Out & About & Skies & Views

Still in the rainy season. Since I spend a lot of time in the car, I see a lot of things through rain covered car windows.

We also get to see a lot of fabulous stormy skies but this one was special. One evening as the sun was setting, a huge storm was moving in just as the the lights in town came on. I captured this shot.

I will call this the mystery of the empty parking garage. They worked on building this parking garage for many months. Now there are a few cars using it. However, cars are still parking along the street causing huge traffic jams. What? B just keeps saying maybe the parking garage isn't officially open yet? I don't know. I just know I was hoping the huge parking garage would alleviate the street parking situation I encounter quite often. I see now that it isn't going to help. Odd but true.

One morning it had rained all night so the air was unusually clear. From our bedroom window I could see the distant mountains. 

And one Sunday afternoon I noticed a lot of smoke in the northern part of the city. It turns out that 3 boats in the harbor had caught fire. It was windy and the fires managed to burn a total of 35 boats before being extinguished.

Below is a link to news coverage of what we were "entertained with" on a recent Sunday for 12 hours. There is a video if you scroll down a bit. Be sure to have the sound on your device.

Our "entertainment" involved screeching tires and smoke... oh and cars backfiring beginning at 4:30 am. Also, in the video, you can see our apartment tower! If you try the link and it shows in Bahasa Indonesia, look for a link to change the story to English.

https://news.detik.com/berita-jawa-timur/d-4460720/tokoh-super-hero-dan-alffey-ray-di-millenial-road-safety-festival?_ga=2.158154303.421064783.1552204141-614498517.1552204141

Food and Drink and ...

As always, we continue to seek out "green" drinks to share. This is a basil lemonade. It looks slightly more green in person. It really had a nice flavor.

This is a lychee squash- before stirring and after. I think it had a dash of melon syrup in the bottom.

AWA had a little celebration during Valentine's Week.  I made the family recipe for jam bars. Typically, at holiday time, these are decorated with small pieces of red and green glaceed fruit so it looks like a little flower on each square. For this occasion, I just piped open and closed hearts on each one. They were a big hit!

Our names on our coffee one morning. 

Sometimes I just shake my head...

Iced or hot coffee latte cheese?

Iced or hot English breakfast milk tea cheese?

Nope. Didn't try either.

I don't know why this guy had my name on his shirt! 

Also, we have found a new Indian restaurant. And, from the restaurant window, we can see our apartment building. That's our place, under the bow!

Our Diffenbachia!

Our diffenbachia plant was in desperate need of pruning. It was taking over the balcony.  I am sure I have done minor pruning on this plant in the past, but this time it needed a lot of work.This is an "after" photo.

Nearing the end of my pruning project, my hands began to burn. I hadn't worn gloves because I hadn't needed them before. I washed thoroughly immediately after finishing my project, but the damage was done. Chemical burns on my hands and one arm. Burning and itching that took me to the doctor. Ointments helped and so did antihistamines. Eventually the damaged skin was replaced with fresh new skin. Lesson learned. Next time: long sleeves and gloves! By the way, the sap is a known irritant— I should have read that before the plant surgery. Perhaps I am just extra sensitive to it?

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year was February 5 this year- year of the pig. Here are a few shots of the holiday decor.

Again this year we were invited to celebrate Chinese New Year with B's colleagues. It was a really late night! Many courses. The menu:

Try google translate if you want to know what we had that night!

2018 Holiday Season

I have been busy and negligent in getting items posted to the blog. As we say here, "Maaf! Saya sangat sibuk."

Here are a few notes catching up from the last holiday season. While in the US, we visited a mega Walmart- 2 stories tall. I don't recall ever seeing this sort of set up before. Here, because grocery stores are most often in the basement level of shopping centers and malls, we have belted escalators so you push your cart onto the thing and stick your foot behind a wheel to keep it in place while you both ride up together. The new Walmart method had an ordinary escalator for people passengers and a separate escalator for your cart. You push the cart on then you get on the human passenger side. B rode up and down several times just to test it out.

Another interesting thing I saw while in the Walmart was this huge shipment of soup. A friend (who has now moved on) used to have me pick up 4-6 cans at a time of mixed cream of whatever soup for her. They were so unavailable that I would only occasionally see any at all and if they were available, 4-6 cans might be all they had. She used to "hide" vegetables from her kids in baked chicken dishes by incorporating cream of broccoli, mushroom, asparagus, potato, etc. soups with added chopped vegetables. This was really something strange to see!

We had a much more mild weather situation this year during our holiday visit. Milder temps and very little snow. Note: The family got pummeled by snow shortly after I returned here and have been hit by snowstorms quite a few times this winter.

Our rental car was an unusual color - orange was in the name.

I found time to visit the quilting shop near mom's while in the US. I just loved these sayings. The shop owner had a bunch of them.
" I'm a quilter... what's your superpower?"
"Quilters don't make mistakes... we do variations."

And this one that is easier to read:

Why So Busy?

Two other women's organizations in town are now sharing our location—our Center. So now, the American Women's Association, the British Women's Association and the Asociacion Ibero Americana all share the same building.  AWA has 2 days, BWA 2 days and AIA 1 day.  It was a massive effort for our team to pull this all together in terms of ironing out lease agreements, furnishings, garage sales, meetings. We now have one banner in the lobby. In part, it works like airline check in counter space that is shared. We all have a space to stash our own organization's little things and we get them out then put them away. That part is a bit of a pain sometimes, but in terms of cost savings, it's a win for everyone. We all also offer "member prices" for any activities held at the Center, though I haven't had any time to make use of that offer.

In addition, I am still secretary for AWA and I am also special consultant to the President as well. I have been here a while now! As a result, I am very involved in many things that go on including training members to staff our front desk on days we are in the Center. I am also trying to re-learn how to play bridge on Wednesday afternoons. I am usually there in the morning for meetings or something so I stay on.

I hosted my crafty group for a Welcome Back party at the very end of January. Nearly everyone had returned from their holiday travels. The cute sayings I saw on signs at the quilt shop in NY gave me an idea. For the party, I covered much of an exterior door to our AC units with cute expressions. A friend suggested these would make a great little lap quilt. Maybe some day.

 I only took one picture at the party.