There's no place like home

It is true  "there's no place like home 
We just got back from a 3 month trip back to the good ole USA , and was it ever a shock to our system , everyone is in a hurry , prices on everything have gone sky high , folks we knew from childhood had died and we didn't know , lots of folks had moved and we didn't know , but we found who we could and let them know we still think of them often .
The main reason for the trip was to celebrate  the 50th anniversary of North Kenai Chapel in Nikiski , Alaska. My family in 1968 moved to Kenai and founded the church , still going and doing great. Of course being in Alaska I had to do a little fishing , and I did and caught my daily limit combat fishing at the famous Russian River. We had a great stay at GoFishAlaska  , Chalet Rental/B&B. What a wonderful few days and our Host Julie Campbell was the best .We were also treated to a week of unbelievable love and care at  a wonderful resort in Sterling ,Alaska , hosted by Jan and Don Shields , it don't get no better . Then off to see family and friends in what the Alaskan's call the Lower 48 . had a wonderful time , visiting family and friends along the way to Texas to visit and stay a month with my Sister Faye in Emory ,Texas , then it was off the South Carolina for the Burgess family reunion. And then back to Texas and what would a vacation be without a trip to California to visit Sister Sue (Ciejay's sister) for a week . All in all it was a wonder trip full of seeing and making new friend and filling our life with lots of memories to be shared for years 
But by now I was ready for home  and as is the name of this Blog Retired in Thailand and Loving It , I was ready to come home to our home Wang Pho , Thailand .
THERE'S REALLY ,NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Happy Thailand New Year --Songkran

What is Songkran and how do Thai's celebrate 
Truly, there are different ways people celebrate New Year. While western countries use fireworks for the celebration, Chinese nationals have their dragon dance. However, Thailand has the most unusual way of celebrating New Year, and this is known as Songkran Festival. If this is the first time you heard about this, then you may want to know more. Who knows? You might also be interested in joining them.
What is Songkran Festival?
If we would take a look at the history, Songkran actually originated from Burma. In fact, there are also other countries practicing such festivity like Vietnam and Laos. The word Songkran was actually derived from “Sankranti”, which means “to move or to change”. Celebrated on particular dates in 13 April – 15 April, Songkran 2017 is regarded as the longest holiday in Thailand. Unlike other festivals in the place, Songkran is said to be the grandest since it is traditionally celebrated for three consecutive days.
Similar to other nationalities, Thais also have beliefs which truly originated from their forefathers. A day before the celebration of Songkran, the housewives must clean their house and remove all the rubbish. Otherwise, it might bring them bad luck for the remaining months of the recent year. As part of the belief, Buddha images should be washed carefully so as to bring good fortune to house owners.
Rather than an earthly enjoyment, Songkran 2016 focuses on spiritual intentions like giving alms to monks and paying a visit to Buddhist temples in their place. In addition to that, they build sand pyramid images and festoon colorful stuff such as flowers and flag lets.
But before we forget, the festival would not be complete without the so-called Water fight. Armed with water guns and water containers, TRAVELERS and natives including children throw water upon others, which symbolizes cleansing and rejuvenating of their bodies. There is no exception in this festival but obviously everyone understands the real meaning of this event
Info from the net

Young Coconuts --How good and healthy

Cool and Refreshing ----- just what I needed

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Today I was sitting at my computer desk and complaining to myself about how hot it was and that I really needed something cold to drink, I had already drank a Coke Zero earilier and at least two tall glasses of Ice water , but nothing seemed to cool me down or quench that taste I had for something good and cold and refreshing at the same time,When all of a sudden Ciejay walked in and handed me a chilled , young coconut that the neighbor had given her and she had opened up the top and stuck in a straw and said " here honey try this I think you will like ", well I was ready for anthing cold and to my surprise , that was some of the best tasting ,cool juice I have ever tasted and when I had finished she gave me a small spoon and said for me to eat the meat inside , I said "get me the hammer to break the shell open first " Ciejay said "no honey , it's really soft and you can just take it out with the spoon . "I can not begin to tell you how surprise I was at not only how soft the meat was , but there are not good english words to describe how yummy and sweet tasting that meat from the YOUNG COCONUT was , you'll have to try it for yourself. I know some folks will have a hard time finding Young Coconut , but I think if you ask the local produce manager at the market where you shop to order some for you they will. Also you can always find them at a Asian or Mexican food store .
Below is some info I gathered from the web about coconuts and the great health value they can provide for lots of ailments we might have , I know that from now on I'll have a few cold ones in the frig. to grab when I need something cold and refreshing to drink ( I'm not going to give up my Coke Zero ) from time to time . Hope you'll give it a try too , let me know what you think .

