Travel to the US

We had the opportunity to travel to the US to attend a wedding. In late July, our nephew Ian married lovely Amanda at a beautiful setting adjacent to the Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado.

We had a chance to spend some quality time with family we don't get to see often enough and also to meet and spend some time with Amanda's family.

It's a "short" trip to get from here to Boulder, Colorado. Much shorter than the trip to get from here to say upstate New York. Approximately 10 hours shorter. We were able to make it from here to Denver in two long flights and then a drive from Denver to Boulder. That only added about 45 minutes. I think it took longer to get the rental car than to drive between the two. Not too bad!

We arrived several days before the event to have a chance to shake off jet-lag and spent some quality time with family and I spent several days looking at the bluer than blue sky!  I did read in a promotional brochure about Colorado that the skies are bluer.

We visited quite a few spots in and around Denver, Boulder and Golden Colorado.

We were able to meet a docent friend at the Denver Botanical Garden which was really nice.  Hi to Deb and her husband Ray for taking the time. We were so glad it worked out. As I write this, a corpse flower is blooming at the DBG. Glad to have missed that. There was a sculpture exhibit in the DBG at the time. Deborah Butterfield's "The Nature of Horses" is a collection of horse sculptures located throughout the DBG which are cast bronze and painted. Look like driftwood, don't they? Fabulous.

In Boulder, we visited the Chatauqua National Historic Landmark site. Chautauqua history in brief: In the late 1890s, a group in Texas wanted a summer school for teachers in a cool climate. The Chautauqua Movement was such a powerful and popular cultural force in the United States at the time,they partnered with a railroad company, packaged the school with a chautauqua. Boulder and the Texas group came together! The site for what originally was called the Texas-Colorado Chautauqua was expressly chosen for its spectacular mountain setting and its health-giving environment. Located at the base of Boulder’s Flatirons and one of only 24 National Historic Landmarks in the state of Colorado, the Colorado Chautauqua is one of only a few remaining chautauquas in the U.S. It is considered THE western representation of the cultural movement that swept the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is the only site west of the Mississippi that has been in continuous operation since its founding and with its original structures intact and used for their original purposes.

 Some more pretty pictures:

We traveled to Golden as well. I say again, bluer than blue skies!

It turns out that Buffalo Bill Days was happening. We arrived too late to watch the parade but by the number of people in town, this is a huge summer event in Golden. I didn't remember this, but Buffalo Bill died and is buried on Lookout Mountain in Golden. Since the 1940s or so there has been an annual celebration.  Near the police station we saw this interesting sign.

While in Golden, we visited a small quilt museum. As someone new to quilting, I was fascinated by the applique work but equally by the decorative and artistic quilting done to create a beauty like this. All of the quilts incorporated animal shapes and other natural elements into the quilting pattern (though some did incorporate quilting such as stippling) after finishing the applique work, etc.  Gorgeous.

Along the road on one of our outings we saw multiple cars parked at the side of the road with lots of people staring off at something in the distance. We simply had to stop to investigate. What were they looking at ? A lady moose!

We did not see any elk, except this sculpture in downtown Boulder.

In the evenings in the summer there are street performers all about in Boulder. We had the chance to see several guys juggle lit torches.

The wedding was held on our last full day in Boulder. The couple was sent off on their honeymoon with a serenade of cow bells! All the best to Ian and Amanda!

The morning after the wedding, we left Colorado to visit more family in New York. We had just a short visit and then it was time to get back on planes and return home. The flight back: 34.5 hrs and days of jet-lag to follow. I haven't figured out the secret yet.

Where have we been?

Yes, the blog postings sort of stopped, didn't they? Haven't written in nearly one month. Shame on me.

We've been pretty busy and although the need to update all of you was ever present, the time in which to accomplish the task was not.

Today's the day I start working on it.

