Far from home, it's true, but I remain so American...

20231204

Our last ride...

After you've made your final revolution on the Ferris Wheel of Life, and after the funeral ceremonies have all been completed, it's off to the crematorium. This is the cart used to carry the coffin.

P.S. Not trying to stir up any bad luck for anybody here. สาธุ!!!

20231203

Village canal looking good after ลอยกระทง / Loy Krathong.

You can see กระทง / krathong remnants in both photos. Not a perfect situation environmentally, but a lot better than before when they used to use styrofoam. This year's ลอยกระทง / Loy Krathong was strong. You could feel it happening everywhere you went for days in advance, and the Loy Krathong moon still looked great for days afterwards.

20231203

Movie night at the village temple.

I thought this was a thing of the past, but nope. It's still going on and well-attended at that. I'm not sure about the equipment used, but both video and audio were good.

20231202

Terminal 21's main entrance Christmas Tree 2023

20231201

No shortage of toad frogs in this season.

20231130

Excuse me while I live outdoors for a few months...

Outdoors is where it's at.

20231113 - Central Plaza Korat

20231116 - Drying rice at a temple west of Phimai.

20231119

20231121 - Out in the rice fields, of course...

20231126 - At one of the rice field restaurants.

20231127 - Downtown Korat on Loy Krathong.

It's beginning to feel a little bit like Christmas.

Christmas trees are going up, and with the official policy being "Let Christmas Linger," they're going to be up for a while. I'm into it. Thank you, shopping malls (de facto community centers) all over Thailand. You're going to play those Christmas songs again, aren't you? (You even made me, this late in life, like Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!!!)

And the troupes of young Santa Claus singers and dancers? I must admit that I vastly prefer them to Old Fat Ass Santa Claus in the shopping malls back home, whom I resemble entirely too much.

20231029 Terminal 21

20231101 Central Plaza

Halloween 2023 at Terminal 21.

I do not know the events team at Terminal 21 Mall. But whoever they are, they know what I like. This year they gave us a scary-AF Halloween event. Scary not because of anything they did, but because of the talents of the contestants in the Halloween costume contest. 

I tip my hat to all the contestants who, with their considerable makeup, costume, and acting skills, managed to frighten this old guy quite effectively. I can't unsee the image of a cute little girl walking around carrying a severed head. Well-done, young lady. Well-done, all.

The dance team

20231029

Sometimes, I AM, in fact, the Midnight Rider.

It occurred to me the other night, while out riding the bicycle and not finishing by midnight, that sometimes I AM, in fact, the Midnight Rider. That's just how it goes sometimes, especially if you fall asleep in the La-Z-Boy recliner. Especially if you live in a tropical country, where afternoon naps are the order of the day. Especially, I guess, if you've always been a night owl.

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