Paluang Indigo Home

The Royal Family in Thailand has a huge influence on the people of Thailand and is greatly loved by the people. The present King became king when he was only 19 years old and has reigned for over 60 years. He as no political power but works very hard to improve the life of the people of Thailand.
The Queen is very active in visiting, promoting, and helping the women of the villages to develop cottage industry to help raise the standard of living for the rural people. We visited one such place, the Paluang Indigo Home in Thunghong Phrae. This family as received recognition from the Queen for there work and proudly displays pictures with members of the royal family. Here cotton is printed with wax designs using block prints. The material is then dyed using dye from the indigo plant. The finished product is used for many things including a shirt I got, tablecloths, and bags.
As you can see in the picture of Marilyn making her print, we got an opportunity to make a small print using some small wire patterns, which they dyed for us and we got the next morning. To make their designs they use larger wooden blocks with more designs in each block than the simple wire frame we used. Some of the block designs are shown in the picture. In my picture I am wearing the shirt that I bought at the Paluang Indigo Home.

Elephant Trek

There are always activities that you look forward to doing when you look over the itinerary for a trip. The elephant trek was one of the things we were anticipating on this trip. We had done an elephant ride on your trip to Africa but still it sounded interesting.
It was really much more than a ride. The elephants are very import in Thailand for many reasons. In the past they were a big part of the logging of teak lumber. Now that the logging as decreased many of the elephants were unemployed. The tourist trade has been just what they needed. It is easier work and earns their food. Of course you must remember that elephants only work until noon. After that it is too hot and they need to rest and enjoy life.
We started with the ride up and down hill and through the river. Of course all the elephants knew just where a number of stations had been established with people selling banana and sugar cane. We had a nice ride but going down hill was the hardest to keep in the seat and keep my camera from hitting a restraining bar. There was no place to put your feet so you couldn’t just that to help you hold your position.
After the ride there was ample time to interact with the elephants. The younger elephants that were in training were there to ride and feed for a small tip. They would take the tip from you and give to the trainer. They also went to the river to play and spray water at the people watching.
They then game a program of some of the activities they had learned in their training. There was soccer, basketball, and logging along with other demonstrations on skill and strength. The big finish was three of the elephants painting a picture as we watched.

PAIN and Thai Massage

Today I will write about my only bad experience on the Thailand trip, the Thai Massage. It might be because of my size and the fact that I am on blood thinner but this experience is still haunting me.
Since I am on a blood thinner, when I bump my leg I get a small bump from blood building up under the skin. Well I have a few on my leg and the lady giving the massage took them as muscle cramps and applied an oil and tried to work them out. This was very painful and in the end I had to take the leg away from her.
The second pain I am not sure what happen or if the pain is a cracked rib, as I assume. I have had cracked ribs before so am aware of the pain and know there is not much you can do but take painkillers. I did not see a doctor but the pain on the bottom left rib started during her working on my back and still hurts today. It is better and I know that some of the yard work I am doing is not the best for it but I will recover. Maybe she felt the bigger they are the harder you have to push. It was defiantly a deep muscle massage and maybe just TOO deep.
All that said, it was only one experience that I would not recommend of the many outstanding things we did on the trip.

Home Again

We are back from our OAT trip to Cambodia and Thailand. It was a good trip and I hope to add some notes about the trip each day for a few days. I have over 2000 photographs to edit and process, yard work that needs to be done, and a few other things to do so it will take awhile.
The weather was good and we only had rain on parts of a few days. The storm that hit Myanmar did not cause damage in northern Thailand but did give some rain. The trip provide and great many experiences in food, travel, culture, and sites that are difficult to show in pictures or explain in word but I will try.
It was a good trip and very nice people. Our leader Lin was knowledgeable and funny and it was great traveling with her. Our group started with 14 but one woman tore ligaments in her ankle and had to return home early in the trip. Her sister that was traveling with her went with her to assist in the travel.
I will continue to add some pictures to my flickr account as I get some processed.

Earth Day

Well it is almost Earth Day and everyone is getting ready. Every business that can claim some association to Earth Day is having something special, a sale or open house. The Farmer’s Market had its first day on Saturday. The Woodenshoe Tulip Farm had its Tulip Fest this weekend. Thyme Garden had their celebration “There will be displays from more than 20 companies concerned with the environment, speakers, great music, great food and drink and great people. Come join us to celebrate this awesome planet we live on and share some of the things we can do to save it. “

Oh did I mention that it has been snowing when I got up the last to days and all of these outdoor activities got to be held in snow, rain, sleet, and sun not to mention the freezing nights and temperature in the 40’s during the day. Oh yes, that was my last post.

