Tim's new workshop & Management by Carrot Cake

3 Weeks in and we are starting to find our way around in every sense. Learning to speak enough Thai to get beyond a cheery greeting will be the most demanding thing to start with; when the same word can mean 5 different things, for example, "mai" can mean mile, wood, not, new or silk; all according to the tone of your voice!
The words for today are: sa-bai dee mai (how are you?)

Current Houses 19 & 20

Presently we are anticipating a meeting of the Thai Board Members here at the weekend. We will also meet our counterparts from the "Juniper Tree" at Dolphin Bay. As we are planning to build 2 new houses here during the cool season there will be a lot to discuss including how to raise the outstanding money to pay for the second one by the time they are finished! (Not our problem, the Trustees will do this) The new houses will be smaller versions of the 2 newest houses we have.
As one of the new ones is intended for us we have a vested interest in the success of this project! The Thai Lady who runs the building company that are doing the job is very dynamic and seems to be very well connected with the Authorities so we hope that by April, the whole project will be completed.

Note the Hi Tec kit!

Simon is keen that I get my notice board finished before Saturday; a feat that wasn't looking likely given that working the tough teak-like wood is like carving a turkey with a penknife! I have set up a temporary workshop on the verandah outside our house and now that I've put a fan through the window I can work for most of the day.
Khamsi, the handyman, seems to have a sixth sense about what tools and equipment I'm going to need and provides it from some mysterious store.
The grounds staff are sinking two wooden posts into the concrete path outside the office and the notice board will go there shortly. I'm glad they are breaking up the concrete, it looks very deep and tough!
Last night, when the kitchen was empty, Joan did a late raid to bake the first Thai-Carrot Cake of perhaps many. Helped by a lovely family from South Carolina, it became quite a social event. It was left in the fridge for the local staff to share today, on our day off. We're  sure they didn't mind Joan using the kitchen, but she tried very had to leave it as found, with even the small tribe of Geckos that provided a screeching sound track to enterprise, left undisturbed!

Here's Joan "working" with her i-pad; a leaving gift from the friends at Nelson and Colne College. This desk is in the corner of our little house and looks out over the gardens and pool.

Paul and Rachel

Just behind Joan is another vital part of our life saving kit- a printer to allow daily access to the Guardian Crosswords!

Over the last week we have got to know a couple from Simon and Melanie's home Church, who came out to see how they are doing. Paul and Rachel turned out to be great fun and a real encouragement to all of us. Here is a picture of them at Simon and Melanie's house one evening. Paul works in the radio industry and Rachel is a practice nurse and teenage sexual health advisor. Below is a small selection of wildlife pictures taken by a guest who made it his mission to find as many types of snakes, amphibians  insects etc. He told me his Dad was a zoo keeper! As he and his wife live and work in a very deprived area of India, I suppose living close to wildlife is more mundane!