Talkingthailand

The Changing Seasons – February 2021

My monthly round-up in The Changing Seasons post, hosted by Su at Zimmerbitch.

The weather has been so changeable lately, we’ve had a few frosty mornings..

Turning warmer throughout the day and ending in beautiful sunsets like this one… apparently the brilliant colours were caused by the dust storm in the Sahara Desert which was being blown across the UK by the Gulf Stream..

I went for a walk with my sister and when I got home, I mapped where we had gone and realised I had walked nearly 10 miles! Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.

I made another recipe from Joe Wicks – this time a tasty Manchego Cheese, olive and chilli jam frittata with (my version) chorizo.

I started watching the Walking Dead again. It’s been so long since I watched it, I couldn’t remember where I had got to. I can’t remember half of it and I have forgotten how gory and scary it is!

I was amazed to hear that NASA’s Perserverance robot has landed on Mars. It’s journey was a mindblowing 300 million miles. National Geographic’s article states:

“It will be the first of NASA’s five rovers to sniff around for traces of long-dead Martians—inhabitants of a world that, for its first billion years or so, was warmer and wetter than the dusty planet we see today.”

WOW!

In other news, I left my job at the end of the month! YAY! I was not happy working there, so I found myself a new job with Mencap. I am so relieved and am looking forward to starting soon.

I will leave you with an artist a friend introduced me to – Karolina Protsenko – an extremely talented young musician from Ukraine. This track also features the equally brilliant street artist from Italy – Daniele Vitale.

Enjoy your March! Love and peace to you all!

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.

If you would like to join me and the others in this challenge, here are the guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic)

Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them

The Changing Seasons – January 2021

My monthly round-up in The Changing Seasons post, hosted by Su at Zimmerbitch.

As we speedily make our way through the new year, my January was quite productive.

I finally published my photographic book – A Book Of Photographic Images. I started this project years ago and at last got round to finishing it (lockdowns are useful for some things!) It’s a collection of photos, selected by me to match the quotes which represent how (I try) to live my life!

A Book of Photographic Images by Gill Morris

I woke up to lovely snowy scenes one morning.

I made some tasty food – this is Joe Wicks’ sausage shashuka.

I went for a lovely walk along the canal.

Let’s finish January with a couple of my favourite tunes.

The first is Moloko’s Sing it Back which reminds me of a friend who died in 2019. We had a fun evening dancing to this on Koh Chang in Thailand.

The second is Energy 52 – Cafe del Mar – played at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the Radio 1 Ibiza Prom with Pete Tong. It reminds me of my clubbing days in Ibiza and it’s definitely a show I would love to see.

Hope you are all happy and well. Love and peace!

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.

If you would like to join me and the others in this challenge, here are the guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic)

Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them

Soi Nana in photographs

Following on from my post about Art on Soi Nana, here are some more photographs of this – off the beaten track – little street in Bangkok. It’s small but full of character.

Just a stone’s throw from Hua Lamphong, Soi Nana has somes of tiny, quirky bars – Tep Bar, 23 Bar and Gallery and Teens of Thailand – all with great atmospheres! El Chiringuito is the place to eat delicious tapas while Wallflowers cafe sells coffee and cake which you can enjoy on the small roof terrace.

Soi Nana makes for a different, more traditional experience of Bangkok. I, for one, will be making a beeline for it again as soon as I can!

Friendly Faces

Just for fun, a few memories of good times in Bangkok and the people (and animals) I came across on a day in Soi Nana.

I love looking at these old photos! I’ve got some great memories of living in Bangkok! Much peace and love to you all!

Art on Soi Nana

Soi Nana was one of my favourite places to go when I lived in Bangkok.

It’s a small street lined with old shophouses, some of which have been converted into funky little bars, restaurants and even art galleries.

There are lots of little alleyways behind the main street to explore and Soi Nana is also host to its very own Chinatown Fair – music blaring and lots of people make for a lively atmosphere.

One day, Chris and I headed over to Soi Nana to set up my exhibition – On the Trail of Bangkok’s European Heritage – at Bar 23.

Being a trendy kind of area, there is always some form of art to see, so once we had finished setting up, we went in search of it.

Art really does look after your mental health. It’s relaxing if you create something yourself or if you go in search of it like we did, it’s fun and gets you out of the house for a bit!

Tales of 2019

Following my memories in Tales of 2018, I am a little late in reminiscing about 2019, but here goes.

2019 was the first year in a long time that I had spent back home. I never thought I would be living here again, but the year started elsewhere!

January

I flew to Valencia to make a new start in a new city. I had never been before, but it appeared to be right up my street. There is street art, the city of arts and sciences and fabulous architecture and outdoor spaces – like the Gardens of Turia and the beach.

Things to do in Valencia — River Turia, Valencia

It didn’t work out there, I didn’t have the money to pay the deposit on a flat, so I made the decision to return to the UK. That was after just 2 weeks. Looking back I never really explored all my options – I could have looked at places outside the city. There is a really good metro service. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

February

Back in the UK, I moved in with my brother and his girlfriend. My plan was to stay 6 months. I ended up living there for over a year! I am forever thankful to them for letting me stay – we had so much fun!