Well this morning I tried to make up for my failure to get a picture of the snow. Looking back to my April 13 post I took the same picture today with the snow to replace the yellow of the daffodils. As I ventured on to the deck to look over Corvallis, a hummingbird flew to my feeder for it’s morning feeding and then flew to the cherry tree to find the pick blossoms through the snow. Two of the neighbors also have hummingbird feeds so I am sure the two birds I saw were just making the rounds. My feeder was getting low so I put in the new nectar I had made yesterday and by the time I was back in the house the two hummingbirds were back to feed and sit in the cherry tree.

Spring/Winter??

I got up this morning and wondered just what day it was. The calendar said April 19, 2008 but the snow was falling and it was freezing. They tell us we are in for a couple of days of winter. I think we are just on the southern edge of this low pressure. It has been snow, sun, snow, etc. for the morning. It is now up to 40 degrees on my deck and none of the snow is sticking to the ground.
I didn’t get any pictures but as I was coming back from playing tennis at 7 AM the snow was falling in those BIG flacks that you sometimes see. Right now it is cloudy and threatening so I don’t know what will happen next. Maybe summer will come in July this year.

Spring is Here

We just finished a special spring weekend in Oregon. Near record temperatures had us and our neighbors working in the yard and the kids out enjoying the 70+ degree temperature. Of course the flowers as well as the weeds are growing and I am trying to divide the plants that need it and cleanout the plants that did not survive the cold wet winter.
Our daffodils were still looking very nice when we returned and the neighbors said you should have seen them last week. At least they got to enjoy them and we did too. The flowering cherry trees in the neighborhood are in full bloom but I fear the rain and wind that will come in the next few days will have the petals on the ground.
I think I lost more of my dahlias this year then I have for a number of years. I stopped digging them up in the fall. I am now digging them up in the spring to divide and find that many are rotting from the very wet cold winter we had. I still have a number of plants but may soon have to buy some new tubers to expand the variety of color and type of dahlias we have. It seems that the great diversity we once had is gone and I have several plants that are the same.
Why is it that the grass grows better in the flower garden than in the lawn? That is the question I keep asking as I pull the grass from the flower beds.

Band Singer

I have just a wonderful experience for me. Although I have sang for many years in may venues, last Friday I had a chance to sing with the dance band at the Friday night dance at the Senior Center. The leader of the bandand keyboard player, Ken, had created an arrangement of “It Had To Be You” for me to sing with the band with trumpet lead, saxophone lead and my singing. We did not have a chance to practice but just did it. It was wonderful, all the members of the band are experienced professionals and to work with them was great.
The first song went so well we did:”Blue Moon” without any arrangement. Ken just said “Blue Moon in E” and anyway we went. In the middle it seemed like the trumpet was ready for a solo so I stopped singing while he did his thing and then joined for the finish.
Ken even invited be back for another time so this will be something I can do every month we are around. I will be singing next Friday also.

Walk on the Wild Side

I visited the San Jacinto National Monument Visitor Center and did a short walk along the Randall Henderson Trail. I did not walk the full three miles of the trail but was busy shooting the wonderful wild flowers that were blooming along the trail. I can’t identify all of the flowers but did my best with the books that I have.
Many of the Cacti were blooming. The most prevalent was the Beaver Tail with its wonderful pink flowers. I also found one barrel cactus, some cholla, and ocotillo that were blooming. One purple flower that was very prevalent I was not able to identify. I also saw a lizard and jack rabbit along the way.
It was a warm day and with all the desert flowers blooming I think my allergies are acting up.
More pictures can be seen at my Flickr account.

Love or Something Like It

The highlight of my season at RCB is over. This year eight singers including myself and Pauline presented a musical review called “Love or Something like it. I sang two songs with Pauline including “All I Ask of You” from Phantom of the Opera and I did three solos including “Some Enchanted Evening”.
It was well received by the people and we had many wonderful comments about the show. It is always a pleasure to work with Pauline. The focus of the show is on the music and there is very little use of props or costumes. I guess it is the old Keep It Simple Stupid outlook on doing a show.
We had Ruth on piano and she is always a great help with her ability to follow the singer and to change from one song to another when we put several songs together in one set. I had not been singing very much for a number of years until I had a chance to work with Pauline and I have learned a lot from her and the other people in the group. It is great to sing and for people to enjoy it.

