Unconventional

I have an awesome wife.

On New Year's Day, I asked her if she wanted to go check out some swamps, and she agreed.

So off we went.  Our first stop was Huai Ngeum Noi (ห้วยหงีมน้อย)--and no, that's not as easy to pronounce as it looks.  At this time of year, Huai Ngeum Noi is covered with pink water lilies.  Pink water lilies (Nymphaea pubescens) are native to south and Southeast Asia.  It's not unusual to see ponds covered with these water lilies.

Pink Water Lillies in Huai Nguem Noi

After a while, we left Huai Nguem Noi to head to another swamp.  Along the way we had to pause to let some water buffalo pass.

Water Buffalo on the road

Eventually we got to Huai Plaeo Ngueak (ห้วยเปลวเงือก), which means something like "Mermaid Fire Swamp).  This reservoir is quite shallow--if there are any mermaids in it, they must hibernate in the mud during the dry season.

The first thing we noticed were the swaths of yellow flowers all over the pond.

Huai Plaeo Ngueak

These yellow swaths were from the mosaic flower-an aquatic plant in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae). Like most plants in the evening primrose family, the mosaic flowers have four petals.  But it's the leaves of this plant that have a very special character.

Mosaic plant (Ludwigia sedioides - กระจับแก้ว

Mosaic plants curving through the swamp

The mosaic flowers are just one of many flowers growing in Huai Plaeo Ngueak.  The mix of the blossoms and leaves can be quite pretty.

Variety of flowers

Perhaps one of the showiest flowers in the pond is the water snowflake.  If has a beautiful bloom and cute, heart-shaped leaves.

Water Snowflake (Nymphoides indica - บัวบา)

Another interesting flower is on a plant in the Gratiola genus in the plantain (Plantaginaceae) family.  I first thought it was a kind of monkey-flower.  These plants were once classified in the same plant family as monkey flowers (Scrophulariaceae), but with recent genetic studies, they have been reclassified.

Gratiola sp.

Golden bladderwort (Utricularia aurea) is a carnivorous flower.  A non-vegetarian vegetable, so to speak.  They are widely scattered throughout Thailand, but seldom in great numbers.

Golden bladderwort (Utricularia aurea  - สาหร่ายข้าวเหนียว)

There were some other flowers present in the lake as well.  But we left the water and looked on or near the shore at some of the other things blooming.  At the edge of the high water line were lots of pinkish/purple flowers. (The camera makes the flowers seem less blue than the eye sees them.) These are what is known as straits rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum - โคลงเคลง).  These showy flowers are not related to the rhododendrons we know of in North America.

Straits Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum - โคลงเคลง)

A little higher up from the lake was a very fragrant shrub.  I don't know what the name of this plant is, but it appears to be something in the mint family (Lamiaceae).

Sage-like plant

A little higher, on a dry, sandy, knoll, we found these pretty morning-glory-like flowers that somehow manage to thrive in a not very lush environment.

Yellow morning glory-like flowers

As we walked back to our car from the knoll with the yellow morning glories, we were escorted part of the way by a clipper.

Clipper Butterfly

And so we started our year with a reminder of the creative genius of our God.  The diversity of things that one can find on a small piece of real estate is amazing.

You make springs pour water into the ravines,
  so streams gush down from the mountains. 
They provide water for all the animals,
  and the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds nest beside the streams
  and sing among the branches of the trees.
You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,
  and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.
You cause grass to grow for the livestock
  and plants for people to use.
Psalm 104:10-14

Bookends 2018

How do we look at life? Are we pessimists or optimists? Are we stuck in the past or are we hopeful about the future?

For the past several years I've done a blog with photos from the beginning and ending of the year.  As I was looking through photos, trying to decide what to pick, I realized that my choices show how I look at my life.  Someone else might have chosen different pictures.  (A saying I have is: There are two kinds of journalists.  Those who are biased and recognize what their bias is--and tell others.  And then there are those who are biased and don't think they are.)

