A New Friend

I was out with Sonder the other night and spotted this little guy taking a dip in the fish pond. 

I have seen a lot of toads around our yard and in Nichada. In fact, a small toad lives in one of my portulaca flower pots. However, this was the first time I have seen a tree frog since we have lived here. I am happy to have him as long as he eats the mosquitoes and doesn't pose a threat to Sonder (as did the very poisonous Bufo toads that lived in our yard in Miami).

Some random shots of flowers in our yard.

As it is now late Spring here, everything is in full bloom. It is just breathtaking to see some of the colorful flowers that are along the streets of Nichada. I will have some more photos posted tomorrow, including photos from my second Floral Design class held this morning. I planned to post those today but I woke up to a lengthy contract in my in-box that needed to be reviewed for my "office" ASAP and work took the place of blog writing. Work = Money so I can't complain!

Have a great Thursday!

A Good Start

Early Sunday morning, Caitlynne and some friends (including some boys from Christopher's baseball team) made blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast. 

The pancakes did not look the best but they must have tasted okay because everyone ate a lot! 


I was a little concerned about the boys eating something this heavy before their game but they didn't seem too concerned. 

This first game against Minebae on Sunday afternoon started off very promising for for Christopher's baseball team. At the top of the fourth inning, his team was winning, 6-1. It must have been the pancakes! Christopher had a nice single and struck out at his two at bats. After the win on Saturday, there was a noticeable increase in the confidence of the boys.  We were on track to win until...

A nasty storm moved in. The heavens opened, the  thunder clapped and the lightning flashed. It poured for about 30 minutes - long enough to put most of our infield under water. Ugh. 

As you can see in these photos, the drainage from our infield is non-existent. In fact, we (the Board of Directors of BBSA) have been working with ISB to coordinate the installation of artificial turf in the infield and to make some other improvements so the drainage will improve. This work will begin after school ends in June but, until then, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Our coaches and some players' dads tried to speed the drainage of the water using brooms, mops and even the "squeegee" tool from the tennis courts.  

 

 The boys rested and refueled for a while. 

Once the field drained and began to dry off, the boys started to warm up again. It looked like we might be able to play soon.

Finally, about 1 1/2 hours after the rain first began, the field was drained and dry enough to play on. The coaches from both teams had agreed to cancel the rest of the first game and begin the second game. 

Just as the boys went into the dugouts to get ready and our coaches were spreading the last wheelbarrow of sand around 2nd base, it began to rain AGAIN! It started as a drizzle but quickly turned into pouring rain and the infield was underwater AGAIN in about 15 minutes. I felt like crying for our coaches. The second game was cancelled and we all went home to dry off. I guess we just weren't meant to play baseball on Sunday.

Such a disappointing end to the day! 

Finally!

For those inquiring minds out there...We won!

For the first time in FOUR years, our team beat the Minebae team with the final score being 7-4. We lost the first game of the double header by a score of 14-4. It was a disappointing loss because we played great competitive baseball but one inning got away from us. They scored a bunch of runs that we just couldn't match. Fortunately, the boys did not let the loss get them down and maintained a positive attitude in the dug out. 

There was a short break between the games and after a quick meeting with the coaches, the boys rested and refueled with some nutritious food (yogurt, string cheese, fruits, hummus and carrots). The second game began and our team came out swinging and played really great defense. We took the lead in the first inning and never looked back. As you can imagine, our boys were thrilled with the win! While Christopher has been playing against Minebae for only two seasons, some of the boys on the team (and two of the coaches) have been playing against them for 4 seasons without a win so the win was VERY sweet for them. 

When we played Minabae a few weeks ago, Christopher struck out 3 of his 4 times at bat. This was not the case AT ALL yesterday - he was a hitting machine! I was so nervous for his first at bat and was praying like crazy that he wouldn't strike out. He hit the first pitch and sent a beautiful grounder to left field for a single. You could probably hear my sigh of relief in the U.S.!  He was out of his slump! He had two more singles in the first game but, unfortunately, got left on base all three times and did not score.

