Hanging Around the House

The Bear watering some plants early one morning around the house.

Just holding and loving on each other around the house.  Notice the jam stained sweet cheek.

Why, yes, that is MORE North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) paperwork for me to track.  So thankful for detailed record keeping; it makes me a better person.

"Paradise Found"

Cookie magazine did a story called, "Paradise Found" on the home of Jon and Cynthia Hardy with the daughters, Chiara and Carina.  One year for Christmas, I gave hubs a book about Balinese architecture that included their house when the girls were younger.  It's so neat to see how the house has grown with the children. 

The Hardys are probably the most famous ex-pats in Bali, having a huge low-impact on the island.  They have created the super cool compound where they reside, a eco-retreat,  as well as the awesome design of The Green School just outside of Ubud. 

Nie

My friend has this link on her blog that I checked out a few days ago.  It's a link to another blog that a woman is writing about her recovery from an accident she had almost two years ago.  There are so many beautiful pictures and words.  One pic that shows how awesome she and her family are just chillin' in their backyard.  It's too large to load so you will just have to check out the blog to see it.  To say about the story of her journey and just her daily life, "it's so inspiring" sounds like a huge understatement so I will not say anything more, just post the link to it here.  

I Got This, She says.

The bear would say, "Now that I am almost two years old, I am totally down with putting my own shoes on.  Why would I need help from anyone else?  It's a simple slip the foot in and strap over.  No biggie."
The mama would say, "Wow, little bear.  I am watching you put your shoes on all by yourself.  Okay, guess we are ready to head out to the market on our bicycles."
The bear would think, "I am awesome.  Let's go."
While walking to the bikes, the mama would think, "When did I ever give her the idea that growing up would be a good idea?  Wasn't I pregnant with her the last time I was here in Bali...and wasn't that like, oh, yesterday!?  How is is possible that she will turn 2 here in a very short time?  When did that happen?  While I was sleeping or something?  OMG.  Slow this train ride down, folks, my kids are growing up too fast for me."
Then, on the ride to the market, the mama bear would have second thoughts, "This whole getting themselves dressed and shoed thing is kinda cool.  Hee hee.  As long as they still snuggle me all the time, I guess I will be okay with it.  As if I have any choice!  Little loves."

 The cozy wood and the way the bed is snuggled in calls me home, somehow.  From this BEAUTIFUL site called Nomadic Way.

passionfruit vines

One whole section of our yard is vines and vines of passion fruit.  They remind me of tiny watermelons mixed with apricots or apples- lots of seeds and sweet.  E looks over the ledge where they grow to view the river.

E is not a big fan but B eats two for breakfast some mornings.  A previous post shows the bear plucking one down.

Neighbor's Pool

Nest door to our river house was an amazingly beautiful house on the river, as well.  We often swam at the pool here.

Yes, it was an incredible place to be, to enjoy.

Hubby often took the girls there on afternoons when I was at the clinic.  They had already been a handful of times before I even got to join them. 

The raised stairs here lead to the hot tub that was never actually hot.  It made a nice place for the kids to touch the bottom "with no holding", as e would tell me.

Surrounded by palm trees and lush grass.

E bear took most of these photographs.  Two babes, two dadas, two chairs, two flips, three flower.

Lovely smooth rocks fill in the gaps.

So peaceful.

why not?

The wooden stand here would be so simple to create, right?  find a hand full of sticks and drill them into a flat board.  Probably some sanding involved?  I should just go for it and try to make this.  Ask me in a week how i am doing with it, okay?

Tunnel of Love

Our house came with toys.  Sweet, eh?  The tunnel was loads of fun for adults and children alike.  

 Captures her spirit of joy.

House Construction

The view from our window as the yard and outdoors were being worked on; a wall will soon be built here and grass installed.  Our best friends literally built this house; their families and friends worked on it with them.  They hired carpenters and plumbers, etc, too.

The wall in the way back was constructed quickly and all the grass put in by hand bit by bit.  It's an amazing and beautiful process to be a part of.  We are grateful to get to live here for the rest of our time in Bali.  We hope to share this place called "home" for many, many years.

book case beds

We moved into our friends' house that was newly built when we were living at the river house.  In the main bedroom, there were awesome built in bookcases/closets. 

