two special moments

This morning while eating our customary breakfast of 2 slices of toast with butter, (sometimes with nutella or jam) and a plate of sliced watermelon, pineapple and papaya, with coffee (Ned drinks both cups), a monk clad in orange robes and a shaved head pulled up in a jeep and stepped out of the vehicle.


Ned and I both starred.

"A monk," I said.


The monk went into the kitchen where someone was chopping fruit.

He spoke Thai. She spoke Thai.

He carried a basket which held long colorful sticks inside, and an official looking card with the Buddha under the Bodhi tree.

Ned reached into his pocket for his money. He pulled out a 20 baht note.

"Here," he said, handing it me.

"No, you give it to him. I'm shy." I said.

Before we could figure out who was going to give the monk the money, he was gone, in the jeep, and down the driveway. He left the basket on the table, and the woman who was cutting fruit in the kitchen showed us how to fold our 20 baht note around the (green or red) stick.


"You will have good luck for long time!" she said laughing.



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yesterday while walking on the beach I saw a very sunburned woman in a bikini carving a giant sand mermaid. She used half of a coconut shell to shape the mermaid. The tide was low, and was getting higher and she was almost finished detailing the mermaid's tail.

I walked by, stopped for a few seconds to gaze at her land art, and walked away smiling.


Later, when I turned around and walked back, the lady was gone, but her mermaid remained. Several people were crowded around to gaze at the beautiful sand creature.


The mermaid had but a couple hours to be, and then she would be no more.


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