It has been a while

The kids are still here. This month has been wonderful. To see them. To have them see us in our lives here. To have down time together. Just live together. A luxury of time. At this stage in their lives I know how precious this time with them is. And I have so yearned for this for a year. I am hoping it will be easier to be without them , knowing they know how our days go.

We have had some AMAZING vacations.

Railay Beach was all I had hoped it would be. We each, Tim and I, and Alex, Heidi, and Elizabeth, each had a villa. That is, through a gate, behind a tall fence is a patio with loungers, a shaded area with chairs, an outdoor pool with jacuzzi pumps, an outdoor shower, and then the big room with beds and a bathroom. We hung out together, and separately, and it was perfect. We had a day trip, actually a sunset snorkelling trip. Left mid afternoon, and went snorkelling to two locations. I managed to do one time. With the restrictions I STILL HAVE, URGH, the bottom rung of the ladder out of the water, and it  took me about 10 minutes to do. I could not get my knees to bend enough to get to the rung. I had a little 80 lb long tail boat driver asking if he could help. I finally got my feet through the bottom rung, and pulled myself to sitting on the rung. Then it took ALL the strength I had to pull myself up from there. I had gone back first, all others were still swimming. I was glad this awful exit from the water was only viewed by one. When the others returned I saw how tough it was for able bodied people and, and that made me feel a tiny bit better. But I was not going to try it again, so missed the second location.

But then we went to a sand bar, between 2 islands, for supper and the sunset. It was absolutely magical. Just perfect. Actually the day had been overcast, with the water not that bright turquoise, but also not the blinding sun. But for the sunset, it was a fiery red ball falling of the edge of the horizon. Magic.

On our way back, in the long tail boat, the wind had really picked up, and we were getting splashed. But strange, in the dark , and the wind, it should have felt cool, but was warm! At one point the boat scraped along bottom. In the dark. Way off from any shore. We slowed right down, and scraped along for quite a while. We wondered if he was off course, if he knew where he was, or if the tide was lower than he expected. But a little excitement for the end of a fabulous day. Actually the boats are designed with a very sturdy bottom, and the draw on the motor is like nil, so they can be in very shallow waters.

It was a holiday just like I had hoped for. Down time together and time separate. Perfect

Back to Singapore for an overnight. Elizabeth and I went off to Bali, Alex and Heidi went off to Bangkok, Chiang Mai , and Sukathai (Thailand.

Elizabeth and I loved Bali. I think of beaches in Bali, and with that wild Aussie partiers. But we went to Ubud, a city of much culture. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, had lots of touring, great meals, some mean shopping (E a beautiful bathing suit for $15, me two tops for $25). We hired a car and driver one day and saw woodcarving, silver jewellery making, painting, art gallery, gardens (we saw coffee growing, cocoa beans, and spices. We bought some excellent Bali coffee. We went to two temples, and the zoo. Elizabeth was like a kid in the zoo, very excited. Fed the elephants! Turned down feeding the lions and tigers.

Tim's sister Maribeth and her Greg arrived from a house sit in Australia. It is wonderful to have them here. We are all off to Cambodia, tomorrow, to Siem Reap, and we will be 7. How cool is that?

So more to follow.

I will now try to post some hopefully self explanatory photos.