Sights and sounds of Ramadhan (Ramadan) ++

Wayang shadows
We did not eat out much during the month of Ramadan. The time period when we usually dine out corresponded with the time for breaking of the daily fast and the traffic is horrendous during this time all month long. In addition, reservations are difficult to get. We managed a few lunches out on Saturdays. On one of our Saturday outings we had lunch at Senayan Sate.  We took a photo of the Wayang (shadow puppet) images on a wall in the restaurant in case you'd like to see more.

I can't remember if I ever posted a photo of a nice drink that isn't green: es kelapa batok. It's a young coconut with coconut water and ice in it. They cut out a hole on top and reach in and shave some of the coconut meat from the inside but leave it in the drink. All they add is a straw. I like it with the squeeze of lime!

On the topic of drinks, our friend who began the whole "green drink" experiments suddenly ordered an orange drink at lunch the other day. "Oh, no, Mr. Bill!"  and "Whoa, Nelly, hold your horses!" were two comments heard as the Earth stopped spinning on its axis. We explained he may not switch from green to orange. No discussion necessary.We did encounter restaurants that had covered their windows, etc., to be modest and show respect for those fasting.

Eggs
I've seen eggs sold this way before but never snapped a photo. Too touristy to be taking photos of eggs in a grocery, I thought. Because Bu Tin was not with me, I seized the moment. And if you can't tell, no, they are not refrigerated prior to sale.

Ramadan decor
The city is quite decorated during the month of Ramadan. There are lights and figures and paper lamps and more. There are pairs like this in various spots. We don't know the significance. These figures look like the figures which are used for other holidays, just in different attire.

In case your religious studies don't give you enough information about behavior during Ramadan, B snapped this photo of the do's and don'ts. Can you figure them all out?

As the end of Ramadan grew near, 30 million people depart for their home villages to visit with family. Jakarta really empties out and the traffic gets pretty tolerable. B shot this video from his office window on the last day of Ramadan. 

Idul Fitri

After approximately 30 days ( it's dependent on the lunar cycle) Ramadan ends with the holiday known as Idul Fitri.  It begins mid afternoon but the festivities really start at the breaking of the fast at sunset. And then the fireworks start as soon as it starts to get dark. There is still some evening prayers to attend to, but the fireworks are going gangbusters from sunset on. And I do mean on. I initially took video of fireworks at 6:30pm. At 10:30 pm, still going strong. At 2:30, still going. At around 4:30 when B woke, they were ending with grand finale-type displays all over. We had a few quite close but mostly on the other side of the building so I couldn't get any video. You can hear several in 

the video of the city skyline. Idul Fitri is a two day holiday, but the government has stretched it to five days. This year it began on Friday and ends next Tuesday. On Wednesday all things are back to pre-Ramadan order. In the next two weeks, the city residents will return from their villages. The newspaper stated that these returnees will bring with them an additional 70,000 people looking for a better life in the city. If you haven't yet turned on your device's sound, BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR SOUND ON FOR THE REST OF THE VIDEOS IN THIS POSTING.

Extra police this time of year
There were extra police all over the city over the Idul Fitri holiday. Part of the duty is to guard government owned land from being built upon by those who have just arrived in the city. I'm not making this up, I read it in the newspaper. I don't know if this had anything to do with this special duty, but it had something to do with the extra troops.  The police station parking lot across the way was very, very busy the other morning. Buses and tents and really horrible traffic leading into the station.  Traffic around the apartment was messed up all day due to what ever was going on across the way.

Sounds of Ramadan
These sounds are heard at times other than Ramadan. In fact, on a daily basis we hear the prayer calls and other dialogs from the minimum of 3 mosques in close proximity to the apartment. It seems like they all try to be louder than the other two. There have been articles about complaints all over the city from neighbors close to mosques. It's not just this area. During Ramadan, the sounds are heard much more frequently as there are more prayers to be said and more activities associated with breaking of the fast and the extra evening prayers and extended Friday prayers. At the start of Idul Fitri, the frequency and decibel level increases again. Here are just two very, very brief recordings to give you  a taste. Because I can't directly imbed audio files here I used still shots of 2 of the neighborhood mosques to overlay the audio files. The first one is 20 seconds. The second is 45 seconds with at least one long break, it sounds like it's stopped but it hasn't. Please listen all the way to the end.

