THERE'S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE

There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

Echoes of a song by Buffalo Springfield I know but what's happening is this:

I started noticing a few weeks ago that the first mouthful I drink of any alcoholic beverage, wine, beer or a cooler, makes me sneeze. After the first mouthful I'm fine.

I have no idea why this has started and would be happy to hear anybody's comments on 

the situation. Since I usually only imbibe these types of beverages in the late afternoons or evenings I don't know if it has anything to do with the time of day. I guess I'll have to do some experimenting on it at breakfast or lunch.

*****

Here is a fact that might interest you ~ or might not. I would make a note of it 

however, as it might come up on a test sometime and you'll be 

glad that I gave you this info.

I've done several parking lot surveys and Honda scooters and motorbikes outnumber

all other brands combined by 11 to 1. Yamahas are a distant 2nd.

******

I've been out walking about with my camera and I've captured some interesting faces

Here's a small collection of some of them

MIRRORS

 Other than to shave or trim my beard I don't usually spend much time in front of a mirror. Yesterday, however, whilst walking in from my vitamin D fix on the balcony 

I happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the full length mirror in the bedroom and noticed a slight change in my usually svelte physique. 

Maybe it's the heat causing a sort of melting effect that has resulted in a

 ~ how shall I phrase it~

a slightly more amorphous and less sculpted look.

I don't think I've gained any weight; we eat sensibly and do a lot of walking about town and all my clothes still seem to fit. And I do make fairly regular visits to the fitness room on the 6th floor.

Well, I guess if I want to do something about it, I will, like Noni does, have to start using the equipment there ..... in moderation, of course.

Someone commented that some of the photos on my blog were too small.

HINT

If you click on any of the photos they will all come up in a slide show format in a larger size

minus any captions, however. Give it a try.

Here are some recent images

haze over the city at dusk

flower vendors in the evening

a truck load of flowers

ornately decorated coffee house and detail (above) on the shutter 

some poor guy is going to have to pedal this load

bumblebee or .........

DOORS & GATES

DOORS & GATES

My friends Ron and Liz took a trip to Barcelona this past autumn and came home with a wonderful series of photos of the magnificent, hand crafted doors of that city. Inspired by these images I started to look at the doors of Chiang Mai.

There are some beautifully ornate doors here but they are found mostly on the many temples around the city. The majority of the doors on buildings are interesting mostly for the way they age and not for their craftsmanship. The doors of many private dwellings are, more often than not, not visible to the passerby as they are back from the road separated by a fence or wall. It is the gates of these properties that catch the eye. 

Here are some samples of images I have collected 

TOUR BUSSES

In all of Thailand ~ but particularly here in Chiang Mai

the tourist trade is huge. At this time of year there are literally swarms of tourists from all

over the world being bussed around the country and around town.

The busses that carry them are large and gaily decorated and are really wonderful objects of 

commercial art worthy of notice.

They often travel in convoys of 3 or more busses and yesterday, while out doing

some errands, a convoy of 7 of these behemoths pulled up to a temple

and disgorged their passengers. It's not likely one might mistake 

which bus they were on unless one is blind or very inattentive.

Here are a few from my personal collection

BACK UP NORTH

Noni and I spent a week down south ~ a few days at a beautiful resort on the Andaman Sea and a few more days in Bangkok. We passed a bit of time with friends Arthur & Setsuko in Krabi and really enjoyed seeing them, and in Bangkok we shopped and dined with family and friends. It was a nice break from the routine of Chiang Mai but we sure noticed the increased humidity, especially in Bangkok. It was an uneventful trip so I have nothing outstanding to report. Here are some photos from along the way.

Elements Resort entrance ~ Krabi

Noni chilling out on the balcony

Not much of a beach but a beautiful sunset

Roadside conference

A face in the crowd ~ Bangkok

At dinner at a Chao Phraya riverside restaurant ~ Bangkok

Golf pants ~ Noni wouldn't let me buy a pair

?????????

Lunchtime chess match

Pepsi rules !!!!!!