The wind blows across the high ridge
1
Author Archives: Catherine Thompson
awoke
awoke
I woke in the night
the time, i don’t know
and stepping, stumbling a little
I reached out to a star filled sky
Bare footed on the rough tropical highland ground 1600 metres
I looked up to see a great wash of stars
and then looking downwards, forwards and to the north
with bleary eyes I saw a wash of stars lying below me
Rubbing eyes thinking it might change my spectacle
my vision stayed, bleary
the twinkling lights below still blurry before me
I thought to walk towards them
A few steps I went
and then stopped, not sure if it was
finally thinking that the odd speaking in front of me
a mystery best kept as it lay
Flower replied, ‘Not my virus, not my problem.’
So on my walk today to the small waterfall
I came upon a red flower
I asked the flower, ‘What do you think of this virus floating around?’
Flower replied, ‘Not my virus, not my problem.’
Brusk
I thought.
The flower waited some seconds while I pondered its response and then said…
‘Look, it’s nice and quiet now and I like that.’
I walked on and the thought came to me that I had no idea that flowers could hear sounds.
Unless the flower meant it as some sort of metaphor.
But who can truly be certain of such things.
Looking back, looking forward
Greetings. In the later half of this year I will be continuing on with part two of the research and creation aspect of my project, Goze in the Foothills of the Himalaya.
With that in mind, I thought that I would put the work that I did in the first phase in 2017 here in one post. Just so that it’s all in one place. I have a couple of videos, small watercolours, photographs and text in English and Thai that you’ll find below.
Quite excited to be getting on to this next chapter in the project!
Text – some of which is in song form and some more as stand alone pieces. Any text in Thai ℅ the wonderful Noon Methaporn Singhanan
The line of the land makes a sound; a music that sings in my heart, stitched together with a thought and a dream – This short sentence, that I wrote many years ago, has come to symbolise my direction in my life and my work. On those frequent times when I look out and have trouble seeing a path ahead, I often find myself remembering and reading these words that I came up with seemingly out of nowhere in one short blasting moment. Quite often they are of some solace and help me to remember.
The rain falls – ยามเมื่อฝนหล่นเป็นสาย
The rain falls
and I think of the days
when the nights were cool
and the dok seiw
brought their sweetness to our lives
In the time of the festival
you said to me
that the flowers in the trees
tell us that good fortune
will soon come
So today I walked to Lampang
to Ban Pamiang
and I washed myself in those trees
I bathed in the dok seiw
How is it that today I sit
The rain is here
but not everywhere
And I fear for the hardships
that will surely come
ยามเมื่อฝนหล่นเป็นสาย
ฉันไม่คลายคิดถึงวันเวลา
ฉันไม่คลายคิดถึงวันเวลา
ค่ำคืนเหน็บหนาว
ที่ดอกเสี้ยวขาวนำพาความชื่นบานมาสู่เรา
ในวันนั้นของฤดูกาล
เธอบอกกับฉันว่า
ดอกไม้เหล่านี้
กำลังบอกถึงเรื่องดีๆ กำลังมา
วันนี้ฉันค่อยๆ เดินไปบ้านป่าเมี่ยง ลำปาง
ชำระล้างตัวฉัน
จนสะอาดสดใสใต้ดอกเสี้ยวขาว
ยามนี้ที่ฉันนั่งอยู่
สายฝนยังร่วงพรู
แล้วที่อื่นเล่า
ฉันรู้สึกถึงความแห้งแล้งเศร้า
ที่กำลังเดินทางมา
ยามนี้
With us all along – ทรงสถิตอยู่กับเราตลอดมา
This has been quite a year in so many ways and one powerful and one sobering aspect for me has been the ongoing exponential collapse of polar sea ice. On a more visceral and close to home aspect, this year has been immense in another way, the monarch of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, passed away to the great sorrow of many Thai people. This song is a response to a powerful moment that I had with a dear dear friend and sister as she said goodbye for now to the King that she loves so very much. It also came from the many conversations that we have had together about the King over a number of years. The main focus for me here is to try to show how a powerful being and soul can have influence beyond our present living on the earth; that such things can resonate for a long long time; that their love and presence can sweetly linger within us and beyond our own selves and time.
I made a video to go with this song that you’ll find below.
