Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Lee Guerra-Prats

Lee Guerra-Prats was a great friend to me ever since we first met in Port Aransas in 1972. His passing is like a loss in my family, so I treat him as such. The following are images of Lee as I best remember him:







You were a great friend to me, Lee. I am heartbroken at your passing, but as Jackie is fond of saying: "None of us get out of here alive!"

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Malc's Writer's Retreat

Due to donating our upper farm land to our local temple for a chedi, we needed to build a new bungalow to house workers during inclement weather and... well, I needed a "writer's retreat", so here are some pics of my new local hangout, on the upper portion of our largest rice farm:





Saturday, September 22, 2012

New Hong Nam !!!

Hong Nam is Thai for bathroom. We have completed our remodel here in the Thai countryside. After toughing it out for a half a year, living like a Khon Thai, we decided on a better way... I found out that my decades-long dream of a 3-speed toilet is now a reality and worked the math to discover it is actually better than throwing buckets full of water down a gravity-flow toilet. Duh... Nice to have a sink and hot water, too!

Image #1: Shot taken Fall of 2011, when Thip first moved in and got help from her brother Pawt in cleaning the place up... bathroom on left, closet/washing room right (where Pawt is) and kitchen further right (out of frame). Living room in foreground:


Images Following: The Makeover




So, Cuz Barry: if you guys make it to Thailand, you have no excuse NOT to visit us! Your throne awaits you!



Monday, September 10, 2012

Osric and Grandpa Malc

I had an amazing 5 minutes with my grandson recently. We were on a Skype call and it took him a while to focus in on the computer screen. He's probably seen TV or similar, but... this image talked back to him! He'd make a noise and I'd repeat it as close as I could get and this went on for about 5 minutes where I really felt we connected. Amazing, as he is in Paso Robles, California and I'm out in the Northeastern Thailand countryside...

His mom Diana caught the scene...


Sunday, August 05, 2012

Das Website

Das's district slightly changed in 2012. It is now District 37. His official California Assembly website is:

http://www.asmdc.org/members/a37/

If you haven't done so already, I recommend receiving updates from the site. It's a lot more convenient than checking in occasionally.

Here's a shot of Das and Johnnie with family in Europe, July 2012:


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Opa 1

Das and Senyo's grandfather on their mother's side was Rene Diets of Ojai, California.

Rene and wife Mary, 2015

In 2010 and 2011, Das interviewed Opa ("grandfather") while I shot some video. The audio is low, so you'll need to boost it up a bit to hear accurately. This is the first of several:


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Thung Yai 1

As many of you know,  this past April I was honored to accompany a Kamattan Buddhist pilgrimage into one of the most remote parts of Thailand, Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary. I will be sharing excerpts of my writings about the trip at:  http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/, but in the meantime, here's a sneak preview of some of the footage:


Saturday, May 19, 2012

Boon Pakwet

In our village, the big party prior to this year's Thai New Year (Somkran) was Boon Pakwet. Here are some scenes from the two day party that included prayers for a bountiful rice harvest, money trees presented to us from neighboring villages, and a good deal of alcohol:


I wrote a bit about Boon Pakwet at:  http://the-isaan.blogspot.com/2012/05/boon-pakwet.html

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Fishing The Klong

My first month retired in Thailand (March 2012), I joined the guys out at the klong. Here's some footage:


Saturday, April 28, 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

With Family in The Fort

My trip to visit Family in Florida exceeded my expectations. Here are some shots taken by Dad in Fort Myers, February 2012: