Winter Scenes

My gosh! Posting pictures and stories really got away from me this time. I had collected a lot of photos to share. Here is the first of many in the coming days.

We were back in the states for a short time and the weather was frigid for the most part. We got to see snow but it was so cold the snow was useless for creating creatures or igloos in the yard. In fact, one day it was so cold and the snow so dry, every time a wind gust came up the snow moved all over the place. I captured a photo.

It is really hard to transition from the weather here to winter in upstate New York. This was my nighttime wardrobe- yes, all of it at one time: flannel pajamas, borrowed velour pant suit, heavy cotton full length nightgown. I then added 2 heavy comforters. These same indoor temperatures used to be comfortable for me!

Here's the outside thermometer one morning. Brrrrrrr!

As I said it was pretty cold most of the visit. It did warm up for about 36 hours and ice broke up on the river.  When the ice breaks up, there are usually floods in the lowest areas around the river. Fortunately, the flooding was minor.

Food and Drink- Including Green!

We came upon these 2 drinks in a while ago so I have misplaced the names and ingredients. They are both pretty and pink, aren't they? The top one contains buah naga merah (red dragonfruit). B thinks it might have been called a Red Dragon.

I'm pretty sure this one had strawberry and kiwi, but I'm not at all sure what else. This was more like a slushy.

Ah, back to green! Here is a kiwi melon lemonata. Contains kiwi, melon, lemon, soda water.

A matcha green tea (hot) and a cappucino.

 A Kyoto Kyuri mocktail with Kyuri fruit, apple, mint, soda water.

I haven't figured out what to do with this but it looked interesting.

Some folks may know I am mostly a cheese pizza gal.I might go crazy and order a cheese pizza with extra cheese!  I rarely ever enjoy pizza with anything additional on top. This was intriguing so we ordered it to share. It's a frankfurter barbecue pizza with cheese bites all around. It was actually pretty good.

We indulged in dessert one evening. This was a triple lemon something. Lemon curd between the layers, lemon cream in between the layers and on the outside and of course lemon cake. All that plus capuccino with the prettiest sugar choices I've seen here: large rock raw sugar or lovely white sugar cubes. I added one large raw sugar rock to see if it would even dissolve. It really didn't. I got tired of stirring to find out if it ever would dissolve.

Out and About

2018 Chinese New Year was last month. Once again many of the malls in the area were decorated. Here are a few shots.

I just loved the shoe options to help celebrate Chinese New Year! I just enjoyed looking.

It's now the Year of the Dog!

Here's a new coffee place my friends and I tried out. The name is One Fifteenth ( 1/15). Odd name but the parking lot is larger than some coffee spots I've visited.

The statue Patung Pemuda Membangan marks the southern end of Jl. Jendral Sudirman. It's a bare-bodied man holding an eternal flame above his head. The statue symbolizes the contribution of youth in the development of the country. Locally this statue is called the "Pizza Man." Construction of the MRT is taking place all around the Pizza Man so you can't see the entire statue or the pond it sits in. It's surrounded by a high fence and has been for some time. 

Finally we are trying a second driver. B is taking Pak Oky nearly all week with him to Cilegon leaving me without transportation. So, we are auditioning Pak Rapiudin. This is the 3rd week of his trial. He is trying very hard but communication isn't easy. We were told he speaks English but so far B and I both have serious doubts that this is true. I've seen some new parts of town because he doesn't know all areas well yet. He is learning my regular spots as time goes on and I'm using my Bahasa.

Rambutan seller.

 A key maker.

 Juice bar.

The perspective is a little different. Our second car is a black Honda CRV instead of a mini-van. Notice how the scooters travel between the cars.

Glad I don't have to drive myself in this sort of traffic.

I am pretty sure there was a pair of birds nesting in this cell tower equipped with palm fronts.

