Re: return trip

Oh dear Karl

I hate to even mention the subject but when indeed are you planning to return ? sorry I am sure you don not want your Thai mindframe being polluted with such thoughts but there we are I have said it ..............

Pattie
PS I hope you have enjoyed cups of tea from your new kettle !

oh yes

the prospect of return is always lingering.  of course, it's easier to dismiss it when there are 90, or 60 days before it has to happen.  when it gets down to the last lunar month before i fly out, it starts looming, where before it was a "yeah later" concept.  i note the lunar month, because you can actually see the moon here every night it is up, and when the time gets short, i think "oh, i won't see that moon phase here next time it comes around"  don't mind a whole lot, but i do have my druthers, and they are here, not there of course.

i do look forward to the day i actually buy a one-way ticket home, have a decent length visa arrangement, and really don't know when i have to buy a ticket back.  but that is not today, so i return to seattle:

APRIL 15TH

probably take a couple of days relax, then i have to hustle.  my van is in sad shape running wise, and i have to sort that out or find another vehicle too use, because i do have work waiting for me, but i have to be able to get there,  and all that jazz.

{ed. note:  pattie gave me a very nice stainless, ceramic coated, whistling tea kettle as a wedding present to bring with me this trip}

I presented the kettle to tok and mama.  made some tea and was joyous.  then i noticed it had been put in the cabinet, and they were using the same old aluminum pot to boil water in.m  so i put the kettle back out near the stove.  and it went into the closet again.  i told them that it was okay to use it, that was what the present from you was for.  they had put it away because it was a "nice thing".  you put the nice things in the cabinet to use god knows when, and use the ordinary stuff, that they have been using everyday forever, to do well, ordinary things, like boil water.  so i told them, naw naw, the kettle was a present so you  don't have to use the aluminum pot to boil in, because the aluminum is not so good for your health.  and now they use it all the time.  but they still cook stuff in aluminum.  i got them a stainless steel wok last year, which they do use, as i 'confiscated' the old aluminum one and used it to mix up  some paint, so it's no good for cooking-  ever.

this is a long answer to a short question i know. but here it  is.