White Elephants

If everyone else has family reunions similar to ours one of the notoriously strange episodes that occurs at each one is my brother Dan trying to explain to people why he thinks the earth is hollow (he's an engineer people--apparently they have equations for this kind of thing). But that's not the weird family reunion thing I wanted to write about. That honor goes to the 'white elephant' gift exchange. In the educational portion of our blog we will explore exactly where this term comes from (seriously this entry is bound to be just as boring as it sounds).

In Thailand the legend of the white elephant begins with the origins of the country's main religion--Buddhism. One night the Buddha's mother had a dream in which a white elephant ran into her womb (I'm really not sure exactly how to use the word 'womb' in a sentence, but that was my best shot). The next day she awoke from the dream to discover that she was pregnant, and several months down the line Buddha was born. In honor of this episode Thais began looking at white Elephants as holy. In reverence to them these creatures are not used for labor (unlike the elephants at the elephant farm by our house who are forced to make weird looking paintings with their trunks to sell to tourists--it's like some kind of elephant sweat shop). Farmers and other landowners quickly realized that owning a white elephant was not necessarily a good thing. They still had to feed and take care of them, but the lazy albino behemoths didn't work. Representing this dynamic the term 'white elephant' came to symbolize something that didn't have any particularly useful function. At some point this phrase was adopted into the English language, from where it was borrowed by family reunion planning committees (I imagine that things as serious as family reunions must be planned by committees). So without further ado, here are some pictures of 100% real white elephants:

Not as white as I imagined either before seeing the pictures, but still...


Yep, this guy is as useless as Julio Lugo, or Jason Giambi (that one is for you odeman)


Picture published in Thailand of an elephant voting. He's also wearing a Santa hat, so I think he might have another gig booked after this one at a local mall.


So this one is a normal, non-white elephant. Notice how useful he looks. As a matter of historical record (and as her facial expression indicates) this is Maisy's first view of one of these guys.

In Memorium: Nikon Coolpix 5600

A quick check of the dates between our last entry and this one will reveal that we haven't posted anything new in a while. Contributing to my laziness was the fact that our old beat up digital camera was 'borrowed' permanently by some Thai rapscallion. Without pictorial proof, finding a coherently themed topic to blog about has been more difficult than usual. However, to honor our fallen camera I am including several as yet unpublished pictures in memory of the Coolpix 5600. True the lens cover only closed half-way, and it was also instrumental in alienating us from all of our friends who have any animal rights tendencies (see below), but it will still be sorely missed (until our new camera arrives with some friends from the States). Without further ado, some of our favorite shots from Thailand as recorded by our ill-fated friend, the 5600:

In case some of you were curious, they do indeed sell pieces of meat on sticks to feed the leopards with at the Chiang Mai Zoo. Also pictured here is the beginnings of the mullet that I am cultivating.


Close-up proof of the fact that for roughly the same price as a pack of M&Ms, and less than the cost of a Nutrageous (which per ounce costs about the same as gold in Thailand) you can feed a carnivore of your choosing.


Maisy and her new friend at the park. As a result of Maisy's combover hairstyle the pictures to follow occurred.


This was what I believe Dianna refers to as a 'girls day out'. I'm not sure what that means exactly, except that it did allow me plenty of time to lounge around the house reading Red Sox articles in my underwear.


First haircut. Sadly on this same day my dream of growing father/daughter mullets died.


One of my favorite pictures taken by the 5600. In response to their queries I showed this to a group of NGO workers at the Thai-Burmese border, after which I was referred to as the 'guy with the wife who looks like a model'. That was an improvement on my previous nickname (the guy who only wears Red Sox t-shirts).

Mad Walking Skills

As we were setting up our Christmas Tree (straight from the green plastic Christmas tree farm), Maisy decided to add to the festivities by using this as an opportunity to showcase her first steps. She had an ornament in each hand and nonchalantly pushed off the chair and took a few steps towards us. This video is actually of her 17th-35th first steps, but its the same general idea...