What a world it might be สิ่งที่โลกอาจจะเป็น
what meant us only to see สิ่งทรงความหมายที่เราเท่านั้นจะมองเห็น
that love and kindness ว่าความรักความเมตตา
in all its fineness แผ่ออกมาในทุกสิ่งอันดีงาม
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That giving all to all การให้อย่างไม่มีเงื่อนไข
the living, the large and the small ต่อทุกชีวิต ไม่ว่าใหญ่น้อย
for in our days ทรงอยู่ในทุกวันเวลาแห่งชีวิตเรา
in it’s myriad ways ทุกสรรพสิ่งรอบตัว
oh, it’s been with us all along. โอ้ ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That to be one it seems การได้อยู่ด้วยกัน
is not such a far away dream ไม่ได้เป็นเฉกความเพ้อฝันอันห่างไกล
as our daily life might show us ชีวิตในทุกวันเน้นย้ำให้เราเห็นเองว่า
when those days sit right before us เหมือนทรงอยู่ด้วยกันตลอดเวลา
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
A momentary get together
A momentary get together
a meeting up
strangers to begin, friends to end
wais all around
amongst strangers
now friends
begin with warm thoughts
as insides are gently exposed
finishes for the day
with a bag of pak and some limes from the tree
that lives above our conversation
I begin this walk with a thought
I begin this walk with a thought
a step
with my hands
and make this shamisen
a vision
from a sacred tree becomes a person’s name
not known to me
and now years later
finds it’s way into this instrument
that I carry as I walk
through this shamisen I walk in the forest
and remember
how my ancestors could speak
with the trees
speak the language of
all the living
all that exists
for a moment
for ever
Far far away
I came from a cold country far far away
no longer able to sustain myself
In those days where each successive winter
living rough
would make me wonder if this might be my last
So I left my friends
whom I had already travelled away from
in that land of great distances
but now I am in a new home
I followed my family
though they are still far away
but I could walk to them
or them to me
if need be
Don’t need no plane
Don’t need no boat
It is warmer
and wetter
and hotter and dryer
Long hallways
I remember long hallways
all the same
Sterile
White and greys
All levels identical
I was young
but old enough
to know
that this place
was not the place
of life
but of non-life
I wondered how
I could get back
to the forest
and the stream
the grass
the air
that was home
That I remembered so well
A bat
Last night there was a bat
grasping onto the net that surrounds my bed on the wood floor
It would cry out in despair and then
fly a foot or two
to land on another part of the netting
and then cry out once again
Pitiful it was and I was worried for bat’s fearfulness
when the night sky was only a breath away
I nudged it with a little stuffed tiger that lives beside my mat
and it landed with a soft wish on the floor
but a little closer to the always open windows
that have no glass
One more nudge
and it was flying in the open room
and then flying in the open night air
I imagined that perhaps the fear that had the bat in it’s grip
for a time, a short time, but maybe a long time for the wee thing
was thrown away with each wing pulse
beyond my walls
เราเดินไปยังที่ที่เราจะไป – We walk, we will go
เราเดินไปยังที่ที่เราจะไป
I can smell the pine trees with their long needles
and I know that I am high up in the mountains
เราเดินไปยังที่ที่เราจะไป
The air is fresh and there is a gentle breeze
that speaks to us all
เราเดินไปยังที่ที่เราจะไป
The village is below us, not too far to go
Soon we will have shelter and something to eat
เราเดินไปยังที่ที่เราจะไป
We will let the deep earth take us down
and bring us back to home
If the rain comes today
If the rain comes today
I will sing a song
that tells of one more moment
to breathe free and think of the wild
If the rain comes today
I will stay at home
I will sit underneath my roof
open to the air
If the rain comes today
I will let my face be bathed
in the soft moistness
carried by the gentle wind
If the rain comes today
I will say hello to the forest spirits
and ask them are they not happy
just as I am.
