A good bye for now

      I guess we grow close to the end of this little  saga, we have almost caught up to the present day . We saw 2011 come in, in Australia. We had returned for Christmas, Christmas in Australia had sent me broke. I thought about getting a job to tied us over the dry season, but there was little in the way of work, and we all missed the village. I sold my last possession, the car to get the air fare home. We lived frugally until the rains came, selling our first sheet rubber in June. Most of the money was owed, for fertilizer and loans, but we survived. Next week we sell again and there will be money left.
      This year we have 8 workers and 2 of their wives help out. The factory grinds along, making a few thousand Baht profit per month. We just don't have the money to buy big yet, there is always next year. The house still needs work, but nothing major, things will come in there own good time. To most people, who have lived by the clock all their lives, my days would be boring. I get up when it is to warm to sleep, read books when I can fined any, play on the computer and browse the internet, when I have a signal. Once a day I ride or drive to the factory to feed the dogs. When the heat gets to much we take the kids to a small water fall, not far from the village for a swim. Each evening I sit out front watching our 2 kids play in the little street or under the neighbors stilt house, with the other village kids, usually with a cold beer in my hand. We eat, the kids watch a video and the women watch Thai soap operas, another day has has ended. When I sleep there are no bad dreams or nightmares. When money permits we head to Ubon or a small resort near the meeting of the Mun and Mekong rivers, for a few days. Sometimes we have visitors from the west, which adds a bit of variety to the week. Life is simple, the days come and go, our children play as children should, not locked indoors. If the world outside ended tomorrow, I would not care, we have chickens, ducks and a fish pond, we have land for rice, we will not starve. When my kids grow there will be more than enough money from the lumber from the rubber trees to put them through any University they care to attend. For me this is my Shangri-la, my lost horizon.


      Thank you for reading this blog, I will update it when things happen, which is not likely to be too often. If one day I get access to reasonable inter net I will up load some pictures. So it is bye for now. Jim