Yesterday afternoon I took a quick break after lunch to have coffee with Brian.  As we were talking, we realized that our larger social group is missing many people this October-November due to travel abroad:

Tawn and I were gone in the US; Brian was in China, Spain and Taiwan (part of this with Sean); Russ is in Honduras (from what I hear); Todd returned to the US; Vic is back in the US to sell his San Francisco home; Chai and Ken are in Paris and Amsterdam; Markus is away for five weeks on business and Tam has joined him for a week in Sydney; and Kobfa will be off to Japan the second week of November.

No wonder there are no social activities to report.  Nobody’s here!

Monday morning Tawn and I made a trip to the condo to see how the remodel is progressing. 

I had thought that the floor was going to be sanded and finished during our absence, but instead the focus of the work has been on woodwork and trimming. 

Things are really starting to come together and the contractor is confident that his primary work will be done in early November. 

That will still leave quite a bit of furnishing – choosing some light fixtures and pieces of furniture – but we should be able to start moving some of our things over by then.

Right: Wainscoating has been added to the entry way, a very nice touch that will give the area a cosy feel. 

Left: The tiling in the kitchen has been completed, an interesting little pattern that is reminiscent of Moroccan lamps.  Well, I think they look Moroccan.  Tawn sees the design as more Thai in nature.

You can see in this picture that the trim at the bottom of the cabinet door has not been painted.  That’s a result of the doors and the cabinets themselves being shortened when it was discovered that the left side cabinets were built with about 8 cm (3 inches) less clearance between the cabinets and the countertop than the cabinets on the right side, unlike the plans which called for the clearance to be uniform throughout the kitchen.

Above: The windows overlooking the pool have been papered over as the woodwork is being finished.  The sliding pocket doors, one of which you can see here, have been removed to be finished.  Woodwork details around all the door frames and on the ceilings have been completed.

Below: The wood framing on the bedroom wall has been completed.  This will all eventually be painted instead of being left as wood color.

Wednesday afternoon I received a text message that a friend I haven’t seen in a decade – Anita’s former colleague Wai-Kin – was passing through town with his friend James.  We made arrangements to meet them at their hotel, the Siam City, and took them for a nice seafood dinner at T Restaurant on Thanon Ratchaprarop.  Below: Chris, Tawn, Wai-Kin and James.