Porthole

Week 23 of the Year 180

(exercise) = Exor. (observations) = obsv. (shit,shave,shower) = ss&s. (read something) = read. (comment blogs) = bogs. (BoyLove series on-line) = ytBL. (Thai TV BL series on GMMTV25) = tv25. (write poetry or prose) = PorP. (take a daily walk) = walk. (buy something) = shop. (take a photo) = foto. (video) = วิดีโอ. (speak Thai/Lao) = pôod. (learn Thai) Thai. (go-into-the-water) = pool. (clothes) = wash. (cook something) = cook. (tidy up) = mess. (travel) = trip. (noon) = เที่ยง. (talking to ex-pats/travelers/strangers in European) = chat. (Thai teaching book) = book. (hand-/ journal) = jour. (contests) = test.

27 สิงหาคม 2566 = 27 august 2023

trip. Khon Kaen to Udon Thani.
pôod. chat. P'Nan and N'Pear.
ss&s.
exor. 300/200/200/300 = 1.000 Not bad for having missed 3 days on 'vacay'.
tv25. Hidden Agenda.
bogs. Robert/Patricia/Tracy/NormaJean

26 สิงหาคม 2566 = 26 august 2023

walk. train station, Wat Pho.
foto.
pôod. วิดีโอ. At park.
ss&s.
obsv. bird pooped on me, children's slide, markets and park come alive at

25 สิงหาคม 2566 = 25 august 2023

trip. to Khon Kaen 72 baht
walk.
pôod. chat. At Lotus.
foto. video. Park, wat... petanque.
tv25. Dangerous Romance.

Dropped my phone. Broke the screen. Still works. At Chada. Don't like it much.

24 สิงหาคม 2566 = 24 august 2023

เที่ยง. 31°C 88°F, Precipitation: 6%, Humidity: 68%, Wind: 13 km/h

bogs. Grace/Kristina/Scarlett

To {huser:kb6vas in "Things that Make Me Smile"  Trains, trees and flowers. Plus any cat, stray or not that needs to be petted. I love caramel flan but chocolate...

Small things tend to make me smile.

My favs on your list:

11. The train whistle in the middle of the night and 4:00 am.
I live in a mobile home park near the train tracks. Did you know that the trains sound different late at night than they do during the day? They do. During the day, they sound muffled and always in a hurry. Late at night, they have a hollow and lonely sound, as if they are lost.

12. Trees
Always standing tall, strong and at attention. So many of them have been around for years—generations. I look at them and feel the history that they must have seen. Especially the trees in the forests.

To Scarlett: "In Thailand (when is your next visit... ) I try to dress according to the color of the day. Thursday is orange. Once I dress accordingly I only need to look at what I'm wearing to be reminded. If I put on the wrong color though...

My life is boring. I have daily routines I

keep track of that remind me I'm still breathing. Plus Pan provides me with support. I've lived alone for years so this is good for me. Today we are in Maha Sarakham."

To Kelly Petersen on FB: "You will not be dead until those who remember you are dead. I like having young friends, but they'll only remember me as an old codger..."

walk.
news/face
PorP "Crossing the river to breathe 🇨🇭 A24 [105] 40w 'pure' " 
blog. "Boring but not dead until I say so. " 
foto.
video.
tv25. Home School ep.18

23 สิงหาคม 2566 = 23 august 2023

exor. 200/100/200/300 = 800 at 07:45. 77 degrees.
trip. caught the Pink Bus at 10:

00 to Maha Sarakham. 150 baht/each. Strange trip. Different route than Udon-Ubon. I think it took 12 towards Kalasin and passed universities (must check map). Bus filled up in Khon Kaen. We walked to Top Inn from depot. 1.300 baht/total for 2 nights. After a heavy blustery rain we walked to the night market.
foto.
วิดีโอ. rain. posted at fb.
face.
news.
walk. Klong was filled after the storm. Nice market. We both found something to eat.
shop. Lotus. dates, Sprite, ice cream. Mostly to get change from a 1.000 bill.
tv25. Home School ep. #17.
PorP. " Fishermen 🇹🇼 A22 [104] 40w 'policy'" 

I'm a bit worn out. Did not sleep well nor long enough. Pan did not look well but managed to get going by 9 am. I was concerned that he would sleep in. It's after 10 pm. now and he's sleeping. We were both very tired when we got to our room. 114. The rain kept us in for a rest/nap. Free insta-coffee, has breakfast and, although it's fairly utilitarian, it doesn't seem sterile like the Hop Inn in Chaiyaphum. It's down a quiet lane with barking dogs and singing frogs.