A little purse

B prologue: P needed an outfit for a special occasion and made a pair of linen slacks with the fabric we bought in Kuala Lumpur. She then decided she needed a small purse. So....

I really need a small purse because I don't have a single one.  I had just finished a pair of linen slacks and there was extra fabric. Could I create a much needed little purse? The Internet was happy to help me out. I found a cute little bag pattern but naturally it wasn't quite what I wanted. It wasn't quite what other crafters wanted either because I was also able to find helpful information to do what I did want- at least at first glance. Actually, the modification directions to insert a recessed zipper even contained photos not relevant to the individual captions. (I think they just didn't proof their directions so there were missing steps.) However, I did sort of figure it out and now I have a small purse that matches the slacks-- on the outside. The lining was B's choice: leftover fabric from a pair of pajama bottoms I'd sewn for him from a bright, bold Bali batik print. I even added a pocket for my cell phone complete with a velcro closure. Cute!  I think I need a black one for evening. And I think I will make it a little larger.

I'll call this miscellaneous

In fact, this post covers five different topics. The first is a little more about the black and white necklace I fashioned at the bead house recently, the second topic is Ramadan/Idul Fitri, the third is some more traffic talk, fourth is a completed knitting project and fifth --more green drinks.

First topic? The necklace. I finally took a photo.

Ramadan/Idul Fitri: B hadn't yet experienced the Ramadan/Idul Fitri effect in grocery stores. A couple of things were not available at our regular grocery store so on the weekend while we were out we stopped at a different store. B got to see for himself the piles of cookie tins, boxes, gift packages and the towers of boxes of fruit flavored syrups. Here's just one huge stack of fruit flavored sugar syrups. I mentioned in another post that these are used to flavor water, poured over fruit, puddings, etc. and are frequently used in breaking daily fast during Ramadan. When you look closely, you can see that each box had hand-cut Islamic shapes. What a colorful work of art. It looked like they drew around a stencil and then cut out the shape using perhaps the same knife used to open the boxes. I also see from a hanging sign that they were heavily advertising Barbie dolls for gift giving at Idul Fitri.

Next: the traffic!  Over the weekend, B was reading texts on his phone and so was the motorcycle/scooter driver next to the car. Please notice I did not say in the next lane, I said, next to the car. There aren't really lanes here after all. The scooter driver was really right next to the car, inches separating us. There were more scooters in front of him and scooters behind him as well. When traffic has stopped, the scooters fill every blank space around the cars.

I have another traffic story. I had an appointment one day. It took about 40 minutes to get there and that was in normal traffic. The return trip was quite different. It took 1 1/2 hours to get back to the apartment.The location is less than 6 miles from the apartment. I snapped a couple of photos. Notice that in the middle of the traffic there is a guy hawking something. These vendors sell food, snacks, water, newspapers, toys, flowers, you name it. Notice also in this first photo the line of scooters between us and the railing ahead and the supposed empty space.

In the next photo, notice how the space has completely filled with scooters in seconds. Like I said, they do not wait behind the cars in the lane but go around the cars filling all of the available space.

At one point Pak Oky took a tiny cut through to go a different way. He actually tried an unsuccessful cut through and had to backtrack a bit but then found a true cut through. In this photo you can also detect we were crossing a speed bump. I caught the beads on the rear view mirror mid swing.

Penultamately: knitting. An acquaintance is expecting so I got a bootie pattern and knitted these for the baby. By the time the baby is born mom and dad will have left here so the baby will need something warm at their new location!

A friend suggested one could knock these off in an evening of dedicated knitting. I'm either slow or not very dedicated because it took me about a week to complete the pair.