Things to do in Northampton — Sunday Funday!

March

I went to Rotterdam to see Chris who had recently moved there. We spent time exploring. I didn’t think much to Rotterdam that first time I went, but am glad to say it has grown on me and I love going there now for its markets, historical areas and its centre.

I also went to Amsterdam, one of my favourite cities to wander around.

April

I went to London with my sister for a day out at Camden Market – a fabulous place to hang out. We did a bit of shopping, had a few drinks and ate some food. A really great day out!

Places to go in the UK — Camden Market, London

May

I went to Fleetwood with my sister and niece. We stayed in a caravan park and had days out to the beach and Blackpool – eerily devoid of humans – which was rather nice! We went for walks and took my niece to the local farm, so she could feed the animals. It was a lovely few days away!

I also went to Portugal for a friend’s wedding. Living in Bangkok meant I missed out on a lot of things. Before the wedding, I went to Albufeira for the day and relaxed on the beach. The wedding day was fabulous, everyone was happy and I was thrilled to be able to spend time with my friends.

June

My friend Chris came to visit. We went out for dinner and drinks and had a ball – as always! I went for Thai food with other friends later in the month. The food and company were fantastic!

July

I loved the Thai food so much last month, I went back to the same restaurant with my mum and dad.

I also went to London to the Van Gogh Exhibition at Tate Britain. I used to visit art galleries all the time in Bangkok, so it was good to do it again on my home turf!

August

In August, I went to Newark to see my good friends – Doyle and Mel. We always have a good time together and this time was no different. We went out for drinks and had a BBQ the next day.

Another trip to Rotterdam and, this time, Chris and I went to Amsterdam for dinner and drinks.

September

Another art exhibition, this time closer to home. Northampton artist, Aasen Stephenson’s Death on Two Legs. His leaf creations are fantastic! I am not sure I would have the patience nor the dexterity!

October

October came around and I was off to Ibiza – a very different trip for me. I used to go there to party until the sun came up and beyond! The closest I got to that was having fun at the mini disco with my sister and niece! But we had a fabulous time and I got to spend time with friends who were there at the same time!

November

I went on a girly weekend to celebrate a friend’s 40th. We sang, we danced, we laughed, we ate and we drank! We made some fab memories!

December

I spent the end of the year in Brussels. It was great to walk around seeing all the sights, having food and drinks by myself. I like the solitude. Although, I was looking forward to the first day of 2020 when my friend Chris was coming to visit!

All in all, my 2019 was a great year! I travelled a bit and went to a couple of art exhibitions, but most of all, I got to spend precious time with my wonderful family and friends.

Sending love and peace your way!

Look After Your Mental Wellbeing Through Art

Here is the UK we are going through our third lockdown and we just don’t know when we will get our lives back. It’s hard to know what to do to keep our mental wellbeing in check.

For me, art is a way to relax my mind and unwind from the stress of my day.

I think of art as drawing, painting, sculpture or photography and I love to create my own art, but I also like to see the creations of other artists. It inspires me, it gives me ideas and it makes me happy.

Last year I started painting by numbers and it is so addictive! I can’t stop! As soon as I finish one, I start another. I have completed 5 paintings so far. I find myself totally in the flow where I think of nothing except what I am doing. If you want to relax and take a break from your routine, I thoroughly recommend it!

My first painting.. Amsterdam..

A rainy night street scene and Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers..

Dolphins surfing..

My favourite (so far).. Blue Eyes..

Not only will you create something beautiful, but it will also boost your mental wellbeing.

To give you a little inspiration, here is a round-up of art from talkingthailand.

Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre

Weekly Photo Challenge-Work of Art

Art Galleries in Bangkok

Art in the City

Imaginarium – By Oleg Shuplyak

Street Art in El Carmen, Valencia

Art & Sculptures in Rotterdam

Pipit Banglamphu Street Art Festival

Take care of yourselves! Peace and love X

Cruising the Saen Saeb Canal in Bangkok

One of the last things Chris and I did before I left Bangkok was to take a boat along the Saen Saeb canal.

This particular stretch runs from Bangkapi to Pathumwan, a considerable distance which took about an hour or so. If you look at a map of Bangkok, you’ll see lots of waterways. This is how people travelled around the city many moons ago. Not all of them are used nowadays, but I think it’s wonderful that people can still traverse the city in this way.

If you get the chance, take a boat along one of the canals, it’s such a pleasureable way to travel away from the chaotic traffic on the roads

I hope you enjoy the ride!

We had to take a taxi to reach Banglamphu as the boat only went so far, but we had a fabulous day out. We walked for miles, ate, drank and were very merry by the end of the evening! We had such good times in that city and I still can’t believe I left over 2 years ago! I really miss Bangkok and can’t wait to go again soon.

