Hi everyone! I arrived safely in Thailand two weeks ago now (has it really been that long?!), and after recharging for a couple of days and visiting with Kbaba and family, G'pa and I set off on the train to Cambodia. We rode the train from Bangkok to the Thai-Cambodia border. It took about 6 hours and cost 48 baht for each ticket - thats' about $1.50! Once safely across the border (we had to take a tuk-tuk and then walk through the checkpoint, and then another minibus) we got to the big bus depot and found our bus to Siem Reap. It took about another 4 or so hours to get to Siem Reap by bus. then another tuk-tuk to our hotel and we collapsed! The trip was tiring but enough of an adventure that we rather enjoyed it!
The next day began or three day tour around the many ancient temples in the area, with the most famous being Angkor Wat. Cambodia - and especially Siem Reap, the town near to Ankor Wat, is an interesting place. It still has a French influence with several french type restaurants and lots of fresh baguettes and bread available to supplement the rice and noodle dishes. Although the official Cambodain currency is the riel, dollars are accepted everywhere and widely used. You hardly need to have local currency.
After our three days in Siem Reap we went (by bus again) to Phnom Penh. We spent two days there visitng temples, museums, the Royal Palace (and the killing fields, ugh!) and also taking a short cruise on the Mekong River. Phnom Penh is a big bustling city and we had had enough of crowds and people. So after two days we hopped another bus for the southern Cambodian city of Sihanoukville. This is definitely a beach town and I regret that we did not have more time to spend there. We arrived about midday and sat on the beach, drank beer and swam, and chatted with the locals until sundown. Next morning we were on the bus again back to Thailand - a 9 hour trip this time! with a change of bus at the border. We had a fast and furious ride from the Thai border to Pattaya in a small minibus. I think the driver was in a race to get somewhere and was definitely late! He was a crazy driver. But we arrived in Pattaya - a Thai beach resort just east of Bangkok and met up with Kbaba and family for a relaxing weekend at the beach there. We have had mostly good weather - a few rather heavy rainshowers but nothing prolonged. Good news, since the rainy season is fast approaching.
We are now in our hotel room relaxing and catching up. I plan a "spa day" tomorrow. I will have the works at a local place where I had a great massage last week.
Hope all is well out there in the rest of the world. If I find some energy perhaps I'll post some photos tomorrow.

I give my last exam tomorrow, then I must grade it, and post the grades. Then I can focus on pakcing for almost 3 weeks in Thailand and Cambodia. I am looking forward to the break. I need some down time. It has been a very busy semester. I added it up today and found that I have written or co-written $10 million worth of grants this semester! Now we just need to get a couple of them funded!

Winter still has not relinquished her grip on the Northwest. It was rainy yesterday and cold today. I am ready for some warmer weather! So are my baskets of flowers - they look decidedly cold!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Interesting poem on The Writers Almanac today.

Foreseeing

Middle age refers more
to landscape than to time:
it's as if you'd reached

the top of a hill
and could see all the way
to the end of your life,

so you know without a doubt
that it has an end—
not that it will have,
but that it does have,
if only in outline—so for the first time

you can see your life whole,
beginning and end not far
from where you stand,

the horizon in the distance—
the view makes you weep,
but it also has the beauty

of symmetry, like the earth
seen from space: you can't help
but admire it from afar,

especially now, while it's simple
to re-enter whenever you choose,
lying down in your life,

waking up to it
just as you always have—
except that the details resonate

by virtue of being contained,
as your own words
coming back to you

define the landscape,
remind you that it won't go on
like this forever.

Foreseeing, by Sharon Bryan.

