We Are Only Making One Post Today,

as we took so many pictures,

literally hundreds of them! so we started the day by changing the refrigerator magnet and thinking back to our visit to Rome, what a great time we had there,

 then we were on our way to the flower and plant festival, 

it is held here every year and is located next to the Wat Yansangwararam temple complex,

so in we went,

we arrived at about 10.00 but already the place was crowded and the car park full, so we had a bit of a hike from parking the truck,

here we were looking at the stalls,

we started by going along the food aisles,

working up an appetite,

then Diana saw one of her favourites, rice in a leaf,

and I was tempted by one of these,

a chicken and I mean a whole one on a stick!

the food stalls gave way to the handicraft stalls,

with all manner of locally produced handicrafts on display,

for wood/woven/bamboo household goods this is the place to go,

the food stalls started again,

from uncooked garlic,

to foods,

cooked before your eyes,

and some ready to go,

in the centre of the area there is a large garden where crops are grown,

so a quick picture,

before going back into the aisles that surround the garden area,

there was just so much to look at,

these woven mats looked so nice,

I was tempted to buy one even though we did not need one,

hand made shoes,

and silk handkerchiefs were just a few of the items on offer,

 

a quick pose and back to looking,

metal work,

and remedies were next,

then we found what we were looking for,

sunflowers,

they are here every year,

the trick is not to annoy the bees,

great idea having a zoom lens,

Diana was so happy they were here again,

when we first looked for them they were hidden from sight,

then into the flowers, without,

and with sunglasses,

and then back to the sunflowers,

with sunglasses on head,

and sunglasses on,

and a serious pose,

these looked like fun,

so many different coloured types of rice,

now these were tempting, grow your own strawberries,

or bananas,

these roses looked neat, they were in fact made from the striped leaf of a plant and then folded to look like a rose,

naturally fresh produce everywhere,

Diana was busy with her mobile to send pictures to her family,

as well as flowers there are lots of fruit trees here to buy,

and of course orchids,

I was so tempted by some on this stall, the most expensive just 200 baht, (at today's rate £4.56 or $5.70), most on the stall were half of that,

we had come to the end of the aisle,

so a quick turn around,

and we were back inside looking at some of the artisans work,

and very finely detailed it was,

a pavilion had been erected to honour the late beloved King, 

we continued our walk around,

past some of the animals on display like this bear,

then a really colourful stall,

with artificial flowers,

what a selection,

I have always been told that it was difficult to grow roses in this area because of the heat,

but these seem to be doing very well,

the next stall along,

selling cactus,

this one very strange looking, I suspect it was grafted,

a nice bonsai,

and more cactus,

and of course more orchids,

some miniature hanging ones,

all so perfect,

and in so many colours,

there were also some in pots,

we passed more flower,

and fruit tree stalls, 

then a favourite of Steve's in the UK, bamboos,

these reminded us of the two coconuts we bought for Nick and Maureen three years ago, that are now bearing fruit, they grow so fast,

a very colourful display,

when ever I see umbrellas like these I am always reminded of Chang Mai,

a Valentines display,

Diana takes a rest under one of the huge tees,

a nice surprise, the glass animal man was here, alas not working,

so I took a few pictures of his wares,

a normal 'Nemo',

and a golden one,

I also thought this fantasy fish looked nice as well,

next to the stall there was a cafe,

so we stopped for an ice coffee each,

then back to the aisles,

banana flowers,

we made our way under the awnings to keep the sun off of the customers,

and found this stall,

selling waterlilies,

next orchids,

and then two stalls,

selling plants known as a desert rose, (Adenium),

some grow huge trunks,

like these,

 and both have, 

 attractive flowers,

and are easy to grow,

next some hibiscus,

this one a stunning yellow,

daises and roses,

Diana was looking at the orchids,

and cactus,

and there were lots of cactus stalls this year,

then the plants or trees that always make me think the flowers are made of wax, 

they look so perfect, they are called frangipani or Hawaiian lei flower,

(Plumeria sp),

as an aside frangipani trees are considered bad luck in Thai homes because of superstitious associations with the plant's Thai name, lantom, which is similar to ratom, the Thai word for sorrow, as a result, frangipanis were thought to bring unhappiness, I have been told you should never grow one inside your properties walls, but outside it is considered OK,

for the larger garden,

this stall, 

had some spectacular cascades of orchid flowers,

a quick look at the furniture stall,

then back the way we came,

more roses,

this one an attractive bi-colour one that seems to be becoming popular,

 then time for breakfast/lunch, duck noodle soup,

 and I did it all wrong, I normally have a touch of chilli paste with this type of soup, unfortunately the small piece on the end of the spoon took a much larger piece with it, well that was it, my soup was so spicy it made my ears water, worse still it was burning my lips, with out thinking I used a tissue to dry my lips then wiped more tears from my eyes, which immediately started to make them burn, thank goodness I had sun glasses to wear or I would have had to walk around the stalls looking like a blubbering fool!

 I should have stuck to one of these, 

 onward we went,

and found this little hut,

 and inside, 

 plastic bags,

 with lots of different coloured mushrooms growing from them,

 every year we come here we always buy a few pots,

 for fun and grow a few mushrooms, Diana then cooks them in garlic butter and we have them with dry brown toast for breakfast, 

 but we had never seen the coloured ones before,

 so that was it, one of every colour please, 6 pots later,

 and we were on our way home,

 as I was driving Diana took a few pictures, 

 whilst we were moving,

 but then decided it would make more sense to shoot a video, 

 and here it is just a short part of our journey home, 

 and arriving home it was back to our Saturday routine, water change for the aquarium,

 pool clean,

 for the kittens, 

 Mariana in the pool as usual,

 and then refill the aquarium,

before our evening meal the kittens had another play with their new toy, by the time I thought about making another video of them Cable had already exhausted himself and just looked on, but they all enjoyed chasing the feather that Diana had attached to the arm of the toy,

 then outside for our Saturday night bar-b-q, garlic bread,

 followed by chicken and sweetcorn soup,

 'Cheers!',

 then lite the barby,

 and with showers of sparks we were in business, 

 you may remember yesterday I mentioned that there would be a a penumbral eclipse in the early morning, well I was up anyway changing the kittens litter so I had a look for the moon, but it was so low on the horizon I could not see it, so as I do not have a picture of it here is the leaf of a tree between us and the moon and not the earths shadow, 

 and of course yesterday it was a full moon, 

 chicken and potatoes with bacon and onions on the barby,

 and there it all is, 

 'Cheers!',

and to round the meal off, one of the new mini sized Magnum chocolates on a stick, I know it is always a difficult choice for manufacturers, keep the price the same but reduce the size of the product, or keep the same size product and increase the price? for myself it would always be keep the same size product, but there it is, we listened to music for the rest of the evening and as the midnight hour approached we were off to bed.