As a kid I always tried to imagine what it would be like if someone
could drain out all the waters from a lake or the sea. Now I know.
The floods are now completely dried out; leaving behind a thin line
that separates the horizon into two; The lower part turned brown,
monochrome and dusty, 40 days of water stagnation, washed away all
the colors from everything that was below the water surface, whereas
the colors remained vivid above it, creating a gloomy contrast, as if
some untalented artist took the world and edited it in Photoshop.
I still can’t really grasp the idea that we are victims of a nature
disaster, maybe it’s because that these are things that usually
affect the evening news, or maybe because we are lucky enough not to
lose anything that money and time can’t buy.
The recovery process is slow and tiresome, we are lucky though to be
a strong team. Having Ploy, our maid, to our side is a huge
advantage. She played magic on the house, and after couple of months
of endless cleaning job, we were ready to start the painting of the
ground level and to put things back to their place.
We elected for DIY approach. Professional constructors are in high
demand these days and are hard to negotiate with. I know how to
paint, my father taught me and I admit that I do it quite well as
well, I only forgot that I was in my twenties when I last held a
brush. So It took me 2 weeks to complete the painting job of the
lower floor, and when I was done Ton stepped in to set up the office
network and he cheerfully announced “Houston we are back” when he
was done.
Thank you for being there for us
hanuman
Thank you Hanuman for the wonderful account of the reconstruction of
your home.
And thanks too to Ploy for being such a miracle worker and to Ton
for being a genius with the office network.
Here in the Pacific Northwest we are in the midst of our usual
winter storms–ranging from rain, to sleet to snow to freezing rain,
fierce winds and as things thaw in some areas, heavy flooding.
I live high on a hill and am safe from floods, though I watch with
anxiety as my tall trees sway and bend, and hope that their roots are
firmly anchored as the soil is so moist, that the toppling of trees
is a frequent occurrence here. One winter I lost 4 gorgeous Norway
Spruce, a Douglas Fir, a flowering plum and my beautiful magnolia.
Alma
Such good news, Hanuman. My personal experience with floods has been
related to broken water lines and clean water damage. However, my
town has experienced several floods of nasty river water and the
smell after the water recedes is unforgettable. I can barely imagine
how clean-up in BKK must have been! So much dirt and debris - where
does it all go??? I sincerely hope you never have to deal with
flooding again.
Best wishes and thanks for your updates, and the good humor with
which you reported.
Judy in Kansas, where any flooding here would be turned to ice!
Mother Nature can be, well, lets say not a very forgiving person.
Congratulations on surviving one of her worst moments. It is great to
have you back!
Ken Moore
Thanks for the update. I was about to write for some news.
Best of luck,
Fred Sias
Hanuman,
If I were close by I would shovel, scrape, wash, clean and paint
with you. You have made Orchid such a great organization. From this
distance can we do anything? Send a gift certificate for paint? Send
an IOU for future labor?
Blessings in the clean up.
Mary
I just found out that a fabulous toy maker, the makers of Magnatiles
– their factory in Thailand was so affected by the flooding that
it’s closed and there will be no more Magnatiles til next year!
Makes it that much more impressive that Orchid is up and running
already.
Elaine