Has it been almost a week! This week went fast. I submitted another grant this week - I think I must have authored or co-authored about 8 or 9 this semester. Must be an all-time record. What will I do if they all get funded?!! No worries, they won't.
I had been neglecting Riley all week - minimal walks around the block and promises of more later. She suffers when G'pa is away and I am at work all day. So I mad eup for it today by taking her for a long walk. I had heard that the grizzly bears had had two new cubs and so we walked from the house, out around by the golfcourse, past the grizzlies and back to campus. Probably about 3 miles at least, maybe more. It was a bit crsip - sunny but breezy, but I took off without a jacket and so we walked briskly to keep warm. Riley has been sleeping ever since! I think I wore her out. Myself too.
But, I noticed when I got back that the fertilizer that G'pa so thoughtfully put on the lawn before he left is really doing its job well. The grass really needed mowing. So I mowed the lawn. Just as well since it started to sprinkle just as I was finishing up!
I went to a UUCP potluck at the assissted living and retirement community in town. It was a pleasant evening.
I think now it's early to bed and a good night's sleep. I have papers to grade and an exam to write, but that will all wait until morning.

Back again! I have not blogged in a couple of weeks. Seems that I have been busy. I went to Utah to Miss D's 5th birthday party last weekend and really enjoyed the event. I had promised her that i would come and I am glad I made the effort. Of course, i got back on Sunday evening and went directly into a hectic week of work. I always seem to need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Nothing much else is happening. It is a couple of weeks before the end of the semester and so things are heating up. I have two classes to finish up, a seminar, two more grants to get submitted, and a docotral student to pass judgment on! He did not do well on his written exam, so this coming week i have an oral exam to attend. I hop ehe does better!

I took G'pa Irv to the airport early on Saturday morning for his trip to Thailand. He will be there almost 6 weeks! I will join him on May 9th for 2 1/2 weeks. We plan to visit Cambodia during this time, especially Angkor Wat and other temples. I dread the long flight but otherwise am looking forward to the trip.

Weather is warm this weekend and i have planted quite a few things in the gardent. Irv built a fence around the hot-tub and so I have planted bulbs, a climbing rose, and three clematis plants. We also hung three baskets of annuals from the fence. It is really looking quite nice now. I love the spring and being able to get dirt under my fingernails!

Well, it's half-way through the week and I am feeling great. I think I am recovered. It has helped tremendously to have great weather. The weekend and Monday and Tuesday were great. sun and warm and perfect for being outside. We did lots of work in the yard, diggin, planting, trimming, etc. We bought plants at the WSU horticultural sale for our hanging baskets, we planed more bulbs we bought a couple of weeks ago. I tidied the flower beds, G'pa put up a lovely fence around the hottub which nmakes it much more private and so now I don't feel like I am tubbing with all the neighbors watching!

Work is just humming along, going well, only 4 weeks to go! G'pa leaves for Thailand in two weeks and then I follow in 3 more weeks.

Grandson #3 sent me a "flat Stanley" to take to work and document. He came to class with me today and my students had fun taking pictures of him with me!

I've been sick all week with a cold. Feeling really tired and drained. Yesterday I went in to work, but by 10 o'clock realized that I had absolutely no energy and just had to go home. I vegged on the couch all day doing absolutely nothing, which is what I had done for most of the week. I just hope that I regain some energy soon. I think that the weather isn't helping - it has been cold and wet all week, even snowed a heavy wet snow one day. But this weekend is looking up - it's supposed to be dry, sunny and relatively warm. Perhaps as much as 60 degrees! I think that will make a big difference, especially seeing the sun. Everyone at work is tense and nervous, the state budget is in the toilet and the University has been asked to cut 20 - 30% of its budget! That's huge and lots of people stand to lose their jobs. Morale is low and everyone is gloomy.
We definitely need a shot of spring here on the Palouse to brighten things up! I have to say I really enjoy watching the spring birds - house finches, goldfinches, juncos, chickadees, sparrows and even redwing blackbirds who visit our 6 or more bird feeders on a daily basis. Even the squirrels are cute, trying their best to get their share of the birdfood! Isaac the cat also enjoys watching them and chatters uncontrollably to them through the window!