Serene Life at Surin's

My life feels like a dream.  Here I luckily sit alone outside of a largely adorned white walled home in Chiang Mai, Thailand - alone, but not lonely.  I love this tropical air and the feel of it on my skin, even the fresh mosquito bites I somehow get without seeing or hearing a single soul swarming around me, I embrace.  I am surrounded by waterfall fountains, orchids and the sounds of song birds both inside and outside of cages.  They talk.  Bicycles, cars, trucks and motorcycles are busy outside the wall and distant voices, both young and old, can be heard if you listen.  It's a menagerie of beautiful sights and sounds.  I listen.  So different than the world I left just months ago.  Although Surin is not home, her carport is filled with five parked cars, two which are covered and live under wrap, two new motorcycles and three bicycles in view from my chair.  There are two heavily decorated Thai gazebos with fans and lights and orchids of every color.  I call them beautifully glorified picnic tables.  By the front gate there is a small ornate shrine where someone puts a glass of fresh water out to bless Buddha everyday.  There are many different ceramic yard ornaments in lilly padded ponds of every thing imaginable, but mostly elephants and Buddhas.  The glass table I am writing on has a nice silk table cloth purposely recessed under the glass.  I can count four large outdoor bird cages, several very large bird-nest ferns and many, many hanging ferns and orchids in and around the large tropical trees.  It is sprinkling rain and the air is clean and humid.  The feel and sound of the leaves blowing gives a welcomed slight cool breeze.  The one lone dog, 'Euro' has a good life here!

Who is inside the cage, who is out?  Who is inside the wall, who is out?  Only Buddha knows that we are all one.