Enjoy your weekend 🙂

The Changing Seasons – November & December 2020

The final months of 2020 in The Changing Seasons post, hosted by Su at Zimmerbitch.

Happy New Year!!

Time flies doesn’t it? This time last year we had no clue what was around the corner! We were all looking forward to what the new year held for us. Little did we know that our lives were soon to be restricted because a crazy virus was spreading rapidly around the world.

And it still is! But, we now have the vaccine being rolled out, so – HOPEFULLY – we can get back to looking forward to what the new year will hold for us!

In November, we said goodbye to one of my favourite actors – Sean Connery. Such a brilliant Bond (the best one in my eyes) and a beautiful man even at 90 years old!

The names’s Bond, James Bond

I came across this video of a guy dancing to this cracking tune. He got some moves! Dance on and smile!

I finished reading Caleb Carr’s ‘The Alienist.’

My Goodreads review read:

‘Another great read and one that has you hooked just a few pages in. The author also has a great way of finishing each chapter with a cliffhanger, so it is really hard to stop reading! The story has also been dramatised for TV and the show is also good, however, watch it before you read the book because you will spend the whole time comparing!’

I also started my new job as a Learning Support Assistant. We are working in strange times at the moment, what with lockdowns, students studying from home, and us working from home 2 days a week, so I haven’t really had a chance to do my job fully. However, whilst I am enjoying it most of the time, I am not 100% happy with it (for reasons I will explain another time), so I am planning on doing something about that! For now though, I am just thankful I am earning again!

We came out of a mini-lockdown at the beginning of December and I made my own Christmas wreath. I was quite proud of my creation!

I also had a real Christmas tree for the first time in years.

Christmas day came around and, although everyone was under a 1-day restriction, I was lucky enough to be able to have a lovely day with my mum, dad, sister and niece – memories to be treasured.

Then, on New Year’s Eve, I spent the evening at home, talking with my BFF Chris on WhatsApp from 7pm until 12.15am. Because of the time difference of 1 hour, I got to celebrate 2 New Years – one in Rotterdam and one in the UK! As someone who has never been that bothered about New Year’s Eve, I was happy that I got to share the beginning of 2021 with my friend – albeit remotely!

We are back in lockdown or tier 4 until at least mid-February. BUT, let’s all start to look forward with hope and positivity. Let’s hope we can start to live our lives again freely before long. Love and peace to you all!

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.

If you would like to join me and the others in this challenge, here are the guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic)

Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them

The Changing Seasons – August to October 2020

It’s time again for my monthly roundup in The Changing Seasons post, hosted by Su at Zimmerbitch. But, this time it covers what I have been up to since August!

What have I been up to? Well, like everyone, not much we can do these days and I have nothing to report for the month of August!

I had been on furlough since the end of March with no clue as to when I would be returning to work, but then we were asked to attend a meeting. We were told that, due to the virus, there would be redundancies.

My stomach turned and my heart was in my throat, although I didn’t know who would be going at that point. However, I had a sneaky suspicion that I may be one of the unlucky ones. Mainly because I had not been at the company for over 2 years and also my colleague had been doing her job as well as mine since the end of March.

A week later, at the beginning of September, I went back into work to meet my boss. She came right out with it… “we have to let you go.” Even though I kind of knew, it was still horrible to hear it.

I could feel the tears coming, but I didn’t want to cry in front of her – it wasn’t her fault. I got back into the car to drive home and I cracked!

I got home and immediately set about looking for a job.

At that has been my life for the past 2 months!

I have never felt so stressed, I felt sick every day with a feeling of dread in my stomach. I lost all motivation to do anything – even exercise! I was applying for 2-3 jobs a day, every day, and feeling very frustrated because NO-ONE replied!

Last week, I counted the number of applications I have submitted and I’ve applied for 40 or so and have had 4 interviews! Not good odds! 40 applications is nothing compared to others I have heard about, one person even submitted 200!

In these terrible times we are all living in, redundancies are happening all over! People are applying for anything and everything! It’s affecting people’s mental health and it’s totally soul-destroying!

Then, last week and after all the stress, I was finally offered a job! It turns out, it was all just a matter of time! Time that I didn’t think I could bear to wait! I could not be happier and I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders!

So, all I will say to others who may be going through this! Keep going! I believe everything works out for the best in the end – you just have to keep positive and be determined!

Prior to all this, I did manage to enjoy a couple of nights out.

I went to my friends for a Tapas night, lots of lovely food, wine and sangria!

I also went out with my sister which was fun, albeit strange. Groups of people absolutely plastered at 6pm on a Saturday night, temperature checks and ID checks before you go into a pub and bouncers telling people ” YOU CAN’T PASS WITHOUT A MASK!” which I thought was quite amusing and that became the quote of the day.

How life has changed!

And now, we are all in lockdown again! Only 3 weeks to go (hopefully)!

I hope everyone is safe and well around the world! 🙂

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.

If you would like to join me and the others in this challenge, here are the guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic)

Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them