Photography Workshop

I have been taking as many wildflower pictures as I can since our photography workshop in Phoenix. I also posted a number of pictures taken during the workshop online. One of the things about the workshop was the wide range of cameras the people had. Many had SLR’s and several lens but there were still many that had only a very basic point and shoot.
For an untrained person like myself I really didn’t see that much difference in the pictures that were taken. Yes the people with the long telephoto lens got some great shots. One person, a birder, had a 60 power spotting scope that he used to put in front of his camera to take pictures.
The picture I placed at the first of blog was a picture I took with my Canon 550 and just by luck it turned out great without the need for a lot of work in Photoshop. It just goes to show that the fancy camera is not all it takes. I had been wondering about going SLR and the cost but I also saw the amount of heavy bags many of the people were carrying to take pictures. With all my traveling I don’t think I want to have one more LARGE bag of rocks to carry. OK I did buy the adapter for my S5 so I could put on filters and got the 1.5X telextender but I am still lighter than many of the people.
I will be out shooting and not becoming the hunch-back of Corvallis. I will say that the Photoshop hints and demonstrations he did were great. He didn’t do much and most of it I had done but it was great to see how he used it and made the pictures POP. Each of use got to submit 6 pictures and he would discuss them using Photoshop and do some modification on them. It has changed what I do in some cases but not on all pictures.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers are starting to bloom in the desert. We have had enough rain that the warm weather has brought and beautiful array of wildflowers. I have not had a chance to get out and really enjoy all the flowers but hope to get out for a hike or drive before all the flowers are gone.
I did take a walk to the end of our street and into the empty lot that is to be a city park at some time in the future. It had a very nice collection of flowers and I spent about thirty minutes shooting a number of the flowers. I selected five of them and submitted to The Desert Sun for their wildflowers pictures online. Of the five I selected to submit one was selected by the editors to print in the Saturday paper. You can look at mine and other photographs online. I go by the name Roland42. The picture with two purple flowers was the one that was published. I will try to get more information about all the things I am doing now ASAP. It is a very busy time.

Big Star

It is Big Star time and Marilyn is participating with the song Lower Your Standards by Neal Glandstone. Big Star is a show where the residences of RCB lip-sync to records of various “stars”. Neal is not as big star as most of the other presentations like Beach Boys and Ray Charles but the song was enjoyed by the crowd. Part of the reason I’m sure was Wayne that played the part of the drunken man on the cruise ship that the ladies were singing about. He came out with his beer, Playboy magazine, cigar, and straw hat and entertained the crowd with all the bad habits of a man mentioned in the song.
Big Star Night is always a big thing at RCB and the people enjoy it. I worked the lights and helped with the sound. It was Marilyn’s third year of participating in the show.

Tennis

Well the tennis tournament has started and Marilyn and I have not gotten off to the best start. But after the past three years of having some success I guess our time has come to watch the winners. I had good first round match in the men’s doubles but we lost in three sets. No excuses they just beat us. Marilyn had a little more trouble in her first round women’s doubles. The interesting thing is that our friends Ed and Pauline on the opposing teams. So now both of us are in the consolation round that happens this next week.
AS for the singles I got to play the top player in the park for my opening match. He plays at about a 4.5 or 5.0 level and I am about a 3.0 so there was never much doubt on the outcome only the time it would take. I am proud to say that I did get some points in almost every game and had some good shots. It is just that he would return them even better. It only took 30 minutes to loose 6-0 6-0 but was fun and a good experience. More consolation play there next week.
After beating Marilyn and her partner Anne, Pauline and Norma went on to win the women’s championship so Marilyn shouldn’t feel too bad. When you lose to the best it makes it easier to take.

Potato Feed

We are now into the full season of activities and it seems each one involves food in some way. We had the Potato Feed which is a private party given by two couples we have the privilege to know. It starts with a tournament of Table Tennis and Holley Board and ends with a baked potato with all the trimmings, salad and desert.
We made it past the first round of the tournament in both games but failed to reach the semi-finals. Since neither of the games are something we play often, I guess we should be happy. The host couples provide the potatoes, prizes, and other necessary preparations for a successful party and each of the guests bring a topping, salad, or desert in addition to their drink of choice.

Nova Scotia Night

Each year we have our Nova Scotia Night that is a lobster feed and fun. That includes chowder and wine to go with the entertainment. There are many people that make a party for 100 people work and I can’t mention them all. The one that must be mentioned is Laurie Mcclare. He is the organizer and puts it all together.
Both Pauline and I have had the opportunity to sing the last three year. We don’t sing together but are part of the entertainment. This year I sang The Last Farwell for the second time. I think it is always a crowd favorite. Of course you can’t have a song fest without Ruth at the piano. After it was all done she played while we sang along.
It seems many of our gatherings at RCB are based on food and this is just one more. They are pot-lucks, western barbecues and other gatherings that involve food and drink.

