Friday, December 31, 2010

More new year's celebrations

After visiting Siam Centre, I headed home from a nearby MRT (metro) station through small side streets. I often walk back this way through twisting lanes, past a temple. There are tons of little sewing studios completely open to the street. I love walking by them and feel a small kinship after so many years and hours in front of a sewing machine! This was my first time walking back in the dark and the place was transformed. Many of the sewing spots were now party places with people sitting around laughing, inviting me in for a drink (had a beer and great chat at one place). It was so beautiful and a great example of Thai love of having a good time. At the end of one street, a stage was set up and I caught the last bit of these young girls doing a dance routine. Another amazing day.

Siam centre,Bangkok, new years eve


YouTube Video


Monday, December 27, 2010

Chiang Mai, Thailand: A morning walk next to a school

I took an early morning stroll on our last morning in Chiang Mai and happened to walk by a school with the kids coming in ... mostly on scooters and often 1, 2 or 3 passengers to a bike. Amazing.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Saskatchewan Birds

Click here or on the title above to listen to an audio podcast of the amazing bird sound that surrounds us in the summer at Trails End Ranch in Saskatchewan. This is the first podcast of what will become many.

The birds bring to mind a quote from David Abram's The Spell of the Sensuous, 'As technological civilisation diminishes the biotic diversity of the earth, language itself is diminished. As there are fewer and fewer songbirds in the air, due to the destruction of their forests and wetlands, human speech looses more ond more of it's evocative power. For when we no longer hear the voices of the warbler and wren, our own speaking language can no longer be nourished by their cadences. As the splashing speech of the rivers is silenced by more and more dams, as we drive more and more of the land's wild voices into the oblivion of extinction, our own languages become increasingly impoverished and weightless, progressively empties of their earthly resonance.'