Tag: mountains

The Honey Pot – 6th September 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 1 Comment

Good fortune can be a great deceiver
Life’s lottery may bring returns of gold
But the devil is in the details
Of the glittering lives being sold
Ants will gather at the honey pot
Desperate hands grabbing for a share
Fighting for a way to get out
Before realising it’s all still there

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw

Today I’m grateful for:
My little motorbike surviving the stupid journies I take it on. I rewarded it with a quick shower and wipe down ready to go again another time. Maybe I’ll wait until it’s a little drier though.
The best thing about today was:
Realising that I needed to get outside and see the sun, breath the air and dive deep into the jungle. My mood had totally altered by the time I returned home scratched up, aching muscles and covered in mud.

I took this picture because it will remind me of my bike ride today that got me out of my funk. I love the angles and depths though my phone can’t capture the magnificence as the human eye. I particularly like the clouds in just half the sky here.

The Week That Was – 25th November 1979

Planting Seeds – 1st September 2022

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As my mind opened so did the world in front of me
Even as a child I sensed things were not as should be
So it is now I look up to the biggest sky I ever saw
Where love and cooperation must trump violence and war

“the biggest sky I ever saw” is taken from a Robert Plant interview used in the Led Zeppelin biography by Mick Wall, hence the title.

The brain and the tongue are so far apart.

Prunesquallor from Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Today I’m grateful for:
Champ asking me if I’d like to teach in the new building where the rooms will have aircon! That could be nice. I’m sure there will be teething troubles in there and maybe Champ has some other motive for me being there but all the same, it is nice to be thought of.
The best thing about today was:
Momo coming and telling me that she wished I was still teaching her. When I asked why she said that my classes were more fun. I think she and Porpieng feel that they are not being challenged enough now. I felt good to hear her say this, making me remember the impact, no matter how small, I’m having on her life.

I took this picture because the clouds rolling up the mountain like this really caught my attention. I was struggling to find anything to take a picture of on this walk as the sky was still quite dull and grey but then seeing the sun hitting the mountaintops and this cloud really stuck out. I stood and savoured it even if only for a second or two.

Garden Haiku – 30th August 2022

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ 4 Comments

Passionfruit flowers
Precede overabundance
Jam jars are ready

Ripened or not so
Papayas can be eaten
Until sick of it

The rambutans red
Are all infested with ants
Inedible now

Avocado trees
Why do you never give fruit?
I want to smash you

My chillies just came
It was a surprise to all
Conditions perfect

26th Jun 2024 – Submitted to Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge

Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Today I’m grateful for:
The cookie I ate at House with my lunchtime coffee. It wasn’t particularly tasty or big but somehow it staved off any afternoon hunger so I ended up only needing yoghurt for dinner.
The best thing about today was:
Being able to talk to different students on a more personal level about more serious topics such as behaviour and respect. Even with the difficulties we have in communicating I feel as if I have their confidence in some ways.

I took this picture because I’d never seen the light on the lower mountains like this before. The sun was only just over the horizon to the east.

The Week That Was – 11th November 1979

Fair Trade – 9th April 2022

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Would you really trade wisdom for youth?
Too smart to ever fall off your bike
Born old and closed to new truth
Already knowing everything you like
The knocks that you took to grow
Gave deeper meaning to everything new
There are always more things to know
And these are the things that make you

Some people conform to the tastes of others, and they end up wearing a mask that hides their true nature.

Robert Greene

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for my little hard-working motorbike that took me up and away into the mountains today.

Letter from the future to Amy (sent 7th Feb 2022)

Dear Future Little Amy,

Right now, you are in Chatswood, Australia and I am in Chiang Rai, Thailand. I’m in a cafe because the school doesn’t have anything for me to do today. Jobs where you get paid to do nothing! Crazy!

I just talked to you on the phone as you were eating spicy Som Tum in our old Chatswood kitchen. You sound happy to be back in Australia although maybe not quite sure what will happen next.

You’ll go to Albury and Adelaide and take a look around there, thinking about future possibilities. Who knows, by the time you get this letter you may be thinking of running your own little business in one of these places. Or you may be thinking to come back to Chiang Rai, relaxing and drinking red wine, playing with the cats and watching Netflix all day.

I’m happy with myself and my job. You know that I feel good to be working with the students and not necessarily the school. I’ll hang in for as long as I can and try not to cause any trouble! Haha. You know me.

Little Amy, you know I really miss your cooking. It’s the best and you’ve always taken care of me with that. Even though we are far apart, it still feels like you are here. It’s easy for us to talk anytime we want.

Happy Anniversary Amy Kee Mow.
Love you so mootch.

Bury Me High – 8th April 2022

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Racing to the rooftops
Why is it colder closer to the sun?
All around there’s silence
As if this day had never begun
Shattered constructions bleached
Ghosts tread lightly long forgotten
Every wheel that’s turned
Cycles from beautiful to rotten
All the dragons sleeping
And here the lady forever lies
Buried high on the earth
Reaching toward the skies

That something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for today’s hangover. Reminding me not to waste any more time with alcohol. I didn’t drink a lot and it just put me to sleep and not a good sleep either.

Reading In Bed – 30th November 2021

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They were so meaningful, the words I read
As I fell to sleep, they remained in my head
They resonated more than any words said
But something happened as I was sleeping in my bed

This morning the memory struggles to recall
My mind is empty, without any words at all
Not even the gist, a notion or a vague idea
One day they’ll pop up again and the memory will be clear

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful for the two chairs we have on our front porch where we can watch the sunrise over the mountains on these cool winter days.

A quick one today as I dash out in between classes. Both my classes this morning were great and all students took part. It seems weird that last week parents were complaining about me and then this week students seem to be trying harder. Hopefully, the parents pushed their children a little too.

It makes me feel more confident in what I’m doing. One more class this afternoon and then some time to read and plan. Just one class tomorrow, so lots of free time to prepare for next week.

Alpha Male – 7th July 2021

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If I do the same thing every day
It will be things that I wish to do
I’m not your little monkey boy
And I won’t be following you
Take your little army of friends
The ones easy to control
If that’s what you need
To make yourself feel whole
Accusing me of mind games
Because this is what you know
Your words are just sneaky tricks
And doesn’t make it so
I won’t fight your alpha male
I’d rather be on my own
You don’t understand and never will
Because you can never be alone

Gratitude Journal

I am so happy and grateful to see the mist on the mountains this morning. On some rainy grey days, the mist stays there all day – even when I’m driving home. The sky feels so low that it is claustrophobic.

Life To Rise – 28th May 2021

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I love to watch the mountains in any season but in the breaks of rain, it’s fantastic to watch the clouds drop down into the valleys to give more depth and definition to the peaks on the horizon. It’s lovely to watch the rain out of the window.

The mountains advance from their cover
Mad swirling whispers rise and grey
Filled to dripping with lumps of water
The jungle climbing up trees to sway
The streams are full, crabs are caught
In plastic buckets and crowded net
Paddies complete for more life to rise
First came the sun and now the wet

We got that attitude! – 29th November 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for the money I have behind me. I’m not rich by any means but have enough to do most anything that I want to do. Things would be a lot different if it wasn’t there.
I am so happy and grateful to have a friend with the same child-like wonder that I still have. We went for a long bike ride into the mountains, we didn’t talk much but were happy to be exploring the world with each other.