  We always check the air quality site before we go in, just to make sure it’s OK.  This afternoon’s swim was interrupted by the smoke from someone burning trash.  How obnoxious.  

On Sunday, Cat came over while I was at my meeting.  Lisa had some warm clothes for her to take on her trip.  Then they picked me up and we went to The Wanderer, where we met with Lucy from The Freedom Story.  We learned more details about Cat’s trip and what she will be doing.  It turns out she’ll have some free time to explore the city of Melbourne.  Hmm, we’ve never been there (555).  We also learned that one of her teachers can give her school credit for the trip, since she’ll be practicing her communication skills.  

  Her Saturday and Sunday classes went very smoothly.  They started with English vocabulary, and every three sessions they will add new elements, going to phrases and then sentences.  Natcha told us that she was excited about returning to her regular school.  This morning was Nitchanan’s first day back.  Some kids were crying, but Nitchanan was ready to get started.  Here are a couple of photos before they left for school.

When Nitchanan returned from school, she was a bundle of energy.  When asked if she went to school, she used the Thai word for school and pronounced it very carefully, as if to teach us the correct way to say it.  This should be an interesting school year.

Tomorrow Khun Dang will come over and determine what needs to be done to make the roof rain-ready and clean the rain gutters.  It’s that time of year.  

Have a Great Week.

                        Peace,

                                  Danny

“Believe you can and you’re

half way there.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

Friday Funnies

Hi,

I was going to say that today was like all the rest, but the AQI index number came down a hair.  Now it’s hovering just above ‘moderate’, which isn’t cause for a parade, but it lifts some of the gloom.  The heat is another story.  Once upon a time it was hot, it’s still hot, the end.

The ‘Zany Day’ song was “Get Off Of My Cloud” by The Rolling Stones, of course.  ‘Old School Friday’ is easy:

“__ __ __ __ __, yes it is, __ __ __ __ __, yes it is.  You’re searching for good times, just wait and see, you’ll come running back, you’ll come running back, you’ll come running back to me.”  Hint:  He looked at his watch before singing this song.

This morning we got things done.  After dropping off some garments at the seamstress, we tried a new place for coffee.  It’s called Le Patta Hotel and their restaurant is enclosed with air con, and the coffee was good.  We’re making a new list of ‘clean air coffee spots’ and hotels seem to be the easiest to fill the bill.  

Nitchanan decided that today would be the day she started speaking to us in English.  She’s been throwing phrases at just the right time, letting us know that she knows what she’s doing.  She’s also responding to things said to her.  One of her big joys lately is helping.  She likes to have little jobs, regardless of how small.  Pressing the button on the air cooler to turn it off brings a big smile.  Tomorrow she begins her weekend school.  Each session is one hour long and Natcha will stay for the classes  Then, on Monday her regular pre-school begins. 

This photo was taken at BluPort Mall in Hua Hin.  It’s a novel way to decorate a wall and have an indoor garden.  

Sunday we’re having lunch with Cat and Lucy, a Freedom Story staff member who will travel to Australia with Cat.  They leave on Wednesday for a five day conference where Cat will be speaking about her experiences.  One of the biggest challenges will be the weather.  It’s winter time in Australia.  Daytime temps will be 40° colder than Chiang Rai.

Have a Wonderful WeekEnd.    Time for the ‘Funnies’.  Formula 1 will be in Barcelona, Spain this weekend.  Zoom.

                    Peace,

                              Danny