We know you are all just waiting for the latest "green drink" update and we will not disappoint you. We found a couple of new green drinks to try- a frozen green apple mojito and a green apple soda. Both were excellent.

This Time of Year

Ramadan began last week. This is what I think I know about Ramadan and anything I write here is a huge simplification and may in fact be bad intel.  With that said, this is the Muslim fasting month- yes, I said month. Generally, everyone rises between 3 and 4 am and has a large breakfast followed by prayers.  From sunrise until sunset (here about 5:50 pm), they must not eat or drink- not even water. The usual prayer times are extended somewhat throughout the day. At 5:50 pm approximately, they break the fast with lots of sugar. There are traditional sweets, but one of the most common uses fruit, drenched in a sugary fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk. There is a whole list of things to break fast. And of course, water may then be taken. There are prayers. From 7-8 or 8:30 there are more prayers (attendance at these isn't mandatory) and then the evening meal is eaten. Many will shift their work schedules to start earlier in the morning so they can leave earlier to get home to break the fast with family. During Ramadan one should develop compassion for the poor and needy who feel hungry every day. This is a spiritually and physically cleansing experience. Just as in other world religions, fasting is seen as an opportunity to separate yourself from the things of this world and to concentrate on your relationship with God. Fasting allows you to become closer to God by contemplating his will in your life and builds self-discipline and to become a better person.

One of the things B has to watch at the office is that people use different approaches to resolving conflict as one should not anger people who are fasting as it annuls the purification process for that day. This also includes not eating or drinking in front of people etc.

Ramadan will end with Idul Fitri. It begins with a mass prayer gatherings in fields. It is common to see hundreds of people all wearing white.This is the time when there is a mass exit from town. Millions leave and return to their villages to spend time with family (The newspaper predicts 20,000,000 people will travel during that period). Many people are given time off in which to do this.  While with family and friends you ask for forgiveness for anything you've done during the year.The purchase or creation of new clothes is a frequent activity during the month of Ramadan leading up to Idul Fitri. Gift giving during Idul Fitri is a major thing as well. There are gift baskets/boxes to be purchased everywhere!  And the cookies and other sweets! All sorts of special cookie tins, boxes, baskets in special displays all over every grocery. Stacks of cartons of fruit flavored syrups abound. I am really tempted to try either the markisa (passionfruit) or sirsak syrup. So far we are just looking in wonder!

 

It is a federal regulation that you pay your household staff an extra month's wages at this time of year so they have extra money to buy these new clothes as well as gifts for family, friends at Idul Fitri. Everyone that returns to the village is expected to bring gifts to everyone. Gifts of course may include simple items like basic foods: rice, oil, coffee, etc. There is also an obligatory poor tax (which is supposed to be paid to your mosque --I think-- for the poor). There are apparently a lot of fireworks displays during Idul Fitri. We shall see as we will be here.

There are a couple of side effects especially regarding traffic. Traffic is much worse than usual late in the afternoon as workers rush home early to break fast with family during Ramadan.  However, around Idul Fitri, so many people leave town, the traffic is briefly better. Here's the "macet" around 4-5 pm weekdays during Ramadan. It can come to a standstill.

Back to the fasting. With so many people fasting what about restaurants?  Some will not be open during the day, but open after sunset. If restaurants are open, they may cover the windows or in the case of our nearby grocery, pull a door mostly shut. This is a food court type place inside the grocery. Normally, tables spill out halfway to the registers, but for Ramadan, they've removed a lot of tables and closed the normally very large open area with the temporary beige "wall" leaving only a few tables behind the wall.

Restaurants in the ex-pat type malls are usually open, especially for lunch. During dinner, apparently people will arrive way before sunset and select a table and wait so they are there and ready to eat when it comes time to break fast. This of course would mean no one else could sit there and eat. Hmmm. We may eat out less during Ramadan. We will have to see how it goes.