Spiraling

"Year after year beheld the silent toil
"That spread his lustrous coil;
"Still, as the spiral grew,
"He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
"Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
"Built up its idle door,
"Stretched in his last found home, and knew the old no more." 

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Chambered Nautilus

Hello my bloggity friends. I celebrate the week remembering a few favorites:

At the Temple of Literature, National University Hanoi... in that American Literature class our teacher made us 'chant' The Chambered Nautilus. She spent a few minutes on the beauty of the words and 'preached' the message into our heads.

It was either the heat outside or the memories that made me linger in the souvenir shop. Both maybe. I quietly enjoyed the moment: viewing the beautiful shell as fond memories of college buddies and a teacher that I liked so much came spiraling back.

One of my friends is reflected on the glass. That's how I made sure I did not lose them.

Coming back, a few minutes before landing in Bangkok, I glimpsed the Martial Law sky. The nice thing is curfew has been lifted, thanks to the World Cup...err... whatever reason the Thai military might have had.

Rain! a real break from all the unrelentingly high temps in the past few months.

Applause in the boardroom. Addressing my colleagues, the vice president said it mainly in Thai. I made out 'research,' 'financial report' and my own name. Then all eyes on me, (I was going red; oh dear what have I done?!) they cheered. It really was just a simple case of getting the job done but guess I survived to share some tale of Once upon a time, just when I thought I was going to resign....

Maleficent. I will happily never get over the fairy tales!

Thanks to our host: Weekend Reflections * Friday's Fave Five * Skywatch * Share the Joy