I could have done nearly-identical pictures.  On January first, we had several of the youth over from church to make fritters or, as some call them, New Years cookies.  On December 31st we were making a batch for a New Years eve service at church.  These would be people oriented photos.

But I decided to use some different photos. I'm not a great people photographer.

While we tend to choose our sandwiches based on what is in the middle, we also want to choose our bread.  So while these photos don't represent the meat of what happened this year, they are like the slices of bread I choose to put the meat between.

January 1st falls close to my birthday. I told my wife that I don't really want to acquire things for my birthday. I'd rather just go to a park somewhere.  So we decided to go to Phu Phrabat Historical Park. It turned out to be the first of three trips to the park that year.

Phu Phrabat Park is focused around some interesting rock formations that were used as housing and places of worship many, many years ago.  There are even red-colored petroglyphs which have a character similar to those I would see in the American west.  If you want to see that side of things, as well as photos of the fancy restrooms, check out my flickr album from the park.

What I like about the park are the nice walking trails with varied scenery.  It just happened to be the season that some of the dipterocarp trees were blooming.  I picked up a blossom and stuck it in a mossy log, because I like the color contrast.

Dipterocarp flower on mossy log

Dipterocarp trees were once very common in northern and northeast Thailand.  They grow in humid climates with long dry seasons.  They don't seem to be bothered by the fact that it doesn't hardly rain for six months.  They just drop their leaves to cope with the dry season much as trees where I grew up would drop their leaves to cope with the cold.  There are many species in the plant family Dipterocarpaceae.  Most have winged seeds; the seed pictured below is the same species as the bloom above.  We big kids sometimes enjoy throwing them in the air and watching them helicopter down.

Dipterocarp winged fruit

Most species of the Dipterocarp genus get quite tall and the branches tend to be clustered at the top. This can make recognizing species difficult because it is often hard to see the leaves on the tree-you have to look at leaves and flowers that have fallen to the ground.

One thing that is nice about the Isaan region (as opposed to central or northern Thailand) is that the farmers often leave native trees in their rice paddies.  So one sees perhaps more of the big giants that used to cover the region before they were all cut down to put in farms.  Sometimes I'll even see masses of the pink flowers that have fallen off a tree onto the road.

Which brings be to the photo for the end of the year.

While many of our Canadian friends and relatives might be whining about the cold at this time of year (I would be if I was there), here in Thailand we are enjoying the cold winters.  It's nice when the temps drop into the 60s (15-20 C) at night.

While I tend to ride my bicycle all year round here, it is perhaps most enjoyable in the winter.  And so I found myself doing a leisurely bike ride on New Years Eve day.  This day I was staying on the dirt roads as much as possible because of the very busy highways during the New Years Holiday season.

My trip this day brought me past an old oxbow of the Huai Luang river that they put a dam in to form Huai Kan Lueang Reservoir.  The reservoir is on both sides of a minor highway and right now they are excavating dirt on one side to make it deeper and using the dirt to fill in the other side.

A consequence of this dirt fill operation is that I can now get up close to water lilies that used to be in the middle of the swamp.  On this morning, it had started out cloudy, but the clouds were moving off to the west so the flowers were in the sun.

Pink water lilies

The water levels in Huai Kan Lueang have dropped considerably since wet season.  As the water levels drop, some of the area is used to grow rice, as pictured below.

Ironic that this area was under water a few months ago. Now the farmer is using his tiller motor to drive a pump to irrigate his rice paddy.  Along one of the berms there are palm trees.  These are oil palms.  The fruits are are crushed to extract the oil. There is a significant acreage planted to oil palms in this part of Thailand.

Rice paddies and oil palms

Oil Palm Fruits

And so my year has brought me from the forest to the field and lots of places in between.  But when I woke up on January 1st of this year, I was happy that some things did not change.  I woke up next to the same wife.  The sun rose again like it has everyday.  And God's great love for us was still there.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  1 John 5:9, 10

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8