John and Coleen in Paradise: May 2009

At long last we are in our new residence. They are still working on the outside of the building and finishing off Vincent’s unit (he’s our former landlord of PJ’s Guesthouse). They trimmed more trees and the view is spectacular. I have included pictures of our first sunset, Patong at night and the inside of our unit. It is raining right now and everything smells so fresh and clean. Being in the jungle is always exciting. Our first day we saw a large gecko on or side window screen, just as I was pointing it out to John a tree snake was eyeing him for his dinner. The gecko jumped out onto the tree and the snake did a free fall ten feet down to the limb below to get him. Unfortunately it happened so quickly that I couldn’t grab the camera fast enough.

Yesterday I started up the stairs to take a walk when I saw this crab on our stairs. I thought our landlord had brought us a crab to eat (he goes night diving often and the last time he gave us some fish and lobster). I told John and he put it in a pot for later. He showed it to the workers and they told him “cannot eat, that jungle crab no good” and I thought all crabs lived in the ocean. So you just never know what you can find living in the jungle. We are close enough to enjoy the many things Patong has to offer yet far enough to not be in the middle of the chaos. John has found his new hobby, overseeing Patong via the telescope. Thanks to our friend Jim, (he lent his scope to John) he is enjoying overseeing Patong. When we go back to the USA he plans to buy a more powerful scope (one that will let him see things closer but not enough to get himself labeled Peeping John).

We have been busy buying things for our home. We bought a bigger refrigerator (Thais' don’t normally have refrigerators in their homes), we bought a 42” LCD TV, it was on sale only 20,000 Baht (about $550 US); next purchase will be the home theater system. All in all we are very happy up on the hill. I almost forgot we have two new additions to the family. Boo and Scruffy (sisters) a couple of Soi dogs we inherited with the place. Life is Good!!