Christmas for Jezzy
Christmas came early this year to our family. One of the Jezzy's presents--yes, we give gifts to our dog; sad--was a Zhu-Zhu pet, a hamster. You press some buttons, and it will drive around and make noises. Jezzy was initially less than thrilled with this creature, but she eventually warmed up to it.
Snow!
Last weekend we had some snow. It wasn't much, and it didn't last long, but it was certainly more snow than we ever saw in Thailand. The kids thought it was a perfect excuse to get out and play, and the dog went right with them.
Ginger Bread House
Decorating ginger bread houses is a family tradition in our house. Ann bought several kits, and she and kids got to work one evening recently.
Snake in the House
We came home recently to find a snake in our kitchen. It was just a little guy, a small earth snake, maybe 6 inches long. The irony is that we lived in a tropical country for 21 months and never even saw a snake, then we come back to America and within 5 weeks have one in the house:
This reminds of the last time we encountered an earth snake, back when we were in Richmond:
This reminds of the last time we encountered an earth snake, back when we were in Richmond:
Jezzy chillaxes
What does a Yorkie dog do at the end of a long Thanksgiving Day? She chillaxes by watching the dog show!
We had a great time with family for Thanksgiving this year; Jezzy was a hit with the cousins, especially young Maddie.
We had a great time with family for Thanksgiving this year; Jezzy was a hit with the cousins, especially young Maddie.
Leaves
We live near the entrance to Durant Park, so we occasionally take walks along the trails and around the lakes. Though not a very clear shot, here's one that highlights the beautiful colors of the leaves a couple weeks ago.
Kiteflying on Wrightsville Beach
I bought a small kite a couple years ago at Kitty Hawk Kites and brought it with us to the beach. It flew pretty well, but the wind blew the kite so that it was right in the sun. That made for some pretty interesting facial expressions.
Surfer at Wrightsville Beach
The waves weren't too high--it's the east coast after all--yet they were high enough to tempt some surfers on the day we went to Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington, NC. So I tried my hand at a few shots. I really could have used a 300 or 400mm lens.
Jacen's web site
As part of computer class, I'm teaching Jacen to set up a web site. His first site, jacen.garriss.org, was created with iWeb on our iMac.
Birds on Wrightsville Beach
We spent part of a day playing on Wrightsville Beach, just east of Wilmington, NC. I managed to catch a few shots of the birds scavenging a meal:
That 200m lens really came in handy here, though I could have put a 300 or 400 to good use, if I had one.
That 200m lens really came in handy here, though I could have put a 300 or 400 to good use, if I had one.
Fowl at Greenfield Park
There's a 5 mile walking trail around the lake at Greenfield Park (in Wilmington, NC), which we walked. Along the way I saw these birds, a napping duck and a fishing heron:
No swimming
While in Wilmington, NC, we spent one morning at Greenfield Park. It has a decent-sized lake in the midst of it which has this encouraging sign:
Video of the Walking Street Market in Chiang Mai
Jacen took some footage of our favorite market while in Chiang Mai, and he recently made a short video out of it. Enjoy!
The Walking Street Market from James Garriss on Vimeo.
Glassblowing
While in Wilmington, NC, we went to the Burchetta Glassblowing Studio and Gallery, where they give demonstrations and even lessons on blowing glass. Unfortunately their furnaces were down for maintenance, so we didn't get to see any glassblowing. So we looked at their gallery, which has many nice pieces.
In this picture, direct sunlight is coming into the gallery from the opposite direction and shining on/through the glass pieces. It was so bright that it effectively blinded everything else in the picture. This effect was not done via post-processing.
In this picture, direct sunlight is coming into the gallery from the opposite direction and shining on/through the glass pieces. It was so bright that it effectively blinded everything else in the picture. This effect was not done via post-processing.
A flower on the beach near Fort Fisher
I found this flower growing in the sand near Fort Fisher. Anyone know what it is?
The Bridge to Terabithia
Our family watched The Bridge To Terabithia last night. While a bit weird at times, it was overall a good movie. It's an especially good choice for parents to watch with their 8-12 year olds, as there are many opportunities to discuss how a Christian should respond to situations in life, especially to those who mistreat them. Watch this movie and speak the Gospel to your children.
