Delineating Des

In the 80s we had a neighbor who played Senor Don Gato repeatedly on his cassette. The sound was loud enough to reach other houses. Fortunately, the song was amusing - a very cat-like human voice would respond "meow, meow, meow."  It probably helped that I'm an animal lover so I didn't mind hearing the song over and over.  Mozart, my fur kid looks very much like this pooch. See how he dances :) And here's thoroughbred Little Red by Patty Shukla  Some of the things I love about living in Thailand are the elephants ! They are called "chang" here. This is a clip of Thai children singing karaoke about a chang. This post is linked with: XmasDolly @ XmasDolly , Lori @ Shewbridges of Central Florida , Callie @ JAmerican Spice and Stacy @ Stacy Uncorked Denise @ Run DMT hosts Music Monday Blog Hop

"No matter how harsh or inhospitable a place is, there's always someone who's willing to live there" - of Africa's Namib Desert on Animals are Beautiful People It's a 90-minute nature documentary that my five-year old loves to watch repeatedly. As I work around while the kiddo focuses on the entertainment, I pick up snippets of Jamie Uys's hilarious narration, ie. "the chameleon may be the only creature whose left eye doesn't know what his right eye is doing." There are interesting bird names such as Go-away and Secretary . See which of these 13 (from the more than thirteen featured) animals you remember or like from this 1974 film: 1. Oryx , ' the most beautiful of all antelopes, always manages to look sleek and well-fed. Perhaps because man finds the Namib so intimidating he hardly ever ventures there. But to the Oryx the hostile desert is paradise' Wikipedia photo 2. Meerkat Wikipedia photo 3. Weaver bird , ' t...

Before there was Cj, there was Mozart (the very guy below Cj on my left side bar). Mozart is my "first-born." I had him when I was a happy-go-lucky, brand new wife. When I started noticing that Mozart's milk is more expensive than my coffee, his toothpaste quadruple the price of my Colgate, I began thinking I'd be better off having a real baby . Little did I know that with Cj's birth came along a tough job explaining to Mozart why I was spending less time with him. I gave him a toy saying it's a friendship gift from Cj, but Mozart, the spoiled brat that he is, snobbed the toy. When Cj arrived, Mozart welcomed him with tiny, dry pebble-poo in groups of 3-4 all over the floor. I had to give Mozart lots of hugs to assure him he was still Mommy's baby. That was the first lesson I learned on sibling rivalry. I had no prior experience on what it's like to be insecure or jealous of siblings as I am an only child. I just learned it from my boys. The chaos has ...

This morning I received a text message from my mother about Mozart. Mozart is my 6-year old toy poodle. I had to fly him home to the Philippines when my divorce became final. He's been staying with my mother who, I suspect, spoils him more than I did when he was with me in Bangkok. Mother's text message read, "Mozart caught a huge rat from the edge of the yard this morning. He wanted to munch it but I didn't let him. Now he is a cat." I replied, "Not letting him eat the rat is a good decision. After all a rat is not his diet." Back in the pre-divorce days Mozart caught a bird from our tiny garden. With his mouth bulging, he ran to me. He was very pleased with his catch. I had to tell him firmly, "Mozart, drop the bird." He obeyed and I ended up nursing the poor maya until it was ready to fly again. That earned Mozart a stern lecture about things he can play with and creatures he should leave alone. I emphasized the importance of being himself ...

If you want something 'fishy,' Thailand's Namtophliu National Park in Chantaburi is the place to be. The stream is thickly populated with catfish. I can't believe how tame they are. They sense it when people approach, they come near where they know they are going to be admired, fed, or photographed : They're not afraid of humans. No wonder my friend wants to pet them :-) ~ Crowd near the waterfall - feeding, swimming, chatting, some were just watching the activity, and I was wondering how to wade in without stepping on them because they swish through people's feet freely: ~ Friends throwing them a string beans party : ~ Delicate pink - I saw this while hiking deeper into the forest. It's growing on fissures between the rocks. Does anyone know the name of this flower? ~ A moss-covered chedi made from laterite, built to commemorate King Rama and Queen Sunantha's visit to the park in 1876. Queen Sunantha drowned when the royal boat capsized in the Chao Phr...

Cj was eleven months old when I flew him to the Philippines to stay with my mother while I was finalizing my divorce. For almost two years I was playing hard ball with his dad, you know the fight over child custody that we usually hear surrounding divorces. While I was meeting lawyers and sorting documents I tried my best to play my role as a mom every chance I get in spite of the distance. Summers were those chances. With the help of my family, I was able to enjoy those summers with Cj. We were almost always out of the house even if we didn't go very far out of town. The heat drove us outdoors: This is Cj's favorite part of the yard. Guess why... because this is where he chases our neighbor's chickens off. I love this part of the yard too because it's where I watch him discover creatures around him. He hops after a frog and says, "Mom, kee-kith." My eyebrows meet in the middle, "what's kee-kith, Ceej?" He repeats with emphasis, " kee-kith !...

Meet Chester. He lives in Beamish . I don't know how I knew his name. There are three probabilities: someone told me his name was Chester; his name was listed in that guidebook on my left hand or I just named him myself. One thing defies my progressing senility - Chester is a heart stealer. Even without a capture, this heart-warming moment will breathe eternally fresh in my stock of beautiful emotions. I held out my palm. He came closer and checked what's in it for him. Mint candies. Chester didn't hesitate. He licked them off as if thinking, "what took you so long to give me my treat?" I forgot the shrinking complaint of my south-east asian blood against the cold of North England. I told Chester to leave some for me. He kept on eating til my palm was empty. I giggled and he understood I had more. It only took a second for him to realize where are the rest. He licked my purse too! The force of his tongue gave me a gentle push. His intelligence sealed my admiratio...