I just love this!
__________________
I’m just back from the cafe. I got ‘my’ spot – in fact, my blond guy server held the door open for me as I walked up! I had a nice session. I’m working on a series of sketches I’ll show you in a minute.
___________________
I wrote an article for Substack yesterday. It’s called, “You’ll Soon Retire – What To Do? Where To Start? – Starting a New Chapter in Your Life – What is Working for Me – Plus My Sketches”
________________________
Brian took pics of my finished cats puzzle when he brought me some lunch today. For someone who grouses about having to take the pic and pay for the print of it on glass, he sure was careful to get the very best pic he could, taking several, trying to get rid of any glare, plus get white space on all sides so he could crop it before sending it to the place. SUCH a wonderful person!
I took the cats puzzle apart and carefully packed it up for donation.
Here is the new puzzle. I love the colors on this one, plus the way the background merges with the lion.
Here is my puzzle table, all clean now and ready for me to start the lion.
__________________
I have told you about the healthy lunches Brian has been getting me during the week. On the weekends, though, the place isn’t open, so I had a fruit plate on Saturday (trying to eat more of the beautiful fruit gift we received from my adoptive family. On Sunday, Bri got me a “Thai lunch,” that came in a very small bag. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but it was chicken and rice wrapped up in a huge, bright, shiny green leaf – like a present – and held together with a toothpick. Brian had supplied apple slices from our stash to go with it. The chicken was delicious, as usual, but what really got my attention this time was the rice that came with the chicken. It was lavender! And I have no clue how it was cooked but it was the most flavorful rice I think I’ve ever eaten. Nothing went ‘on’ the rice, and nothing was needed. It was just delicious.
Today I’m back to the healthy meals. Today’s meal was chicken chunks, apple slices, salad, a slice of a white ‘something’ in a bag of liquid, and some multi-type rice. (WOW! It just started to rain. It’s supposed to do that every day this week. I think it’s the last of the rainy season.)
I think I told you I lost the pound I had gained when I started eating lunch, so I can eat without feeling guilty at all, and actually may eat the leftover rice from my lunch later this evening…
___________________________
I had a really good session of yoga stretches this morning. I’m feeling lucky that I slept really well last night, had a good session at the gym, and not one thing is hurting. YEA!
_______________________
OH! The big news of the day is that the “Nose Tea” Shop is having their grand opening!!!!
“Nose Tea is a popular Thai beverage brand famous for its signature cheese-topped fruit teas, milk teas, and shaved-ice fruit drinks. Each drink is heavily layered with a rich, smooth, and savory-sweet real cream cheese foam imported/sourced from New Zealand. Bestsellers include the Nose Tea Signature, Mandarin Orange Tea, Shaved Grape Tea, and seasonal specials like the Mango Rice Dream Shake.
Brian keeps threatening to take me there, since he knows I’m so appalled by the whole idea of this. Cream cheese on top of any kind of tea and then topped with who knows what sounds really gross to me. Brian loves it that I’m so averse to this and is enjoying playing it to the hilt. YUCK!
________________________
Here are my latest sketches –
The Ghosts are a series of 5. This is a serious subject here, and I’ll write a Substack article about it. Thai people do things every day to appease the spirits, from building around trees, to building spirit houses to thank the spirits for the use of the land, to shrines where gifts are left. There are apparently 5 main really scary ghosts that Thai people want to avoid. They set off fireworks at various times to scare them off, have festivals and holidays built around getting rid of the bad ghosts and welcoming the good. I’m fascinated and want to honor the Thai people by drawing the sketches and explaining to people more about the culture here.
_____________________
