Winter Settling Moon
Ten years ago last November I visited Singapore, Bangkok and Siem Reap. My sister and I spent a fascinating morning at the American Club in Singapore watching the election returns over bacon, eggs, pancakes, grits. Bush II won the election, kicking off my Southeast Asian odyssey with a tragedy of historic consequence.
(Had the thought yesterday that the Bush clan is the Duck Dynasty of American politics. Still seems like a good one.)
After Singapore, I spent a couple of days in Bangkok, then flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the jumping off spot for visiting Angkor. Angkor was a revelation to me. An ancient Hindu culture, the Khmer, built temples, each erected by a god-king, over a huge area. Unfortunately, I’d left my blood pressure medications back in Bangkok, so, instead of lingering for the last days of my trip in Siem Reap, I had to return to Bangkok.
While there, running across the street to dodge the infamous Bangkok traffic, my right foot fell into sewer obscured by the nighttime darkness. Severed my Achilles tendon as I ran forward, wincing in pain.
In February of 2005 I underwent surgery for repair of the Achilles. Recovery required two months off the leg, so I decided to start a blog. Ancientrails was the result. Ancientrails began on February 1st, 2005, less than a month from now.
Over the course of this eleventh year of Ancientrails, I plan to revisit matters that interested me on some of the days during those ten years.
Here’s a bit of post from January 3rd, 2007:
“Back to Docent class today. Ann Isaacson gave a masterful lecture on a difficult subject, the decorative arts. She has a grasp of technique and detail in these matters that is impressive.
It was good to see the class again. It provides two essentials for a long life: learning in a new subject, and new friends. I still feel lucky to have this chance and look forward to touring and further art history research.
On another artistic note I headed over to Northern Prairie Tileworks to see about the cost of using hand made tiles for our fireplace surround. Kate and I saw these guys at the Arts & Crafts Expo at the State Fair grounds last fall.
Roger and another man who worked there were helpful. It looks like we can afford this one accent piece and I’m glad.”