If the rain comes today
If the rain comes today
If the rain comes today
If the rain comes today
Beautiful งาม ngam – Love ฮัก hug
Earth โลก loke/loka
Sky ฟ้า fah
Waterน้ำ nahm
River แม่น้ำ mae nahm
Wind ลม lome
Air อากาศ ar-kard
Mountain ดอย doi
Mountain ridge ไหล่ดอย lai doi (shoulder of mountain)
Mountain path ตางบนดอย tang-bon-doi
Mountain water ตาน้ำ ta-nahm
People คน kon
Lanna people คนเมือง kon meuang
Love ฮัก hug
Beautiful งาม ngam
Lament
To the great mountains
I must say my goodbyes
To the trees and the sacred springs of water
I now say my goodbyes
To the great cats and bears I bow deeply with gratefulness
that I was able to exist at your side and yet
I must now say my goodbyes
That my kind brought us to our end I feel endless shame and deep sorrow
and so to all that I love and hold dear to my heart
I must now say my goodbyes
Today I cannot help but cry and weep
that our time should come in this way
without honour and without joy
But I leave, happy to be with my brothers and sisters of the forest
I happily lie down on the soft ground with my true kin
May we meet again in a finer and wiser time
I must now say my goodbyes
yesterday tomorrow
Yesterday the rain will fall
Where in years past
I will see a tiger
And a tree limb fell
Tomorrow
At night while the sun
Streamed through the window
When I first arrived
Watercolours
Video
ทรงสถิตอยู่กับเราตลอดมา – With us all along
English words, music and voice – แมว – Catherine Thompson
Thai words translation and voice – นางสาวเมธาพร สิงหนันท์ – Noon Methaporn Singhanan
With us all along – ทรงสถิตอยู่กับเราตลอดมา
This has been quite a year in so many ways and one powerful and one sobering aspect for me has been the ongoing exponential collapse of polar sea ice. On a more visceral and close to home aspect, this year, 2016/17, has been immense in another way, the monarch of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, passed away to the great sorrow of many Thai people. This song is a response to a powerful moment that I had with a dear dear friend and sister as she said goodbye for now to the King that she loves so very much. It also came from the many conversations that we have had together about the King over a number of years. The main focus for me here is to try to show how a powerful being and soul can have influence beyond our present living on the earth; that such things can resonate for a long long time; that their love and presence can sweetly linger within us and beyond our own selves and time.
What a world it might be สิ่งที่โลกอาจจะเป็น
what meant us only to see สิ่งทรงความหมายที่เราเท่านั้นจะมองเห็น
that love and kindness ว่าความรักความเมตตา
in all its fineness แผ่ออกมาในทุกสิ่งอันดีงาม
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That giving all to all การให้อย่างไม่มีเงื่อนไข
the living, the large and the small ต่อทุกชีวิต ไม่ว่าใหญ่น้อย
for in our days ทรงอยู่ในทุกวันเวลาแห่งชีวิตเรา
in it’s myriad ways ทุกสรรพสิ่งรอบตัว
oh, it’s been with us all along. โอ้ ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That to be one it seems การได้อยู่ด้วยกัน
not such a far away dream ไม่ได้เป็นเฉกความเพ้อฝันอันห่างไกล
as our daily life might show us ชีวิตในทุกวันเน้นย้ำให้เราเห็นเองว่า
when those days sit right before us เหมือนทรงอยู่ด้วยกันตลอดเวลา
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
Reflection on a soft wander across a high high ridge
Catherine Thompson – Kora
During my walks in 2017, I would often make an impromptu video of one thing or another. Below are a couple examples of that.
last eve of 2nd walk
Some minor philosophising on this as seems a common thing to do, for me, at the end of a journey.
Walking onwards…
… it’s nice to wander onwards not really knowing what is in store.
The narrow road with the concrete turns into a trail…
Camped in a small coffee grove
at the foot of Doi Lanka. I decided to camp here and then make my way up the following day unencumbered by a big pack. Had a few hours and so I thought that I’d do a little strumming. I’m not sure whether I will bring my Shamisen next year if I decide to go on a walkabout again. Though I love the idea and what bringing the instrument represents, I didn’t really play it too much. I suppose that these walks are more about finding inspiration and a kind of meditation.
And this one a story of looking for and receiving help and then a return to visit the small village school. A blog post from 2017 this…
Ok, back to telling tales about the first walk of the project. I am going to try to finish this before the second one starts. I think that the chances of this happening are good, however today I am jumping a head to recount a wonderful get together with the rural school of Ban Pamiang high up in the mountains in Lampang, not too far from where I live in Chiang Mai. In fact, the provincial border is a mere (if steep and so farther than it might appear on a map) 6km away from where I write this.
It is pertinent, this, because as I mentioned in my last post I managed to damage my shamisen and so left it with the wonderful Kru Jamnong while I wandered south for 6 or 7 days. On return, I asked her if I could come by and show the children some of my musical instruments and let them play them as well. Luckily my mom, brother and sister where visiting and they rented a car. This meant that I could load the boot up with a bunch of instruments. Otherwise it would be me on my little motor bike and a few of the smaller instruments. Ie. sans kora.
I brought kora, shamisen, a drum made using a small gourd that I left with them, some bone flutes, bone percussion ribs, a couple of tin whistles and my wooden Irish flute (a transverse instrument different than a tin whistle).
From here, I’ll mostly have photos and videos. They say much more than me writing here could ever do. I’ll never forget the day. As always, the most wonderful part is when the kids take over and start paying (in the truest sense of the word) with the instruments themselves. Thanks to my brother Michael for helping out!
Near to around 4:50 you’ll see the kids rapping on the wood floor with their own improvised percussion. A gorgeous moment to be sure!
