Bangkok, Thailand

I arrived in Bangkok at 11 pm last night. Daow, Malin and T were there to collect me and off we went into the city.








After a 30 minute drive we arrived at the Srinakharinwirot University visitor residence. Here a few pics of my digs.







TV, frig, microwave, you name it!









They provided a laptop and a cell phone to use!







My apartment has a door that leads to an outdoor sink and a view of the street below. The university is located in the main business district of Bangkok called Sukhumvit.







This is my view.









Hum...what she is selling? My attempts to learn basic Thai were weak at best. At this point, all I can say in Thai is "Hello", "Thank You" and "The cat is next to the car."

Spring on the farm

This picture illustrates farm-style entertainment at its best. It is unclear who is doing the tormenting, the dog or the squirrel. Click on the picture for a closer look.






Here is Dan receiving his 8th grade diploma from PC. A perk of being on the school board is getting to present the diploma to your child. Dan informed me in no uncertain terms that there would be no hugs or kisses during this moment. To the right of my head are the relatives in the bleachers!



Tyler, Stuart, Josh, Kyle, and Dan















Tom cut down that awful tree in the front yard. I'm not sure what I've gained, however, because he created a throne out of the stump.

Keeping up with the Jones, farmer-style...

There has been a lot of rain this spring. By now, Tom would probably like to have his corn crop in the ground and be getting ready to plant beans but it has been too wet. When we go places he is always on the lookout for dust in the field (which means someone is out there planting or tilling or something). Today he heard a tractor engine going by. He had to relocate to the porch to try and figure out who it was and what he was doing. If you enlarge the picture, you can just see the red tractor pulling out of site.


Dan is a day shy of his 14th birthday in this picture. 







Here is my grandfather: Vincent Nathan Elwood.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

My mom, Ann Mansfield Guild Elwood, is celebrating her birthday on Monday, January 26, 2009. Here she is with my dad on their 50th Wedding Anniversary Party at Times Square, New York City, December 2004!




In 1929, the late Ray and Mary Guild had their 3rd child, Ann. Here is Mom (on the right) with her siblings Mike and Harriet. They grew up in Walton, NY.

Don't these teenagers look a bit surly?



Here are the sibs again in 2001 at the Guild Family Reunion in New Jersey. Uncle Mike lives in southern California, Aunt Harriet lives in New Jersey, and Mom and Dad live in New York. Uncle Mike was a career Navy man having graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Mom and Aunt Harriet went to nursing school at Bellevue in New York City. They all three love to play bridge.

This is from Grandma and Grandpa Guild's 40th wedding anniversary at their home in Walton New York. Looks like the mid to late 1960s. I'm sure Uncle Mike will write me with the exact date!




It took a long time for Mom and Dad to become grandparents but it finally happened! New York City, 1994.







Hancock, New York in 2006.

















For fun, Mom has always enjoyed puzzles and games. She loves jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, and cryptograms. Another thing she loves to do is keep score for baseball (which, to me, is like a puzzle!). In fact, she was head score keeper for my brothers' baseball team in high school.



Here is Mom with Aunt Harriet. These two are quite a pair. They love to work in the kitchen together for family reunions, holiday celebrations and the like. They try to boss each other around.





And here is Mom with Dad along the Marginal Way in coastal Maine back in 2006. Last month they celebrated their 54th anniversary.

I hope you have a great birthday, Mom! Go ahead, take the day off because you deserve it!! I love you.

Warm up the tractor with charcoal? Yup!

The ice storm is ending after 5 days. The first picture shows our clump river birch tree today. The second picture shows it all bent over with ice last Friday. We've been reluctant to leave the house for fear of what we'd find upon our return!!






The last time our power went out Tom had to resort to a new method for warming up the diesel fuel in the tractor. Tom found an old butcher kettle that his dad used years ago (I won't go into those stories!!) and added some charcoal. It was working beautifully until...the power came back on!

We both agree that this has been the most significant weather event we've ever experienced. We are entirely sick of ice, power outages, generators, etc. Dan, on the other hand, measures weather events by the extent to which his XBox playing time and/or ESPN channel surfing is compromised.

Tom and I went to the power company Christmas party a week or so ago. The CEO spent time acknowledging the staff, board, and the linesmen. The real heroes, though, are the linesmen who drive around in all kinds of weather working double shifts to replace poles, hook up wires, etc.


Here is Tom walking on the ice to our porch.

Bursts of greenish-blue light...

Driving home from the family Christmas at Jeanne's we saw bursts of greenish-blue light in the distance. It was powerlines cross-crossing in the wind. Emergency vehicles were working on downed lines. We figured our power would be out when we got home but it wasn't!

Deer, squirrels, and birds can't find anything to eat because everything is covered in ice. We put out bird food and toss vegetable scraps for the critters. There's no relief in sight for a week as temperatures are supposed to remain below freezing.

Tom and Brian are off to see if they can start up another neighbor's generator as power is off at many homes.

Thank goodness for generators...

Central Illinois was hit with an ice storm last night. Tom's power company said that over 50% of their customers are without power and we are one of them. Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative is calling in other crews to help.




Here are some photos of the trees around our farm. Click on a photo for a close-up.








Tom got the generator going.



The last picture shows a tree on the right that was damaged 18 years ago.