Palm Canyon

We visited the Palm Canyon which is part of the Indian Canyons of the Coachella Valley.
Centuries ago the ancestors of the Agu Caliente Cahuilla Indians settled in this area. The valleys provided abundant water for the animals and crops the Indians grew. With all the faults in the area water percolates to the surface to create an palm jungle next to the desert cactus.
Palm Canyon is one of three valleys with developed trails and other facilities for tourists or locals that want to hike in the area. The Palm Canyon is fifteen miles long and has numerous Washingtonia filifera (California Fan Palm) along the small stream. This palm is unique. It is the only palm native to western United States and is the largest palm in North America. It is the most cold tolerant palm in the world and the dead fronds remain attached to the trunk throughout its hundred-year lifespan. The skirt of fronds makes the palm trees very susceptible to fire. When lighting strikes a tree it will explode sending flaming leaves in all directions, however more fires are caused by human than lighting. In 1980 two small boys playing with matches started a fire that burned some 60,000 acres. The fire does not kill the palm tree because the only the skirt and green crowns are destroyed. The outer part of the tree will be charred but the palms are monocots which means the sensitive vascular tissue is strewn the moist trunk and not confined to the thin outer layer like most trees. So within a short time the palm have their green crowns with a black trunk. There are over 2,000 palms in this one valley.
We only hiked about two miles from the trading post and then back to and area below the trading post to have a picnic by the stream under the palm trees. The trading post sells all the wonderful things you would expect at a tourist area but the most interesting was the five hummingbird feeder they had place in what once was the information booth. At time five hummingbirds would all be feeding at one time at one of the feeders. This provided a real challenge for me to attempt to get a good picture. I took at least fifty pictures of the hummingbird and did manage to get a few good pictures.

Hot Air

For the second year the Balloon Festival held in Indio was a bust. Many of the larger balloons didn’t fly because of the wind and then nobody even unpacked their balloon the next day because of the threat of rain and a few drops falling. There is not an easy way to dry out your balloon before you put it away if it gets wet and nobody likes a wet balloon.
I did get to walk the 300 yards from our resort to the place they launch and got to see many of the balloons even if they didn’t fly. It is always a letdown to see them inflate the balloon and then take it down without leaving the ground. Many of the balloons that did fly did not go far and stayed very close to the ground.
More pictures can be seen at my Flickr Account.

Salton Sea

Well we are now settled in our Indio home and getting a chance to enjoy some of the reasons we come here. First of course is the weather. It is 60-70 and sunny during the day and only a little wind. We both have been playing tennis and I have been walking most moringins. Marilyn has joined the putter group again this year and enjoys meeting a different group of people from the tennis crowd.
We had our first opportunity to take a trip out of the part last Sunday to the Salton Sea. We just made a short trip to the North Shore area and the State Recreation Area. But did get to see a number of birds and it was good to get out.
Of course the sea gulls were the most abundant but we also say ducks, pelicans, stilts, and my favorite the white-feathered snowy egret. We did not take the time to really get the great photographs of the birds but did enjoy the walk around the shore.
We also took a drive to visit the Dos Palmos Preserve Oasis. We ad never been to a true oasis before and it was interesting. We met one young man leaving the area as we were going in and he said he had seen a cyote but we didn’t see one. It is interesting to see an area that always has water in the middle of the dry desert. The thick growth of palm trees created a dark covered pathway that we walked through the loop trail.
Just the first of many short day trips we hope to take this year to expand our enjoyment of the Coachella Valley.

Hana

I haven’t driven to Hana for a number of years. Each year we are in Maui, I think maybe we should do it but it seems we never get around to doing it. Of course there is all the discussion about should you do it or just take a tour. Well we did do the tour about seven years ago and with that you get the whole loop through the dirt/lava road that the rental car says DON”T drive. We also stopped and the little church that has the cemetery where Lindbergh is buried. It is a nice little old church but I don’t have a reason to visit the grave so don’t need to do that again.

Well this year we did it. I got the CD just to act as a guide but the main thing is start early and don’t be in a hurry. I pulled over often for those people that were interested in the destination and not the journey. Of course I wanted to take a lot of pictures so that required many stops. One of our stops was the Keanae Arboretum for a walk through the trees and flowers. The eucalyptus tree may be one of the most fun for the beautiful multi-colored trunk but there are many flowers and plants that make it a nice relaxing walk. The Royal Poinciana or Flame tree also is great to see and photograph.

There are many other spots along the way to stop and take pictures and two small villages that are probably nicer to see from the lookout than in town. Also the locals are not to happy with a lot of tourists going through their property. We did stop at one old church Kaulanapueo established in 1853. It has a very nice grounds and church. Very similar to the church in Makena established in 1832 that we have visited before and did again this year..

We packed our lunch and had it a park just before Hana. It might have been nicer to wait the short time and have it at the harbor in Hana. We didn’t visit anything but the harbor in Hana but I did take a picture from the harbor of the old Hawaiian village at the cultural center. It was during this time we had just a little rain but for the most part it was a great day.

We did stop at one park close to Hana where Marilyn took a rest and I walked around taking pictures. It had a nice black sand beach and many mongooses. I thin each bush and each rock wall had its share. They were introduced to control the rat population but now are killing the shore birds by eating there eggs.

We continued on past Hana to a waterfall but did not go as far as the Seven Pools. There could be some good pictures there but was ready to head back.