Coconuts taste GREAT! Besides the incredibly amazing experience one can have when eating coconuts, there are many other reasons to eat this wonderful delicacy! In fact, the young coconut is one of the most important fruits within the tropics because of its potassium and mineral rich water.
Preferably, the water and meat from young coconuts is used as opposed to the meat of older coconuts which tends to be very hard (as well, older coconuts typically have less water...if any.)
Medicinal Value Besides being highly nutritious, young coconuts have also been exceedingly revered as having medicinal qualities for heart, liver and kidney disorders.
Coconut is a tropical fruit that is rich in protein. The meat of the coconut is very good in destroying intestinal parasites, that we get from eating infected food. Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.
Nutritive Values : Per 100 gm.
Vitamin A :
Vitamin B : Thiamine .10 mg.;
Riboflavin :
Niacin :
Vitamin C : 2 mg.
Calcium : 21 mg.
Iron : 2.0 mg.
Phosphorus : 98 mg.
Fat : 34.7 gm.
Carbohydrates : 14 gm.
Protein : 3.4 gm.
Calories : 359
Other Health Benefits of Coconut :
Prevents simple goiter (enlarged non-toxic thyroid) because of its organic iodine content.
Good body builder, so it is a food recommended for building up the body muscles of thin and emaciated individuals.
Constipation and for any build-up of gas in the stomach and intestinal tract.
Coconut milk has been found to help cases of sore throat as well as relieving stomach ulcers.
Coconut oil has been found to heal cuts, scratches, burns and sunburns.
The oil has also been recommended for facial massage and is reported to be good as a wrinkle remover.
Coconut oil is also good for the scalp and hair and makes hair dressing unnecessary.
Intake of at least 2 Tbsp. of Virgin coconut oil per day can lessen your Vitamin E requirement.
Coconut water is good for kidney and urinary bladder problems.as recently been reported to reduce the viral load of HIV. ( info from the www)

Before coming to Thailand , the only thing I knew about coconuts was that my dad us to draw faces on them to make them look like a monkey ,and that shredded coconut was good on a cake and that the milk was kind of sour and the meat was hard and also a lot of work to get it out of the shell . All that has changed and now that I am in the land of fruits and coconuts , I have learned how great coconuts and their milk and juice and coconut oil, are for your health and that the Thai cooks use them in hundreds of their dishes , there are many varities also, and each has it specific use in the Thai kitchens.
You can find lots of recipes on Golf's new blog http://www.awesomethaifood.com/ together her and Steve write the great blog called ThaiMusings, check them out, you'll find not only a lot of good Thai dishes to cook but , you'll enjoy all the other good stuff on the blog. Thanks for the read . Malcolm

Life and Living on Moo 1 "Boys will be Boys"

I'll have to say that of all the places I have lived in my life,living on Moo 1 here in Wang Pho ,Thailand , has been one of the most relaxing ,scenic,peaceful,and enjoyable,places of all.Things for the most part are pretty laid back and quite , with the exception of Saturday morning when the next door neighbor feels it is his duty to wake all of the Moo up really early with a demonstration of how loud and full of bass his stereo system can play , and of course along with the loud music comes a variety of Karaoke song ,sung, at their worse. I never get to excited ,because by the time I am ready to roll out of bed , he has consumed his limit of beers and passes out on his couch for the rest of the day. As I said at the first of the post, it's normally pretty quite , but I did fail to mention that about every other week-in the daughters of our neighbors drop of their two sons  for grandma to watch while they get things done around their houses and do a little shopping , I must say I don't know how grandma does it , all they do is fight each other and running up and down the road crying and screaming and when they are not fighting they are chasing all the dogs around  trying to hit them with their sticks. The dogs have gotten use to  the boys and would never bite them and have learned to stay out of their way , Sabu  hides on the back porch under the table.I have to keep a sharp eye out as they like to come over , when they have run out of things to do they will come over and toss rocks into my pond trying to kill as many of my fish as they can ,  the fish have wised up to the boys too and know just where to hide so they don't get hit too. I guess boys will be boys . Ciejay comes out too when they are in front of our house because with the sticks they carry  (they call them swords) they try to knock off all her flower blossoms.I call them weapons of mass destruction . And I've given them the old  "you better go home " eye a few times and that usually does the trick .
Life here is good and as I said before "boys will be boys"  and "kids will be kids." and "neighbors will be neighbors."  And I just fluff my pillow in the hammock and take a nap, Works every time .  Malcolm