These two monkey girls thought they could double as awesome sleeping beds.  Thankfully, there is an awesome sleeping space just right for them so they won't have to go to bed on a bookcase.  Silly monkeys!

play house

We are mildly obsessed with wolves around here.  don't know why or how it actually happened.  regardless, we play some version of "the wolf is coming" every day at some point.  the babes even call their dad, "dadawolf" sometimes.  it's pretty hilarious.  all of that to let you know this pic is from someone on flickr dubbed 'wolfwolfgirl'.  No, it has nothing to do with wolves...except for when we serve them tea.

these wooden animals and their home looks so smooth to me.  just would like to hold each one in my hands.  last year, my mom gave us my old Victorian dollhouse from my childhood.  it's in need of some work but what a joy when my own precious ones will enjoy playing with it.

 These are just so friggy cute!  The pattern is probably pretty similar to a hat, eh?  We have these little wooden people from the craft store and from e's friend last christmas (her friend created a kit of fabric and ribbons to dress the little people).  They would probably be trotted right into these precious little homes by small hands.

Our Walk Home Part 3

You must be thinking that it's a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllly lon gwalk home for us to go from Ubud, eh?  Posting this has taken more time than the walk there and back would have taken!  We pick up in our little village, finally!  We had made it to the land Bumi Sehat will care for as an organic garden and then build the new clinic on in a few years.

If you are reading my blog, I will strongly urge you to give $10 before the day is over to this effort.  (You can probably spare the money this week and it will go a long way there to saving lives.  Thank you for always putting up with my requests for funds; I will continue to make them!)  On to the pictures...

This is the soccer field where we watched PapaToo play each week.  Sometimes the school kids play here, too.  One evening after watching him play, my daughter and his daughter ran gleefully across the soccer field toward our house.  His wife and I yelled for them to stop.  His daughter stopped running but mine did NOT.  She ran right off the side of the field and I lost sight of her even though I was running behind her to catch up (holding my youngest one in arms).  A neighbor/stranger/young man sitting by the field was picking her up out of the ditch when I put eyes on her next.  She was crying, of course because she had fallen a couple of feet into the ditch and under the drain tunnel!  Goodness did my mamaheart start pounding.  I held her close, sat down and began examining her.  There was some blood but not really bleeding and many scratches already showing.  I retrieved her shoe from the drain tunnel then carried both her and her little sister home.

This awesome statue of a lionish creature is a fave for climbing each time we go to Bali. 

beautiful, useful space

this week, i re-arranged some furniture and play things for the babes.  i noticed that they were bringing toys into the living room to play with on the big rug.  even when i am sitting with them in the play space, they will head to the living room.  thus, the difference seemed to be the big wide openness.  on wed. afternoon, i found the table flipped upside down to become a boat, as it sometimes does.  i could overhear this happening from the kitchen where i was making yummy thai soup.  when i saw it in the corner of the room, i finally realized that i should make a wide open space for them.  also, we don't use the top of the diaper changing station anymore as no one wears diapers during the day and people get themselves dressed around here...moment to soak in that those two things have occurred...

so, we are moving on with no need for a changing pad.  it got tucked into a corner behind the "fridge" and is now a cozy little resting nook off of their "kitchen".  Playing "restaurant" happens pretty much daily with them so i moved the table over to the side next to the shelf unca anthony hung with their bowls and such on it.  the little stove is a bit wobbly on top of the fridge now though and i worry that it could fall off.  so, i am figuring that one out, still.  it could be on the floor and brought up to the table when needed.  or, the stove could be on the bookshelf top. 

the floor is wide open!  there is way more play happening with wheeled vehicles, airplanes, helicopters, etc.  we've layed out blankets as grass/fields/roads and created lakes and streams for the vehicles.  there is a bunch more space to maneuver the vehicles around.  all good stuff so far and i am sure there is way more to come. 

 yesterday, i came across this picture in flickr and appreciated the wide openness of it.  maybe i will get some flowey, drapey sashes, too if i can find them animal-free somewhere.

 here is the other side of that same room.  i think it's a kindergarden classroom somewhere in the usa.

bali yard furniture

Been dreaming about lounging in one of these out in the yard.