I’ll finish this listing of stuff from 2017 with this blog post…
Walking and the essence of a slow approach
Today on pondering what to write about on this post (the 3rd of my remembrances of my walk that ended almost 2 weeks ago now), I thought about how on my 3rd day I would go off of paved roads altogether and onto a trail that I had a hint about but was not certain of its border. This then brought me to remembering how on my long ride the slowness of our (me & 2 horses and just to make clear long travel on horseback is essentially the same as walking. One doesn’t lope from one camp to another!)
travel allowed people I might come upon to have the time to open up to a stranger. Yes, I was with horses and in the southern Canadian open plains the mere company of a horse creates an instant kinship that is difficult to quantify. Still, on approaching a ranch house or a farm house or simply some people just out and about, I would always dismount and the three of us would walk at a leisurely pace to meet whoever was ahead of us. It is the respectful thing to do and brings great dividends (to use a word that has been so horribly hijacked by the economic world).
This is one aspect to my walk in the mountains of northern Thailand that is very similar to my 3 year long ride and what is so beautiful about it is that in many ways the greetings and small or large welcomes are so very similar. I also knew in my heart that it would be so.
note: at one point this lovely woman asks me if I was a falang (a foreigner, and I think it also implies a white foreigner) I didn’t quite understand. It would have been better for me to ask her to repeat what she said but a little slower. Instead of that I decided that she might have asked me how old I was as this a a question that is often asked of me and is a standard question here in Thailand in general. Hence the slightly perplexed expression on her face accompanied with a wonderful graciousness of the moment that is, in my experience, also a standard way of being over here.
One could never make an approach in some sort of vehicle and expect the same openness. To be sure, in both places one could come by car or motorbike and then take the time to bring an openness, I have experienced this on many occasions here and in Canada, but by a slow approach subtle decisions get made long before words become a part of the exchange. And in that, suddenly language can take a bit of a lesser importance to things. And I think that in so many ways, this might just be everything.
This my 3rd day was fairly long with an uphill walk that wasn’t too too extreme followed by reaching a kind of height of land, a ridge continuing on with a long downhill walk to a small village that I knew (granted, knew very little) about. The walk down to this village brought me through a gorgeous forest that had the feeling of great age to it in this high area with many trees wrapped with a cloth wreath of the same colour that many monks that live in the forest wear in their robes. A muted brown leading to orange.
2019 Dok Siew Festival in Ban Pamiang
The rain falls – ยามเมื่อฝนหล่นเป็นสาย
The rain falls
and I think of the days
when the nights were cool
and the dok seiw
brought their sweetness to our lives
In the time of the festival
you said to me
that the flowers in the trees
tell us that good fortune
will soon come
So today I walked to Lampang
to Ban Pamiang
and I washed myself in those trees
I bathed in the dok seiw
How is it that today I sit
The rain is here
but not everywhere
And I fear for the hardships
that will surely come
ยามเมื่อฝนหล่นเป็นสาย
ฉันไม่คลายคิดถึงวันเวลา
ฉันไม่คลายคิดถึงวันเวลา
ค่ำคืนเหน็บหนาว
ที่ดอกเสี้ยวขาวนำพาความชื่นบานมาสู่เรา
ในวันนั้นของฤดูกาล
เธอบอกกับฉันว่า
ดอกไม้เหล่านี้
กำลังบอกถึงเรื่องดีๆ กำลังมา
วันนี้ฉันค่อยๆ เดินไปบ้านป่าเมี่ยง ลำปาง
ชำระล้างตัวฉัน
จนสะอาดสดใสใต้ดอกเสี้ยวขาว
ยามนี้ที่ฉันนั่งอยู่
สายฝนยังร่วงพรู
แล้วที่อื่นเล่า
ฉันรู้สึกถึงความแห้งแล้งเศร้า
ที่กำลังเดินทางมา
ยามนี้
Thai influence on my guitar headstock design
The existential shit-show, diversions and let’s pick a goat
These days there is a ton of anger out there – I’m mostly thinking interwebs here but I guess it exists is all sorts of spots – with people desperately looking for something to be outraged about and then eagerly and proudly proclaiming it.
It’s the Russians! Eeek! – Cultural appropriation. I’m OUTRAGED! – What! no purified drinking water coming out of the tap on my demand?! We have to boil our water to drink? That’s INHUMANE!
The list does goes on.
At any rate, I can’t help but think that a lot of this is a kind of existential panic that is flowing through the human population about the possibility that we are not actually immune to the tremendous damage that we have collectively wrought on every natural community on the planet including our own. Of course, the level of denial is omnipotent but there does seem to be cracks appearing here and there and those cracks do seem to be shining a narrow, not to mention, inconvenient, light on the pooled fog.
