Here are a jumble of photos of life lately, on no particular theme.
These plants are called "bua bok," which translates to something like the lily on the shore. I got a few from a coffee shop near our old house in Bangkok, and have transplanted them to our kitchen sink greywater system and here, in a vase on our front balcony.
We spotted this guy sunbathing while we were biking home. He lives all over the island, and his color ranges from a nice warm red to green.
Luce and I on the pier, waiting to cross into Bangkok.
On the other side, passing through the port to get to the Logos Hope, a (Christian) bookstore-ship that sails around the world to sell books. Most of the several hundred crew members are Christian volunteers. The piped-in music is pop songs about Jesus. The first book on display is a children's book about Noah's Ark. We bought a vegetarian cookbook and J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
Taking a stroll just around home. Luce is naked most of the time because it is so hot. The neighbors worry that she will catch a cold because she's not wearing clothes, while my (Thai-American) parents and their friends back in the U.S. worry that she will become too habituated to being naked and therefore refuse to wear clothes when she's older! Hee hee.
Our Thai neighbors also worry when we take her out in the evening that we don't put a hat on her because - little did you know - they say the tropical dew causes colds!
It has been very, very hot lately, as we enter the hottest month of the year - April. Like other kids in our little village neighborhood, Luce is spending a lot of time these days in her wash basin to cool off.
Another Thai factoid - they all compliment the shape of Luce's head. Thais - educated/less educated, rich/poor, city/rural - all compliment the roundness of her head. They say it is a "tui" head, which means something like round and nicely shaped. They say we are raising her so well because her head is "tui." We don't understand the significance of this obsession with the round head.
The older ladies often look at Luciole with admiration, and then say, "Oh, she is... ugly!" As in other Asian countries (or at least in Afghanistan), people don't like to compliment babies too much for fear something bad will happen, or the spirits will take them away.
Night falls on Bangkok's main port, Klong Toei, across the river from our island.
