OceanicThai

Mudball boy Originally uploaded by oceanicthai Here's the boy, covered in mud. He and a Thai friend had a mud-ball fight for fun at the orphanage. (I think my son lost.) He loved it!

Just a note to let you know we live about 12 hours south of Bangkok, so we are not in any danger where we live.

Ken in Fair Oaks park 091 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai There were dozens of these beautiful glass sculptures lining the bridge to the museum.

Ken in Fair Oaks park 089 Originally uploaded by oceanicthai I absolutely loved the beautiful glass artwork that filled Tacoma, Washington. This shot is part of the ceiling of a walkway that was filled with it. We saw some incredible, monsterous glass art chandelliars, too. Thanks again, Dave & Darlene, for the wonderful day we spent together.

Here's a few pictures from a friend (thanks, Leora) of my Army days. The first one I'm at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey learning German. This particular day I'm scrubbing the floor with my friends because we are all in trouble. The second one is me and my dear friend Leora at Desert Storm after the U.S. won the war. The third one is me in Desert Storm blowing sand off my Cokes. So strange to see these pictures again, so glad someone brought a camera!

Our time in the U.S. felt much too short. I didn't feel ready to come back, but this was how the plans were laid and here we are. I feel hot and dazed, jet-lagged and still adjusting to culture and our bug-infested house. Our first day of homeschooling, today, was a fiasco of finding items and hoping I had brought it all back from America. I didn't. We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to, and some folks we wanted to see more than we did, but again, time constraints. Someday I want that full year. So far it has just been a few months here and there, which is better than nothing, but someday it would be nice to spend a year. (I wonder what we would do? Kennedy would hate it unless he took art classes or something.) Our dogs were shaggy, but alive...so glad about that. We took them to the poodle parlor the day after we arrived and we got our beautiful dogs back. They probably need therapy for being left alone for such long stretches of time. At least they had a b...