Begin

 images©Laurie and Charles 2010

Starting is the hardest part.  For those of you who know us, we have been wanting to start a blog for a long time.  Conceptually, it felt perfect to begin this after returning from a place where Charles' family history is so deep.  We recently returned from Thailand.  We held snakes, saw ancient temples, witnessed Buddhist ceremonies, and rode tuk tuks in Bangkok.  Journeying on to Chiangmai, we spent time with our many Thai family members in our favorite Thai city.  Two years had gone by since we had last seen our family there.  We were greeted with smiles and when we left there were tears.  Chiangmai's charming magic and the beauty of the Thai people had once again taken us.  Our Thai aunties and cousins spoiled us with the most delicious local treats.  I could write (and post photographs) about so many things here: the food, the elephant riding, the jungle zipline tour, the gibbons, the night markets, the sticky rice in bamboo, the tuks tuks, the Lanna architecture, the Thai silk,  golden Buddhas and of course the Thai people.  It is a visual feast when you are a photographer in Thailand.  I often stopped on the side of the busy streets with my camera and just photographed the movement of traffic.  Charles and I have photographed alongside each other for 14 years now.  We both agreed that this visit to Thailand with Miles and Evie was the most spiritual journey of all.  At the end of our trip, we went south to a very small village called Si Kao on the Andaman Sea where we watched the fishermen with their nets each evening.   Time seemed to stand still.    We were worlds away from our home in Nebraska.