Our Walk Home Part 2

Bumi Sehat will have a new location sometime in the next 5 years.  Our lease is up soon and we'll be moving just down the road to a spot beside the soccer field and across the street from the temple.

In the meantime, an organic garden has been planted.

Most days, I would see the hard working Pagi out there with a group of other people planting and weeding and hoeing.

Our Walk Home Part 1

We live in a small village called, Nyuh Kuning just outside of a larger (but still relatively small) town called Ubud.  Unless you have been here or read that one book that will remained unpromoted here, you have probably not heard of these places.  They are wonderful spaces full of yummy food, generous people, cheeky monkeys, beautiful rivers and rice fields and trees and flowers and plants, a striving for faith, works of art, and a huge spirit of love.  Such diversity and contrast exists alongside this basic similarity that all of life shares.  I was constantly struck by how similar and yet how different we are as humans and as mammals (especially in labor!) across the world. 

On our walk home to our village from the busier (but still calm compared to many places south of here) town, we pass through part of Monkey Forest, down a main road beside a soccer field, a school, the temple, a big statue and lots of shops and hotels.  We bear right at the soccer field to go home.  If we kept walking straight on the main road, we'd see Bumi Sehat on the right, just down from our best friend's family compound.  These friends have adopted us and words will not express our deep gratitude and joy about this. 

On this particular day, we had walked into town for lunch and were on our way back to the house these friends recently built.  It takes about 20-30 minutes depending on how often we stop to take in the sights and sounds or how many familiar faces we chat up.  The pictures begin at the small shops outside Monkey Forest (we'd never bought anything from these stalls until the bear needed an emergency change of clothes on our way to a birthday party; know this when you see her cool orange dress).  This year, there were about 70% less vendors than two years ago.  The monkeys roam free and are to be handled with firmness when they attempt to grab at backpacks, snatch fruit/sunglasses/keys/water bottles or hitch a ride.

Please know I am embarrassingly ignorant of most plant and flower and tree names.  I do see the beauty, at least.

You may recall a similar picture of e and her friend walking through this exact spot over two years ago. 

This section isn't new but the construction around it is.  There are more statues and pavilions now.  Because we usually don't pay to walk through the main part each time, we cut through by the vendors and walk around the outskirts.  One rainy afternoon, we did walk through the main part on our way back into the village.  Hopefully, I can find those pictures but I have a feeling our camera battery was dead.

One of the new pavilions.

And, then we bear left to begin the walk down our main road.  The first thing we pass is Coffee and Copper, a restaurant where i drink straight from a coconut and eat vegan waffles with my family and my midwifey (yes, midwife-y, not midwifery) friends. There are many copper accents throughout the place and it's owned by beautiful Ayu's brother-in-law.  Ayu is one of our awesome office staff and part of my Balinese extended family; essentially, she is my distant cousin. 

Buddha is everywhere.  Remember how there were at least a couple of him at my old house?  No budhas at the new house but he's all over town so I am constantly reminded of how non-zen like my brain and heart are with their constant-skipping-around-anxiety-inducing ways.  Awareness is the first step in problem solving, right?

Purple flowers always reminded me of my BFF back in North Carolina.  I missed her so deeply even more so sometimes after our video conferences.  She and I were both busy catching babies in our respective towns.  It was spooky how similar some of the births were or that we were pacing catches and pre-natal visits at the same rate.  What a special gift to be on this journey of life, and specifically, midwifery together.  These were especially beautiful ones I spied on our walk home that day. 

Kafe

One of my very favorite places in all of the world is a little place called Kafe.  The inside and outside seating at this restaurant both make me happy.  They have a huge array of vegetarian and vegan meals, desserts and drinks.  Since our last visit to Kafe, the owner, Megan has created Little K which is a vegan raw restaurant behind Yoga Barn, which she also runs.  The cool factor increases when people learn that Kafe is more than food (although their commitment to local and organic healthy food is astounding).  They promote a full healthy lifestyle with ways to volunteer and give back instead of just being a tourist sipping nut milk lattes and smoking on the huge wooden benches.  The food is delicious!!!  (Later, in another post, I will tell you about the Bear's cake.)