Maenam Meditations

I have taken a hiatus from writing.  Where do the days go?  I am hard pressed to know which day of the week it is.  Some might find this boring or tedious, but truthfully, it is a gift to have this time to fully become sensitive to all the natural elements we are living with.  How often can you just let go completely?  I do not miss driving, shopping, cooking, cleaning, working, and all the tedious routines of life.  I do enjoy having someone else clean my room, make my bed with fresh sheets, cook delicious Thai food, wash my clothes and drive me around.  We wander out to the sand and lay in our chaise, watching the clouds overhead, the color of the water changing dramatically beneath the clouds shadow.  With some effort we wander up the beach to meet friends for cold beers and sit in the sand listening to the proverbial Bob Marley or Buddha Bar songs that seem to be playing everywhere in the world.  Mornings are so lovely.  Since we have moved to the front row bungalow, we enjoy early sunrise and a swim before the water gets choppy and the winds increase.  Breakfast is peaceful, especially now that most of the families have left and fewer children are around.  The waitresses know that we like our "fresh coffee and hot milk" first. Later we have our sliced fruit and yogurt.  With no agenda we sit for an hour or two just enjoying the morning breeze and the view.  Then it seems like the day vanishes between laying in the chaise, the hammock, and the afternoon siestas.  My favorite time is just after 6pm when everyone has left the beach, the light is golden, and the winds have died down to a soft breeze.  The evening air is like velvet on your skin, the sky dark and bright with stars, and the cresant beach sparkling with colored lights from the various bars and restaurants that circle it.  There is a Thai tradition that we love where they make paper lanterns which are several feet tall and a couple of feet in diameter.  There is a large wick that you light and as the heat increases the paper lantern fills with hot air.  Then you let it go and it sails up into the dark night.  Often you can see many of these taking off, up up into the sky forming a little constellation of yellow glowing lights, before they just disappear into the night.  Simple pleasures.