In the second game, he started off with a strike out, was thrown out at first on his second hit and hit a single on his last at bat. He was (finally) able to score a run and was quite happy. Such a fantastic improvement from a few weeks ago. With our tournament in Singapore quickly approaching, the coaches are planning the line ups and field positions and are playing very close attention to how the boys are hitting and playing defensively so it is a good time for Christopher's hitting to improve. He played first base, second base, third base and left field at different times over the course of the two games and made no errors. 

Some photos from the day...

Christopher playing first base.

Getting ready for his first at bat. I wonder what was going through his mind at that moment. 

A hit! Yay! On first base - somewhere he hadn't been in a few weeks. 

 Taking off for second base.

End of game line-up.

 Preparing for the wai.

Today we are on to Round 2. Christopher will be back on the field 12:30 for warm-ups and the first game begins at 1:30. It should be a fun afternoon! 

Have a great Sunday!

So Much Gorgeousness!

I had my first Floral Design class on Thursday. What a fun job it would be to work with gorgeous flowers and design/create centerpieces, bouquets and other types of beautiful floral arrangements! I am not sure that floral design is the right fit for me though. I would definitely have to rein in my obsessive compulsive tendencies and be a little less of a perfectionist. Flowers, greenery and leaves don't always "go" the way you want them to. I learned that very important lesson yesterday.

Our instructor, Tipwan, went to the flower market in Chinatown earlier in the morning and bought a nice selection of flowers for us to use to create a hand-held bouquet.

The raw materials. 

The white lilies were our focal points in the bouquet, the red flowers would provide height and the yellow orchids would provide a splash of color on the lower part of the bouquet.

I don't know what this flower was called but it was very unique and pretty.

The red looked great against the white of the lily.

 The initial design.

 Beginning to design my bouquet.

 

Finished!

There are four of us taking this class and, although we were taught the same technique and followed the same design with the same materials, all of the bouquets were very different. I kept my bouquet very simple and didn't use a lot of greenery as a filler. The other ladies made beautiful bouquets that were very lush and colorful.

 

My bouquet looked so sparse compared to the others! Next week I will try and add a little more bulk to my design.

The bouquet at home. 

The Twins' (from Thursday's Harlem Shake post) mom had two floral arrangements for the girls delivered to our house before the birthday party. Gorgeous!

 

 

I am glad the girls took their flowers home with them because my little bouquet would look absolutely pathetic next to these! Clearly, I have a lot to learn about floral design.

Their mom also ordered a cake to be delivered. More gorgeousness!

 

 
  

 

For those of you who live in or near Nichada, the cake was made by "Cherries" near the Villa Market by the lake. It was white layer cake with a pink filling between the layers.

Happy Birthday, girls!

Christopher has a lot of baseball this weekend - he plays a double header today (Saturday) and a double header on Sunday. These are all scrimmage games against Minebae, the team from the Japanese baseball academy that is north of Nichada. This is the same team we have lost to each and every time we played them over the last two years. This weekend we have four chances to get a "W" so keep your fingers crossed! I would love for our team to win at least one game against Minebae before we move from Bangkok. Is that too much to ask? I don't think so.

I am not thrilled about spending my weekend sitting in the bleachers but baseball will be over for us in less than a month so it is a "grin and bear it" activity. Fortunately, on both days, the games do not begin until the early afternoon. At least this gives us some time in the morning to do homework, run errands and do chores around the house. Of course, it also means that we are playing during the hottest part of the day. The forecast for today...

Saturday, Mar 2

DayMar 2

93^°FHigh

Sunny

If yesterday's whether is any indication, we are most definitely in for a hot one today. I ran this morning for 4 miles with Sonder and brought him home when he started to drag. I went back out on my own to run another 2 miles and was completely drenched with sweat when I returned.  Summer is on the way! 

HOURLY FORECAST

RIGHT NOW

• 91^°F
• Mostly Cloudy
• Feels like100°

Have a great Saturday!