22 สิงหาคม 2566 = 22 august 2023

exor. 200/100/200/300 = 800. 79-84 degrees
เที่ยง. 84 semi-sunny degrees.
obsv.

Return of winged things, white flutterbies, pesky flies, the roar and echo of jets. The towers loom but not high enough to block the sun. I prefer cooler shadows. I must hurry to be done.

ss&s.
ytBL. Enigma Ep. 4

The clothes are drying. They're swabbing the floor today. I scrubbed the threshold as Pan took out the trash. He's like that. I just wanted to get up off my tush to walk down the hall, using the trash as an excuse. But... he wanted to help. He's been sitting a lot too. He told me that I needn't interrupt my work. *sigh* He means well and at least he understands that my writing is 'work'.

PorP. "Pat, pat, pat. 🇲🇽 A21 [103] 40w 'rhythm'" 
chat. pôod. Pear, P'Nan.
walk.
shop. for trip.
pool.
tv25. Jungle.
trip. started to pack, mostly done.
call. sister. b.i.l. Dan died August 15th, age 89.
Midnight. Cloudy, 26°C 79°F, Precipitation: 17%, Humidity: 92%, Wind: 5 km/h. Rain in forecast.

"Little is known of Yamabe no Akahito other than what we can gain from his fifty poems in the Manyoshu. His thirteen Nagauta poems and thirty-seven Tanka poems were all written between 724 and 737 AD."

My comment at YCC over climate change apathy: "Norwegians have centuries of living on the edge, just one crop failure or fish failure away from starvation. However... the Kingdom of Norway was killed by the Plague, becoming a vassal of Sweden or Denmark. It took 500 years to restore it. May explain their response to Covid compared to Sweden. A collapse of the Gulf Stream would be similar or worse than the Plague as certain areas become unlivable for humans. Facing extinction isn't pleasant. And avoiding or denying reality is understandable in that context."

21 สิงหาคม 2566 = 21 august 2023

Gary's son Gary had his 21st birthday yesterday. I mention this today, not because I forgot, but because I'm just shocked about the passage of time and depressed because that past life is long past. Milestones remind me of this. Will I remember to call my sister? Her birthday is the 23rd.

To Rosemary re historical novels: "A first person point of view could be written in the present. It draws the reader in whereas past tense provides distance, and a telling of a story looking back at it. Both tenses have uses. And... it's fiction, of course! Unless there are actual written records from that time... they tend to be written by someone who was neither then nor there."

exor. 200/100/100/200 = 600 84 shady degrees In The Shadow Of The Tower. 10:30-ish
ss&s.
trip. Made plans to leave for Maha Sarakham and Khon Kaen for 4 days. Thought about leaving tomorrow, but leaving the 23rd.
wash. Hung to dry. And drying!
walk.
chat. Briefly with David. Good to see P'Sam (Sayan).
cook. Pan under-cooked the carrots so I added onions, garlic, last of the squash.
pool. Not much. Even if I do a little everyday... it counts.
bogs. Louise/Stik/Robert
tv25. The Jungle

To {huser:howellbard3 for "Invalid Entry"  "My mind wanders from one thing to the other. I tend to see connections where others only see what they were told to see as a child. I'm no child; but, I lived in wonderment then... and still do. I don't allow my fingers or my pen to lead the way as much as I used to. Perhaps I should.

As for Noah... no rain today... yet."

To {huser:soledad_moon in "Inky Six"  "When I was younger, I didn't do needles, whether they hurt or not. Even now, I'd rather not. For me there's no urge to ink and no reason.

I met a man years ago who got inked all over to cover a disfigurement. I think of Allison who does colored floral tattoos. She's quite an artist. In Thailand some people do, some people don't.

Personally, I've seen black geometric designs I've liked; but a bird sounds nice."

To {huser:cathartes02 in "Meh. Whatever."  "Anachronisms in scholarly works may be unacceptable and scientists eschew all non-verifiable sources and results... but poets... relish in them, as do story-tellers as the art, the music, the message is more important than the mere meaning of a word.

It's why scholars of any ilk are ignored when the street-preacher speaks the truth. Bill Nye comes to mind, but there are many others. They know how to translate concepts and abstractions into a language most people can understand. That's also the strength of metaphor. And parables."

YCC TybeeTimes: "Like Jack Sparrow's compass, a wishcaster's compass always points in the direction your heart desires."

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