Wolfram-Fotodesign.bsky.social
Stephen Powers – @stephenpowersphoto.bsky.social
These photos of fall and winter make me a bit sad because I realize that I will never enjoy these sights in person again here in Thailand.
(1) Spring and Fall were my favorite seasons. I loved planting flowers and veggies every year in the spring. Fall in Arkansas wasn’t like the absolutely glorious images in Maine or surroundings, but I enjoyed the color we had, always trying to preserve leaves to use in art projects, my heart bursting from all the beautiful colors!
(2) Arkansas doesn’t ‘do’ winter well. We tended to have ice and then some snow. My favorite snows were ones with huge pretty flakes – that made you feel you were living in a snow globe someone had just shaken – that covered everything in fantasy, and then the sun came out and took it all away before I had to drive in it. We had a 650+ foot STEEP driveway on our 8 acres. Each year, no matter what we did, the trees on either side of our driveway would fall INTO the driveway, requiring us to use chainsaws to cut and haul our way down to the road. We had definitely gotten too old for this, but couldn’t afford (or find) someone to come do it for us.
In Thailand, depending on who you ask, we either have 3 or 4 summers that make up our year. We just finished “The Rainy Season” – June through October where it’s hot and rains almost every day, with huge hard rains and then remnants of typhoons coming our way from Vietnam – all of which caused my windows to leak.
“The Cool Season,” – from November until mid-February – it’s mid 80s for highs, 50 for a low, lots of sunshine and little rain. (Hooray!) “The Hot Season” is from March through May. Temperatures are above 95 degrees with scorching sunshine requiring umbrellas. Brian also adds “The Smoky Season” as a separate season, where it’s still really hot and farmers are burning off the residue in their fields making air purifiers mandatory. (Officially, this season is lumped in with “The Hot Season” for everyone except Brian).
No “Spring,” “Fall,” or “Winter” anymore. That makes me nostalgic.
What I’ve given up in seasons, though, I have more than gained in the delight of a new life here in Chiang Mai. I’m looking forward to buying some new clothes when I finally hit my weight goal (I’m about 9 pounds away now). I’m going to study up on the best clothes for a “mature woman” – who looks a bit like a Shar Pei now –
should wear in the year of summers I will learn to embrace now. My place is comfortable with lots of windows (some openable), a/c, fans, shades, air purifiers, and lots of water to drink. I carry an umbrella (for rain still now, but also for sun shade especially in the “Hot Season.”
I titled this post “A Bit Nostalgic – 2 and 1” because I’m nostalgic about the loss of fall and winter, but I just received something ELSE to remind me how very lucky I am to be here. My son just went to donate some clothes and texted me to unlock my door. He fought it open to bring me a doughnut! The first I have had in over 3 years. It was absolutely wonderful, but the best part was that he thought of me while doing other chores and brought me something he thought might ‘make me happy.’
Color me one happy, lucky mom.
creativeartworksblog 