Jacen's post on Fort Fisher
Jacen had to write a paragraph about Fort Fisher for school. Here's his work:
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort built in the year 1861. It was constructed near Wilmington, North Carolina. Its sole purpose was to protect Wilmington from Union fleets, because Wilmington supplied Confederate General Lee with essential supplies like clothes and blankets. Its protection was 20-40 sand hills, a wooden palisade, a large connection of bunkers, 3 mortars, 5 siege cannons, and 47 other cannons. The fort was destroyed in the year 1865 by an amphibious assault. The remains of the fort were later used as an anti-aircraft training facility. Many of the sand hill remains were destroyed so that a runway could be built for the emergency landing of targets. Today, Fort Fisher is a historical site that tourists at Wilmington can visit.
Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort built in the year 1861. It was constructed near Wilmington, North Carolina. Its sole purpose was to protect Wilmington from Union fleets, because Wilmington supplied Confederate General Lee with essential supplies like clothes and blankets. Its protection was 20-40 sand hills, a wooden palisade, a large connection of bunkers, 3 mortars, 5 siege cannons, and 47 other cannons. The fort was destroyed in the year 1865 by an amphibious assault. The remains of the fort were later used as an anti-aircraft training facility. Many of the sand hill remains were destroyed so that a runway could be built for the emergency landing of targets. Today, Fort Fisher is a historical site that tourists at Wilmington can visit.
A palisade at Fort Fisher
There were two amphibious assaults made upon Fort Fisher in Jan 1865. The second succeeded in part by the luck of the uncoordinated timing. The main assault was by sea, which drew all the attention of the Confederate defenders. But the secondary assault, which come from the back side of the fort via the Cape Fear River, was late, thus it found the sally port relatively undefended and broke through, which eventually led to the taking of the fort.
Here is a replica of the palisade near the sally port, looking onto the Cape Fear River:
Here is a replica of the palisade near the sally port, looking onto the Cape Fear River:
A cannon at Fort Fisher
Here’s one of the cannons used to defend Fort Fisher from the attack of the Federal armies during the Civil War.
Test
This is a test. I’m posting this to my Blogger blog from Mac Journal.
After dorking around for a bit, I judge Mac Journal to be a total failure regarding Blogger. You can’t preview posts, nor can you insert HTML snippets for things like pictures on Flickr. Useless.
An anchor at Fort Fisher
Fort Fisher was a sand fort built by the confederates during the Civil War to protect Wilmington, NC, which provided supplies to General Lee's army. In 1865 it was the site of the largest naval bombardment--58 federal warships participated--in history until WWI. Here's Emmy sitting on one of the anchors at the fort.
Our Dog is Thai
Our Yorkie, Jezzy, is a Thai dog, even though we've taken her to America. To help her remember her roots, Ann bought her a couple of traditional Thai outfits.
Given how much colder it is here in Raleigh, she's gonna need them!
Given how much colder it is here in Raleigh, she's gonna need them!
Our Helper (And Friend)
For the last many months, Phii Maat has been coming to our house once a week to help Ann cook and clean. She's been a wonderful blessing to us. Not only is she a hard worker, she's also been kind and friendly, loving on the kids, and even trying to make friends with our dog (though not with much success). We said a tearful goodbye last week and took a few pictures to remember her.
Playing in the 'hood
The evenings are fun times in the neighborhood. The kids come out for an hour of play time. Here's Jacen and Emmy playing frisbee and riding a bike.
A grilled pork restaurant
There's a particular style of restaurant that is very popular with Thais. It's called muu ga-thawt, which literally means grilled pork. The basic idea is that you grill your own meal at the table. This style originally only served pork, but now has beef, chicken, fish, vegetables, or whatever. A new one opened not far from our house--all you can eat for 99 baht ($3)!--so we went and tried it out. The kids loved being able to grill their own meat and boil their own cabbage and noodles.
