Well things are just about all ready at Stratton House Childrens Home. Just in time for the arrival of our first placements next weekend. The last week has seen us busy sorting out the kitchen/ dining area, the last big job before we could get started.
After finishing the final paint job I was taking a rest and spotted this beautiful giant moth resting on one of our walls, certainly the biggest I’ve ever seen.
Maybe the colourful dining area made him feel at home.
We have now confirmed our live-in House Mother, who will start work next weekend to.
If you are interested in supporting us in any way, whether it be through sponsorship or maybe you’d like to volunteer to help out at the home, please contact me either through the contact link at the bottom of the page here or visit our Foundation website, http://www.thestrattonabcfoundation.com, and contact me through there.
Moving ever closer to opening the facility to children in need, here in Chiang Mai, we are proud to say that we are now getting more and more help from the local community who are showing a wish to support our project. For the past three days we have been visited by an electrical work crew from a nearby village who have given their services free, fitting wall fans, a heated shower and generally checking the safety of our electrics.
Our work preparing Stratton House Childrens Home has progressed well and was further helped by a visit from our Australian friends, Heather, Luca and Chloe from our Faa Gamma Fund Raising Team. We would like to thank them very much for their donations of clothes, bedsheets and games and for their physical help during their visit. The photo shows the fenceposts that our visitors funded and helped to start preparing, here they are in various stages of being painted.You can see full details on 
At long last all is in order for our Foundation project to go ahead and yesterday we secured the rental property for the first Childrens home.
So despite my health I have a busy week this week to ensure all is in order for our application for official Foundation status so that we can get that in early next week. Once that is done we can start to concentrate on the important job of fund raising and setting up the first home.
Had another free day on Friday and used it to get a few things done. Going in to Chiang Mai around midday we first stopped for coffee at a relatively new coffee shop on the bottom moat road on the edge of the Old City.
From there we paid a visit to DK books, on Moonmuang road. Boon was after more reading material and I decided to join him when I discovered the secondhand, English language, paperback sale upstairs.
More coffee at Chiang Mai Coffee in DK car park, and then it was into the Old City so that Boon could have lunch by Wat Phra Singh. Not hungry myself I killed time in the Temple grounds.
On the way we stopped for Lunch at the Chiang Mai Kow Soi cafe on the highway from Saraphi to Hang Dong road.
This time I made sure I got good photos of the strange fruit out front of the cafe…..can anyone identify them?
Outside the Gym there appeared to be some sort of break dance class going on, with many local youngsters practicing their skills.
When we arrived we saw that there had been some sort of event going on over the weekend, sponsored by Sponsor.
We decided to grab something from the food court in the lower level of the Plaza.
As they prepared to scrub the school down there was a slight distraction when a baby Cobra was spotted.
Sadly it would appear that this is part of the culture that may be slipping. Whilst being a little wary, the kids seemed intent on throwing things at the snake, which was doing its best to slip away, to the point where it got agitated enough to turn and head towards them, hood spread.
Expecting the nearby cafes to be open I headed down the old Lamphun/Chiang Mai road to Cafe Lut 89, the small coffee stall just before the intersection with the Super Highway.
Heading over towards San Kam Paeng on the Banthi road, I should have remembered from Saturdays ride out with Ally, the distinct lack of decent eating stops along this road.
On the way back we called up to Wat Pa Tung and I got a photo of one of the possible sites for our Foundation plans.
As apposed to the normal ‘splash about’, I actually did about half an hours serious swimming.
Our other lunchtime companions were the cafe cat, who happily ate our leftovers, and a beautiful yellow and black butterfly, possibly a cousin of that hairy caterpillar.
On the way home we called in at Chompoo where we fed the fish and I bought a new Moneybox.
We also saw these amazing looking toads.
oh, and watching Wispa playing with her latest buddy, Fleabag.