Crafting Continued

While back in the US I came upon this in mom's closet. I made this for her so many years ago I have no idea when it happened. I also stitched oval pieces of fabric for Mom to paint a design. Guess that never happened, but I did find an oval piece in her sewing basket so there is still time!

 I actually knitted this last summer after a trip back to the US. Conversation centered around Christmas and I thought, "Little Belle must have a Santa sweater!" I already had red yarn and white yarn and even the yarn to complete the buckle. We only had to find some black yarn for the belt and the Santa suit was possible. So cute! [Sad note: The family lost Belle to a rare disease just recently but she really enjoyed her Santa outfit at Christmas last year!]

I began these socks last spring or even before that. They got set aside, as a PHD (project half done) as I took up other projects. My crafty group friend Danielle knitted a few rows on these during the last session she attended before moving to the US. All of her projects were already packed up and I had two projects with me so she worked on these a little bit. We have very similar knitting tension because you can't tell where the Danielle rows are located.

Leading up to Christmas I had two gift projects in the works: a nursing themed quilt filled with various germs and such for our niece and also a small paper pieced wall hanging for sister. For both of these I tried my hand at machine quilting.

During the early part of 2018 I finally finished my garden themed quilt. I've written about the initial purchase of fabrics in fall of 2015, the lack of any work on the project for at least 1.5 years, then finally getting it in gear and starting the project. I did outsource the hand quilting on it but I did everything else.

A little painting project while in the states.  Mom worked her project and I worked on this "project bag" for my knitting. Added the drawstring topper later.

B mentioned that the coaster he had at the office was barely large enough for the water glasses that are provided. I casually mentioned that I could make him a couple. I also mentioned I could embroider the company logo on a coaster.  B picked the background fabric and now he has a "fancy" coaster for his water glass.

I've said it before but the group of friends I have made here help make all of this work possible. We all help each other in so many ways. Sometimes we share a technique for embroidery, applique, quilting, sewing, knitting, or crochet.  Sometimes we consult, sometimes we baste a quilt together on the floor or help tape out a machine quilt pattern ( also on the floor!)— everyone is so generous with their knowledge and their time. Sometimes we just talk. Our little group includes representatives from quite a few countries  (and I am forgetting some of them as I type this): United States, Italy, Denmark, New Zealand, Wales, Australia, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, The Netherlands, Indonesia, South Africa, Canada and Austria. Thanks ladies and John!

Here are two very recent pictures which show some of our current members, though one of those pictured has just relocated.

Neighborhood construction Plus

So, construction continues. We now have two projects in the works. The larger one is a hotel maybe, hotel with nightclub-- we have no idea yet. This one is on our bedroom side of the apartment building. You can see on the map we are surrounded. The little one is a tear down/rebuild.

The teardown/rebuild is on the opposite side of the apartment. We have no idea what will replace the building they are tearing down but here's the progress so far:

December 13, 2017

 December 31, 2017

February 7, 2018

February 22, 2018. A large below ground hole is exposed. And it's got water in it from the rains. It is still rainy season here.

Wait a second! February 27, 2018-- there is another hole beneath the hole!

The green machinery is a HUGE jackhammer. Ibu Tin and I have endured the daily non-stop hammering. Once in a while they work on weekends so B gets a taste of the noise. For the most part, this work stops at night. We'll see what happens when re-build starts.

In thinking about the construction, I thought it was time to do another side-by-side comparison from when we landed in August 2014 to the current time. The red arrows mark the newly built skyscrapers that are the most obvious. There are probably more. These are views to the north and northwest/west. It's not your imagination that the red arrows on the left are a lot smaller than the ones on the right.

So much construction!

One evening we did have a terrific sunset.

Of course this is still rainy season, so one night I got to see this as the sun set. B and I were Skyping and he Whatsapp'd me his view. This was mine.

B was in Cilegon so his view was quite different.

Hmmm. Note the pointy island is really a cone volcano named .... Anak Krakatao or Krakatao Child!