When you first sit down, a guy brings a bowl of coals and puts it on your table:
Then he puts the metal grill on top and pours water around the edge (for boiling):
While that heats up, we go to the buffet, ignoring the flies, and select some meat. Then we grill it, using only chopsticks:
Here's Jacen and Emmy happily grilling away:
When you first sit down, a guy brings a bowl of coals and puts it on your table:
Then he puts the metal grill on top and pours water around the edge (for boiling):
While that heats up, we go to the buffet, ignoring the flies, and select some meat. Then we grill it, using only chopsticks:
Here's Jacen and Emmy happily grilling away:
Now that's a knife
My father wanted a hand-made bowie knife, so this is the one we got for him. It was made at Piak Bowie Knife, which is located just east of Chiang Mai. It's bigger than it looks in the picture; the blade is 8.75 inches long.
More Music at the Sunday Night Market
As I have mentioned before, the Sunday Night Market can be a musical place. Here's a couple pictures of contrasting musicians, one an elegant lady (part of a 4 person band) and the other an overly made up young girl (going solo):
Food from the Sunday Night Market
As we prepare to leave, we are revisiting some of our favorite spots. One is the Sunday Night Market here in Chiang Mai, a great place to buy food.
Here's a new item: Hot dogs in waffles. Regrettably, it's almost impossible to find American-style hot dogs here, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy this.
Grilled sticky rice:
Here's a new item: Hot dogs in waffles. Regrettably, it's almost impossible to find American-style hot dogs here, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy this.
Grilled sticky rice:
Goodbye Futon
I don't think Jezzy wanted us to sell our futon. It was the one soft spot in the house that she was allowed to nap on.
Orchids
One of the best things about living in the tropics are the flowers. It takes almost no effort to grow the most beautiful exotic flowers. Case in point: Here are some orchids growing in my front yard. I didn't do anything beyond water them and occasionally add some fertilizer. I was sorry to have to sell them.
More From the Umbrellas Factory
A couple more shots from the umbrella factory in Borsang, east of Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Looking through the spokes of some unfinished umbrellas:
The inside of a pink umbrella:
Looking through the spokes of some unfinished umbrellas:
The inside of a pink umbrella:
Umbrella Factory
Last week we went to Borsang, east of Chiang Mai, to do a little shopping. We went to an umbrella factory and watched them make umbrellas, mostly from bamboo.
This guy has a piece of wood that spins along its horizontal axis, while he cuts out sections with a large knife and other tools. I wonder how many cuts has from his work.
This lady is string together the "spokes" of the umbrella, which are made from bamboo.
This lady is adding a layer of cotton over the spokes. On top of this will go the "sa paper," which can then be painted or colored.
I blogged about umbrellas once before.
This guy has a piece of wood that spins along its horizontal axis, while he cuts out sections with a large knife and other tools. I wonder how many cuts has from his work.
This lady is string together the "spokes" of the umbrella, which are made from bamboo.
This lady is adding a layer of cotton over the spokes. On top of this will go the "sa paper," which can then be painted or colored.
I blogged about umbrellas once before.
Book Review: Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner's Handbook
Hayes and Holladay's "Biblical Exegesis" is very introductory book on, well, exegesis. The first chapter is the best, giving a clear explanation of what exegesis is and why it's so necessary; it's perhaps the best explanation I've read. The majority of the chapters are an overview of various forms of criticism, textual, historical, grammatical, literary, form, tradition, and redaction. The final chapter gives a sense of how the forms might be used together. Though the book overviews these forms, at 132 pages it obviously doesn't give the reader enough info to actually use them for exegesis; it truly is a beginner's handbook. Hayes and Holladay certainly have a less conservative view of the Bible than I do, yet their lack of depth is the primary reason why I can't really recommend this book. If you're interested in any of these forms, it would be better to find a book that can teach you how to do them.
Note: The Amazon link above is to the 3rd edition; I have the first edition.
Note: The Amazon link above is to the 3rd edition; I have the first edition.
Jacen's Cloak
From their studies in Medieval history, Jacen elected to have a cloak made. It's supposed to be a monk's cloak, but it (conveniently) also looks like a Jedi's cloak.
Emmy's Dress
The kids are studying medieval times for history, so Ann hired a seamstress here Chiang Mai to make her a medieval dress. Here's the result:
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