Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Have a great Sunday evening!

Caught In The Act

In the evenings, Sonder almost always stays downstairs with me while I read, work on the computer, etc. Even if he and I are in different rooms downstairs (unusual because he sticks to me like white on rice), when he hears me begin to turn off the lights and the air conditioning, he finds me and follows me up to get ready for bed. However, Saturday night, I couldn't find Sonder when it was time to go to bed.

I saw the light was on in Christopher's room and peeked in.

Christopher knew that I would be upset if Sonder was on Christopher's bed so he made him a makeshift bed. Using his pillow shams. Ugh. Not sure if that is much better than the dog sleeping on the bed but little steps I guess.

Sonder raised his head but wouldn't look at me. Although he wasn't on Christopher's bed, he knew he still wasn't in the "right" spot. 

With a loud sigh, he went back to sleep.

He slept in Christopher's room again on Sunday night and Monday morning I moved his bed in there. Sonder has been upset with me these days but I didn't think he would take it to this extreme. His allergies have been horrible for the last few months and, per the vet's direction, I have been giving him a bath every other day, cleaning his ears morning and night and spraying his paws twice a day with tee tree oil. Although the treatments are helping to alleviate his discomfort, he hates all of them. It has become quite a trick for me to find him for his bath or treatment. He quickly figured out where the most inaccessible spots in the house were and hastens to one of them when he realizes it is "that" time. However, all I need to do is mention a "treat" and he comes out from his hiding place. Sneaky Dog = Sneaky Me. 

Yesterday, I took him to the vet to be tested so we could find out exactly what he is allergic too. He was sedated, his side was shaved and then he was tested for FIFTY different allergens  When the procedure was finished, the vet walked him out to me in the waiting room. Sonder looked right at me, walked past me to go look out the window and ignored me for the 15 minutes that the vet and I talked. Talk about a cold shoulder!

We found he is allergic to the pollen from two types of trees. He is now on a new combination of antihistamines and steriods and I hope this round will do the trick. I just want him to be comfortable for the next three months until our move. The two trees that he is allergic to (the acacia and the queen palm) do not grow in Virginia (at least as far as I can tell) so, hopefully, the move will be his "cure". 

Kevin is finally home! Strong winds in Tokyo created a lengthy delay in his departure from there and he didn't get home until 3:45 am. Yikes! He said it wasn't worth it to try and sleep so he worked out, had some coffee and went in to work. I can't begin to imagine how exhausted he is going to be tonight. PeePorn has been cooking all afternoon so we will have an early dinner and go to bed.

Have a great Thursday!

At First Glance

When I run in the morning, it is always quite dark. Unless the moon is really spectacular (and visible through the cloud cover),  there really isn't too much to see at 5 am.

So, as horrible as it is to be out in the heat and humidity, I love walking Sonder in the late morning and afternoon because I get to see stuff like this...

 

 

  

 

 This tree is right outside our home. I just love the white & yellow flower against the dark green leaves. 

Of course, the beauty of these flowers is offset by how horrible my allergies have been the last few weeks. I am now in the routine of taking a Zyrtec with my morning coffee and that seems to get me through the day. 

One day last week, there was an army of gardeners working in the bushes along the street near our home for most of the day. I know I have posted photos of these bushes before - they line almost all of the streets in Nichada and are very pretty when in bloom.

As I was taking the photo below, something unusual caught my eye.

This must have been what the gardeners had been working on that day. My first thought was that it was a graft on to the bushes to make them appear fuller and more aesthetically appealing (after all, Nichada is also known as Disneyland). Then I realized that the baggie (filled with some kind of dirt/soil mix) was tied right on to the actual branch of the bush. 

 The baggies were randomly attached at different place on the branches of the bushes. 

 And there were TONS of them. 

I am still at a loss as to what the purpose of these are for... maybe someone out there knows???

Kevin is on his way home today! He will arrive in Tokyo this afternoon and will be landing in Bangkok just before midnight. The kids and I are so excited to see him. For the last week or so, we have been counting the "sleeps" until his return. He has been gone almost 5 weeks and I think we all really felt his absence this time. Although I talk to him at least once every day, so much "little" (but important) stuff happens each day and it is hard to remember all of the details when we talk. The good news is that he has only two more trips back to Washington before our move and his return flight to Bangkok in June will be his last trip here for quite a while. 

Unfortunately, he will need to hit the ground running as our schedule for the next few weeks is very busy. But, at least we are together.

Have a great Wednesday!

2013 SEAYBST U-15 TEAM

Not the greatest photo but... The Bangkok All Stars U15 Team - 2013 SEAYBST.

Christopher is third from the left in the front row. 

The boys have been practicing a lot and really working on improving their skills. Such a great group of young men!

Have a great Sunday!

Floral Design Take 2

I think I did a much better job designing my arrangement in this week's class. I used all of the flowers and the other materials Tipwan gave us and then some! My arrangement definitely did not look scrawny this week.

The first thing we learned was how to cut the floral foam to fit into our container. The foam was soaked with water and it was pretty easy to shape it to fit in the bowl. We then taped the foam to the bowl so it would remain secure. 

The inspiration for this design was a photo that one of the women in the class had taken of an arrangement on display at a Marriott resort in Phuket. We used these red lily-like flowers (found all over Nichada), twigs and leaves from a gardenia  plant.

I was given five stalks of the red flowers to use and I ended up adding two more stalks to fill out the arrangement a little more. 

 My arrangement before adding the gardenia leaves.

My arrangement with the gardenia leaves (used to hide my "technique"). They really did add a nice finishing touch.

My arrangement on display at home.

I was very proud of myself for getting this home in one piece on the golf cart. 

The arrangement is huge - well over 40" high and quite wide. I set it in the living room because it is so large and colorful and won't get "lost" even with the high ceilings and open space in that room. It was too big for the dining room table and for an end table in the family room. The red flowers are placed just high enough to draw attention to the arrangement from a distance. It really fills the space nicely.

Last night PeePorn made a delicious dinner of chicken cashew, rice and fruit for the kids and I. It was the one night this week that we didn't have any school events or sports practices and everyone was home for dinner. 

 PeePorn also made these.  

She told me what they were but, as usual, something got lost in the translation. More my fault than hers.

Inside the banana leaf was a portion of sticky rice. Two of the bundles were topped with some kind of a dried fish or shrimp paste - it tasted very salty. Caitlynne took a tiny nibble of one but was less than thrilled when I told her what the orange stuff was. 

The other two bundles were topped with I have no idea what. Christopher said it looked like brain matter. After that comment, no one, myself included, wanted to taste it. 

Have a great Friday!