I Can Not Believe How Fast Saturdays Come Around!

it seems that only last week I was sitting on the bike taking a picture of Diana leaving the market, that was a feeble attempt at a joke, but really time does seem to fly out here, but back to Diana, we had just finished shopping at Friendship so it was along to the market to buy some fresh vegetables for this afternoon,

then a bit of time on the railway,

a few hours of ballasting, another couple of days should see the ballasting finished,

meanwhile downstairs Diana was making a cottage pie, and getting the drinks for our guests, Gordan was the first to arrive,

followed by one of his students Damon,

then Bret called in, we had been keeping in touch over the years by e-mail, he has just returned from the Philippines and is back here in Thailand for the first time in 3 years, Big Jim was also here, unfortunately I got the shakes when I took his picture, so it was a bit blurred,

and a big welcome back to Eric after his sojourn to China and the Philippines, he is only here for a couple of days then back to Beijing,

Mark called in with Anchsai,

who prepared a delicious chicken coconut curry,

food is served! along with Anchsai's curry Diana had already cooked some of Jimbo's sausages, followed by this cottage pie and vegetables,

later Mike and Riza arrived, I should mention that the meal was followed by some chocolate chip ice cream,

Riza helping out in the kitchen,

then food for the girls,

but today is a special day for Riza, tomorrow it is Riza's birthday, so out with the cake!

well two cakes really,

one, two, three, blow and make a wish!

the happy couple,

and time for presents,

no prizes for guessing who bought it!

and the present is?

a blue top,

a very happy Riza,

Mike has just been told about a delightful pair of matching blue shoes, that come with the light blue real sapphire bracelet, necklace, ring and earrings! as usual we put the world to rights, yet again I forgot to put a note on my phone as to what we were talking about, of course sitting here typing this I have completely forgotten what it was, but I do remember it was jolly interesting! many thanks to everyone for helping out with the food and drinks, then as time pressed on our guests left and then it was time for bed.

A Few Posts Ago I Mention The Million Dollar Superman Comic,

also that a comic with the first reference to Batman was coming up for auction, well Batman has broken the record, bids went up to $1,075,500, which includes the buyer's premium, the astonishing figure broke a record set just three days earlier by a Superman comic, Heritage Auction Galleries said, it was not even a first copy, but it was a rare Detective Comics No. 27, the seller had bought the Batman comic in the late 1960s for $100, with a bright yellow background, the comic features Batman swinging on a rope above city rooftops,

J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, said most people had predicted it would be the comics with the first appearance of Superman and Batman that broke the $1 million barrier, if only my Dad had bought one in 1939 for 10 cents!

If Only I Could Find One Of These At The Bottom Of My Garden,

it is a record breaking $35.3m (£23.1m) diamond, named The Cullinan Heritage diamond, it was discovered last year, the 507 caret gem found by Petra, the mining company that discovered the diamond, said the price reflected the gem's rare combination of size and exceptional clarity, "It has the potential to produce one of the world's most important polished gems," said Petra's chief executive Johan Dippenaar, the diamond was found at the Cullinan mine in South Africa - a known source of some of the world's largest diamonds, a 168-carat stone was also discovered along side it, as well as one of 58 carats and another of 53 carats, the largest diamond to be discovered, named the Cullinan, was 3,106 carats, so bucket and spade, off to South Africa then, how does the song go? hey ho, hey ho it's off to work we go!

First Thing And Off To Soi Bukoaw Market

Diana had a bit of shopping to do, so while she did that I wandered around some of the stalls looking for a few pairs of shorts, maybe military style?

no these are more me, but in the end under the tenting it was so hot I gave up,

it was almost cooler in the sunlight, so a quick look around the plant section, some lovely orchids, every week a new specie comes into flower,

these were very delicate,

the flowers about one inch across,

more orchids, a real delight,

then it was a iced coffee for me and one for Diana when she returned from shopping in the market,

onto the railway, more ballasting,

this time the area between the rails, trying not to jam up the points,

easier said than done! but a few more days and it should almost be finished, then on to the vegetation,

then to Tepprisit night market,

again we were a bit early, looks like a full moon tonight, I had better keep an eye on Diana!

some of the stalls still had the owners trucks in front of them unloading,

I keep thinking about buying one of these helicopters, trouble is I know the first flight will end in tears!

on to the fish section, the owner of this stall has cleaned out the pond and put a stork in it, over the past few weeks it was getting very over grown,

the marine shop, open again this week,

lots of small clown fish,

and a few seahorses,

then along to the isles selling food,

all 20 baht a portion, crabs, squid and many other things I could not identify,

Diana returns from another successful shopping trip, strawberries tonight!

but first fish, peas, onion rings and chips,

"Cheers!" from me, then it was settle down for a few movies,

first we watched Pursuit of the Graf Spee, AKA The Battle Of The River Plate, again a film I had not seen since I was a kid, I thought it was in black and white so I must have seen it last on a B&W television, then The Man Who Would Be King, a movie I saw at the cinema many years ago, the story was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1888, a much underestimated movie, for some strange reason when ever I think of this movie it always bring to mind a H. G. Wells short story, in case you did not know he was a very prolific writer, but the story I think about is The Country of the Blind, you could call it, In The Country Of The Blind The One Eyed Man Is King, but you would be wrong, great story read it if you have time, then another episode of Midsomer Murders and off to bed.