Ray - photoblog

Bent, but not broken

Ray Storey — 2008-05-14T00:00:00Z

]]> S prig of tropical flowers, in the garden.

Just hangin'

Ray Storey — 2008-05-13T00:00:00Z

]]> I shall not be noticed if I stay very still...

Bangkok #1

Ray Storey — 2008-05-12T00:00:00Z

]]> T he sky over Bangkok is strongly indicating the monsoon season is making an early start this year.

Means business

Ray Storey — 2008-05-11T00:00:00Z

]]> L ight zinc coating on the barbed wire is wearing off, so that the iron core can do its thing.

Twin V

Ray Storey — 2008-05-10T00:00:00Z

]]> T win V-belt drive mechanism connecting the engine of the mech-buffalo to its wheels. From about the start of the 21st century water buffalo, Thailand's traditional farm tractors, have been largely replaced by simple, inexpensive, and functional, two-wheel diesel tractors [which Ray calls the mech-buffalo]. This innovation has considerably eased the workload of the rice farmer, but there are concerns that the soil is suffering from the reduction in buffalo dung available to provide nature fertilizer to the rice fields.

Rust proofing

Ray Storey — 2008-05-09T00:00:00Z

]]> T he young man has purchased a pick-up truck, and immediately brings it to the Village temple, where the head monk inscribes a prayer for safety and good fortune in wax on the engine bonnet and then liberally applies holy water...that should help things along.

It Works!

Ray Storey — 2008-05-08T00:00:00Z

]]> Condensation on the valve indicates the newly installed air-conditioner is functional. Colonies of condensation-critters are great fun to watch, as they grow from tiny specs, merging into adolescents, coagulating into mature specimens that finally launch themselves on their great and final journey.....kersplatt !

New Tenants

Ray Storey — 2008-05-07T00:00:00Z

]]> F or an extremely modest outlay of 40baht [about $1.20] at the market, I purchased two small plants that are a mass of small golden and red flowers. At home, I planted them together in a large pot, and they are now soaking up the sun on my balcony. I have promised them a long tenancy...no rent...all they have to do is gladden my heart with continuous budding and flowering.

Chinese Lanterns

Ray Storey — 2008-05-06T00:00:00Z

]]> A groundcover/creeper growing wild at a building site in Bangkok. The three-cornered "chinese lanterns" are seed-pods, and they grow to about the size of a golf ball.

"Hangin" at the temple

Ray Storey — 2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

]]> B utterfly takes early morning sustenance in the temple garden.

Sensitive Plant

Ray Storey — 2008-05-04T00:00:00Z

]]> I n Isaan [North-Eastern Thailand] there are two varieties of Mimosa Pudica growing wild. Both varieties demonstrate an extreme sensitivity to touch...brush the foliage lightly with your hand, and the leaves immediately collapse so that the ground-covering plant resembles a dead shrub. The yellow flowered variety, is semi-aquatic, has very few spines, and is edible. Its cousin, the pink-flowering variety, is more prolific, has more spines, can tolerate a much drier environment, but is inedible by humans or farm animals.

Parsley

Ray Storey — 2008-05-03T00:00:00Z

]]> T hai parsley, in the vegetable garden, has flowered. It is a precarious existence for the parsley...rooted to a small garden plot beside the cow-shed, it is subjected to regular pruning by its humans, physical abusing by foraging chickens. and opportunistic dis-membering by cows that are anxious for a mouthful of anything green after their night in the shed.