My latest baby...

My latest baby is the grand piano we just bought today. Iris turned six years old yesterday too. What a fun-pack weekend. I am getting back at sketching after the long cycle of sickness in the house since late May. Any day without sickness, is so much more blessing. I will get a small console piano in my studio too in a few days. I can't wait for it.

Salut D Amour

Well after the relentless waves of sickness to our family from January, now things are in recovery mode. So today Tone & I left the kids with our dear nanny and we went for a charity chamber music concert at the Neilson Hayes Library, Bangkok. The money from the violin-piano duo will help toward restoration of this unique and possibly the only American neoclassic building in Bangkok established in 1944. What make it even more special, is that the pianist, Eri Nagakawa, is the teacher of my piano teacher. So I am meeting my piano teacher's teacher...I briefly introduce meself to her during the intermission, this is so fun.

We had a great time, Tone and I did have a great little meal in the gallery cafe wing of the library before the performance.

May your Valentine day be a sweet one. !!!

Unofficial Piano Recital

Well, Thailand is full of surprises... and lately they have come in many great stories. The past three months I have taken maternity leave from university teaching. One day Tone told me that while I was gone, the Univ. main library has done extensive renovation to one of their wings and add more R&R space for Univ. people. One of the addition is adding a grand piano in the main hallway. I was so thrilled and also did not fully believe that story until this past Saturday, Tone and I stopped by the library. We both gave our unofficial recitals to passersby. This is my first time playing in public so I totally shaken. I did attempt to play two songs: Canon in D major and Ballade pour Adeline. I felt so good to play it I hope they keep that piano for as long as possible and I hope to practice more and come back to play it more often.

After Tone and I was about to leave, another young Thai mathematics major student sat down and played Beethoven Sonata No.8. He blew us away. It is like you will never imagine in a million years that a young man in a t-shirt and jeans will be able to give a concert hall quality classical music. I am sure that this piano will bring many great stories to the campus.

Back to music

This is the sketch of our piano for the recent Scavenger Hunt#128 using casein paints.


The enchanting zen from Koh-Tao island trip makes me reconnect with all my senses. I miss playing music. I decide to get back to piano and I am lucky to find a nice instructor who will come to teach me at home every Friday morning. I took 2 lessons so far. It has been great.

I started my first piano lesson when I was late in high school. I had several interruptions. The first one I had to go to senior year in a highschool in the US. Then when I came back to Thailand I got accepted to a University that is quite far from my home. I had to stay in a dorm so no time and no piano to practice. Then when I got my Bachelor I also work far from home again. The following year I got scholarship from the Thai government to go do master an Ph.D in the US. So I had to be away for another 8 years. Once I came back to Thailand in 2002 I had taken a lesson for 2 years but then I quit for my intense work schedule and later I had baby Iris and left thumb tendon injury. So no piano again... until two weeks ago that I restarted the lesson. I hope I can continue despite so many hectic things in life. Now my teacher gives me a simplified piece of "Green Sleeves" to work on.

I am a beginner piano student. I often feel inferior when I hear Tone plays. He is fabulous. I often said to him that he plays piano like I paint. He has a nice way to comfort me that "...But you play piano much better than I paint." What a lovely remark he made. I am lucky to marry Tone then ;-)