Take the climate situation, if you will. Yes there are lots that say that they are concerned and all, and many that are more than willing to use the Trump 25 Make America Great Again Lets Get the Hell Out of Paris! as their springboard to express their outrage at the situation. The thing is, well, two things is, that there is an implied assumption that it’s all his fault now with no acknowledgement that his predecessors, and quite likely pro-decessors were/will be pretty much all the same. This and at the same time it just functions as the headline for the day. Something to be well forgotten tomorrow and tomorrow until the need to burst forth with some outrage becomes once again uncontainable.
Perhaps it is just human nature, this, but perhaps not. I dunno.
Water Walks June 4
A two-parter and a bit of a long one!
Comfort, the necessitate to pull away from comfort, the joy of the two sides – gratefulness to have food on a plate – food advice that these days might mean the loss of your children stuff like that. – the great beauty and generosity of the people on the prairies.
Forest walks June 2
Topics… new ridge trails (to me), cake and coffee, he that shall not be named forever more, lovely podcast interview, mushrooms, a bit with a view surprise surprise, a beginning ant hill, lots of trees as per usual
ทรงสถิตอยู่กับเราตลอดมา – With us all along
English words and music creation and performance
แมว – Catherine Thompson
Thai words creation and performance
นางสาวเมธาพร สิงหนันท์ – Noon Methaporn Singhanan
With us all along – ทรงสถิตอยู่กับเราตลอดมา
This has been quite a year in so many ways and one powerful and one sobering aspect for me has been the ongoing exponential collapse of polar sea ice. On a more visceral and close to home aspect, this year, 2016/17, has been immense in another way, the monarch of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, passed away to the great sorrow of many Thai people. This song is a response to a powerful moment that I had with a dear dear friend and sister as she said goodbye for now to the King that she loves so very much. It also came from the many conversations that we have had together about the King over a number of years. The main focus for me here is to try to show how a powerful being and soul can have influence beyond our present living on the earth; that such things can resonate for a long long time; that their love and presence can sweetly linger within us and beyond our own selves and time.
What a world it might be สิ่งที่โลกอาจจะเป็น
what meant us only to see สิ่งทรงความหมายที่เราเท่านั้นจะมองเห็น
that love and kindness ว่าความรักความเมตตา
in all its fineness แผ่ออกมาในทุกสิ่งอันดีงาม
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That giving all to all การให้อย่างไม่มีเงื่อนไข
the living, the large and the small ต่อทุกชีวิต ไม่ว่าใหญ่น้อย
for in our days ทรงอยู่ในทุกวันเวลาแห่งชีวิตเรา
in it’s myriad ways ทุกสรรพสิ่งรอบตัว
oh, it’s been with us all along. โอ้ ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
That to be one it seems การได้อยู่ด้วยกัน
not such a far away dream ไม่ได้เป็นเฉกความเพ้อฝันอันห่างไกล
as our daily life might show us ชีวิตในทุกวันเน้นย้ำให้เราเห็นเองว่า
when those days sit right before us เหมือนทรงอยู่ด้วยกันตลอดเวลา
Well, it’s been with us all along. ทรงสถิตอยู่กับพวกเราตลอดมา
reflection on a soft wander across a high high ridge
watercolours
Some photographic renderings of watercolours that I did this week inspired by the mountains here and my general wandering about
march 26 water walk and blathering
Just to be clear, there is nothing serious, not really, or maybe really really, about this.
Upon watching it again, I’m starting to think that I should entitle these walking chats as something like, ‘A Hoser’s (Hosette’s ?) Take on the World Situation when it comes to Climate and Other Vexing Shenanigans’.
Anyway, I have a proper lav mic now so I’m trying the new tech out.
I’m mostly referencing Paul Beckwith and Guy McPherson, and I mention Jennifer Hynes, George Monbiot, Kevin Hester and Dahr Jamail. I meant to also mention Wolfgang Werminghausen as well as Sam Carana and all sorts of other entities that one can find on youtube and other nefarious places. All worth checking out for more serious explorations.
camped in a small coffee grove
at the foot of Doi Lanka. I decided to camp here and then make my way up the following day unencumbered by a big pack. Had a few hours and so I thought that I’d do a little strumming. I’m not sure whether I will bring my Shamisen next year if I decide to go on a walkabout again. Though I love the idea and what bringing the instrument represents, I didn’t really play it too much. I suppose that these walks are more about finding inspiration and a kind of meditation.
walking onwards…
… it’s nice to wander onwards not really knowing what is in store.
The narrow road with the concrete turns into a trail…
Goze in the Foothills of the Himalaya 